No Subject

[Sharon Stuck <shasta@srv.net>]

I don't respond to the list often, but this time I will. 
	To all those people who dislike the dog shows: I, if anyone, had a very
shakey start. We are isolated and don't have many Pyrs show up at the local
show. Also our first Pyr was a "guard" dog. The first Pyr people (at the
dog show) we met were very rude. We later met a couple who took some time
explaining some things to us. (A LOT of help).In the meantime we did a
little showing ( after all it LOOKS easy). We also did some losing- it must
be politics, Pro handlers, etc. (bad judges). Went to our first Speciality
(got hit over the head with a big hammer from everyone except the original
"nice people") They were able to give us more advice, however, and we came
up with the idea of renting a camcorder to record the shows.  Something
clicked, the Pros won because, besides having a "good" dog they are able to
make the dog look and preform it's best. What a concept!! I can't believe I
didn't understand sooner. We have shown purebred cattle, and sheep, and
somehow dog shows were "fixed". NOT! The shows are not perfect, but they
are "dog shows", have fun, see other dogs, meet other people. There are
plenty of nice ones, you just have to keep looking. We finished our first
dog last year from the bred-by class. What fun! I have ended up on the
ground in the ring. (The dog sitting, looking at me asking "did I miss this
part in the class mom". I have consentrated on going straight in the group
ring so hard that I didn't realize the dog was sitting down, and I had no
lead. He just waited for me to remember him and then we finished. I think
that we all can learn from dog shows and have a lot of fun at the same
time. If people are mean, just pretend like you're a Pyr, turn your head
and they don't exist.
	Sorry about my typing, I'm working on that now
		Sharon