I PICKED THE WINNER !

[trekmoor]

For once me and several judges were in agreement. I chose this years Crufts Champion right from the first time I saw him in a ring. He exuded "It" .... a winners arrogant " Wha's like me ?" attitude. I am now a fully qualified dog show guru and confidently expect a call any day now from the T.V. folk telling me they are dumping Peter Purves and wish to install me in his place. I may not accept their offer as they may want me to put my false teeth in on the telly.

I really did like that wee Haggis Hound though, he walked the rings as though he owned them and everything in them .

On a different subject. How twisted are some of those show folk to have poisoned that Irish Setter ? I might do that to my worst enemy but I wouldn't do it to his dog.

Wullie

[greeno]

The poisoning thing its just down right weird / pathetic.

[Alice]

shame there's now a row kicking off as the haggis hound's handler picked it up by the tail and throat, which small dog handlers had been explicitly told not to do... It'd be quite a nice result to see it disqualified and that happy flatcoat that came second win, he was a fine beast.

[Mike A]

I'm sure they were about to call Wullie ,then they heard you call it " a wee Haggis Hound " and didn't want to upset the SNP !

In regards to the poisoning of that poor dog , I watched the news and could not believe the cruelty of some people, or the lengths they will go to either out of competitiveness or jealousy .

Mike

[trekmoor]

There's no business like show business right enough !

When I was much younger I wanted to go to Crufts just for a look around, I no longer feel any urge even to do that far less show a dog there. Two of my dogs qualified for crufts years ago, a Brittany and a GSP . The Brittany won a couple of classes there but showing still failed to interest me very much.
I get bored within one hour of going to a dog show.

I liked the flatcoat too but thought the Scottie had it beaten for "presence" in the ring. In any case if a gundog wins crufts it does it's breed no favours at all.

I also saw the German Shepherd Dog winner and thought that if I'd bred the dog I would be ashamed of myself. The downward slope of it's back was utterly ridiculous. No wonder the police force have had to look elsewhere for their manwork dogs. That dog was not fit for any kind of serious work.

Wullie

[pontbeck]

I liked the Scottie , the Flatcoat and wait for it............. The Maltese. I wouldn't want to own a Maltese but it too had ring presence and showed itself off to perfection.
Ronnie Irving is a terrier man so the Scottie had to be good for him to put it up.
Wullie, I couldn't believe the GSD and how they still alow them to breed them that way. There is no way any dog should have a sloping topline such as that, just not natural.

[Miesque]

shame there's now a row kicking off as the haggis hound's handler picked it up by the tail and throat, which small dog handlers had been explicitly told not to do... It'd be quite a nice result to see it disqualified and that happy flatcoat that came second win, he was a fine beast.

The British KC have brought in that rule, the USA have not and she's an American handler. She may not have known, if no one had told her it was contravened here?

[Alice]

shame there's now a row kicking off as the haggis hound's handler picked it up by the tail and throat, which small dog handlers had been explicitly told not to do... It'd be quite a nice result to see it disqualified and that happy flatcoat that came second win, he was a fine beast.

The British KC have brought in that rule, the USA have not and she's an American handler. She may not have known, if no one had told her it was contravened here?

The KC have said that "it was made clear to the handler at the show that it is not acceptable to pick a dog up in this way, and despite repeated requests not to do so, she went ahead. The handler is from the USA where it is customary to pick up terriers in this way, but it has no place at Crufts and this is put in writing to all handlers before the show."

[greeno]

Mrs Greeno and I both commented on how terrible the GSD looked as well.

As for handling the Haggis hound, as ever, ignorance of the rules is not an excuse

[Ada C]

I think this year all the Group Winners were very much 'show' dogs in the purest sense. They are all breeds that have been recognised a long time and have been shown since the very early days of dog shows - with the exception of the Akita (which nevertheless was the American type - as opposed to the less exagerated Japanese type)

I had my eye on the Scottie to win too: I suspect behind all that carefully trimmed coat, there was a solid, powerful wee beastie. It always makes me chuckle though, when the commentators talk about some of the terriers having a 'really harsh coat' because to get those eyebrows, beard and the 'hovercraft' look, you need an awful lot of coat to play with to strip out / leave long in the appropriate places and the harshness on the areas left short will have been really worked over with the stripping knives and lots of undercoat-raking to get them as harsh as they are.

I agree, the Maltese was really eye-catching and looked a real little charmer! Personally, I feel much more comfortable with show exhibitors and pet owners sticking with show-type dogs that have been bred with this in mind for generations (and already 'improved' or 'ruined' or just 'altered' depending on your stance) rather than trying to seek out new or less common breeds to mould into their ideal dogs.

It may sound contradictory, but I'm happy seeing the long-established show-types just being show dogs and pets - but I cringe when I see what look like perfectly sensible, functional dogs that still have a role to play as working dogs being "discovered" by the show or pet market and gradually ........well, you can guess what will happen

I think that's quite apparent in the gundog group: many of the UK breeds are very much 'show' types, with either a working counterpart (labs, cockers, ESS) that looks markedly different and attracts owners with different aspirations, or there is no actual work / show split - but precious few actually working (Sussex, Field etc.)

I'm waffling now!!! I'm no expert - but I just wondered if anyone else had any thoughts