Dog show

“ The Britisher's inborn love of sport, dogs, and breeding invented the dog show, but not so very long ago, for even in England bench shows, as a recognized institution, are only a little over half a century old. ”

“ I do not know, but I should think, it was the largest class ever seen at any show! And when I saw the tens and scores of dogs pouring into my ring, I wondered what was to become of them, as it was a good walk merely to go round them, and they formed a small dog show by themselves, and I noticed about five or six well-known "Champions" amongst them, as it included most of the known breeds of dogs. After referring to my judging book, many pages in which were of course taken up, I found I had three prizes to divide amongst this crowd, so I went to the committee, and explained the matter to them. ”

“ Leading into the ring is, of course, the crux of the exhibitor's anxiety, for now comes the critical moment—will the dog show or not? Some dogs are born showers—brisk up, look smart and knowing, accept the judge's overtures graciously, and generally exhibit themselves to the best advantage. ”

“ One hears little of the dogs which run away with a circus, and yet there is a set formula about the menagerie, a question asked almost daily:
“Shall we watch for a mutt to-day?”
Because there is hardly a day in which some dog does not attempt to “join out,” and through his own efforts, seek to attach himself to the show. For all of it there is a reason. If there is one thing that a dog loves, it is horses. If there is another, it is the sound of a band. And if there is a third, it is a general air of excitement and hurly-burly. ”

“ To dream of a dog-show, is indicative of many and varied favors from fortune.
To hear the barking of dogs, foretells news of a depressing nature. Difficulties are more than likely to follow. To see dogs on the chase of foxes, and other large game, denotes an unusual briskness in all affairs. ”

“ Fancy, studded, bebelled, and beribboned collars look about as well on a terrier as diamonds on a bellboy.
The showing of dogs is rapidly becoming one of our most popular sports. The number of shows increases wonderfully each year, and every season the entries become more and more numerous. Daily, there are recruits enlisting in the army of dog fanciers. There is no denying the potency of the charm woven by the dog show. The confirmed fancier fairly loves the barking roar of the benched dogs; that peculiarly distinctive smell—a strange mixture of dog, disinfectant, and sawdust ”

“ Waverlee about the latest news, which was something that affected me deeply and painfully.
“There is to be a new kind of a dog-show in New York,” she said, “a dog-hero show. All dogs exhibited must have done something noteworthy, or they cannot be entered. You, Boy, are to go on account of the service you rendered our hostess. Gringo will be there, also King Harry and Walter Scott.” ”

“ The body was everything; the heart, the mind, the namelessly delightful quality of the master-raised dog—these were nothing. Such traits do not win prizes at a bench-show. Therefore fanciers, whose sole aim is to win ribbons and cups, do not bother to cultivate them. (All of this is extraneous; but may be worth your remembering, next time you go to a dog-show.)
Early on the morning of the Show's first day, the Mistress and the Master set forth for town with Lad. They went in their little car, that the dog might not risk the dirt and cinders of a train. ”

“ Thus, if small shows seldom bring forth a world-beating dog, they at least are full of clever and humanized exhibits and of men and women to whom the success or failure of their canine friends is a matter of intensest personal moment. Wherefore the small show often gives the beholder something he can find but rarely in a larger exhibition.
A few dogs genuinely enjoy shows—or are supposed to. To many others a dogshow is a horror.
Which windy digression brings us back by prosy degrees to Bruce and to the Hampton dogshow. ”

“ Sixteen or eighteen hundred dogs are shown there, worth I don't know how many thousands of dollars, and the crowds of spectators are big in proportion. You get an idea at one of those shows how many people are interested in dogs. The New York show is run by the Westminster Kennel Club, and because it's the biggest of all its trophies are greatly coveted. The dog that is adjudged the best of all breeds at the New York show becomes the champion of champions of the United States."
"Oh, my!" sighed Jack, "I wish I could see a dog show like that." ”

“ At least, that was how it struck Finn and Kathleen. As a matter of fact, there were some thousands of dogs in the Crystal Palace that day, for it was the opening day of the great annual Kennel Club Show; the biggest society event of the year among dogs. It was a more exclusive assembly than any of the purely human sort, because every dog, among all the thousands there assembled, was an aristocrat with a pedigree as long as his body. ”

“ And apropos of dogs, the pet dog show is always one of the events of the spring season, an occasion that calls for artistic effect in mistress as well as dog, produces scores of effective tableaux, offers testimony concerning feminine folly. ”

“ Hartshorn had warned them about approaching the dogs without an introduction.
"There are always some dogs that aren't to be trusted," said he, "and as the day wears on and they get more and more nervous, they may snap. It's always well to be cautious at a dog show, no matter how well you understand dogs. Never make a quick motion toward a dog or try to put your hand on the top of his head at first. ”

“ The same dogs must encounter them over and over again, as they trudge along in their off-minutes behind the legs of the show and beside the drum; but all dogs seem to suspect their frills and jackets, and to sniff at them as if they thought those articles of personal adornment an eruption—a something in the nature of mange, perhaps. From this Covent-garden window of mine I noticed a country dog only the other day, who had come up to Covent Garden Market under a cart, and had broken his cord, an end of which he still trailed along with him. ”

“ Nor is every dog which joins the circus taken along merely as a performer. Quite the opposite. There are often more canines outside the ring around a big show, each with his or her job, than ever appear under the big top. There is the elephant dog, for instance, trained to remain around the big animals, to trot under their heels, to appear without warning from one side or another, or to stand in front of them and bark or snarl, to sleep with them in the big bull car at nights, and chief of all, to keep other dogs from the vicinity of that herd. ”

“ Although the profits to be obtained from exhibiting are of a secondary nature, and relative simply to the influence exercised on sales and the way in which showing them brings dogs into public notice, it is well worth the while of the dog owner who has a really good little toy to exhibit it sometimes for the fun of the thing. At a show one can learn more about breeds and points, and all the little details which interest doggy folk, than is possible otherwise ”

“ No one talked of nothing but the Show, and the chances “our kennels” had against the other kennels, and if this one of our champions would win over that one, and whether them as hoped to be champions had better show in the “open” or the “limit” class, and whether this dog would beat his own dad, or whether his little puppy sister couldn't beat the two of them. Even the grooms had their money up, and day or night you heard nothing but praises of “our” dogs, until I, being so far out of it, couldn't have felt meaner if I had been running the streets with a can to my tail. ”

“ A four-day show is the most fearful thing a high-strung dog can go through—next to vivisection. A little one-day show, for about eight hours, is no special ordeal, especially if the dog’s Master stays near him all the time ”

“ Whether you want a dog for sport, for show, or as a companion, endeavour to get a good one—a well-bred one. To arrive at this do not buy from an advertisement on your own knowledge of the breed, but seek out an expert amateur breeder and exhibitor, and get his advice and assistance. If you intend to start a kennel for show purposes, do not buy a high-priced dog at a show, but start with a well-bred bitch, and breed your own puppies, under the guidance of the aforementioned expert. ”

“ He also showed his sagacity in going to the daughter's room—the one most capable of seeing to matters. Hoping, as a dog-lover, that this may interest all such, and help to prove that dogs think and reason more than some human beings—also to show that we often inferior beings have no right to presuppose that the superior animals have no souls.
K. Clarke.
A TRUE WATCH-DOG. [Aug. 5, 1893.]
The "dog" letter in the Spectator of July 15th is wonderfully like my experience, some years ago, with my little red Blenheim, Frisk. She always slept in a basket, close to the hall door. ”

“ They always want to play when it’s time to work, which is quite wrong. Well, the Master was much pleased with both of us and said that we’d surely be shown at the Oak Cliff Show next month, and that he’d send in the entries at once. I ran off to tell Mother about it and she was pleased too.
“You must be a very good dog,” she said, “and do just as William tells you to. And when you get to the show you must mind your own affairs and pay no attention to other dogs or to people. I don’t think your father or I will be there, so you must look after yourself and Freya.” ”

“ After the parade was over, a lot of us dogs and boys went down to the lot where the show was to be held. We were hanging around the tent where the actors were eating, and that bloodhound dog was there without chains like any other dog, and us dogs got to talking with him.
“You country-town dogs,” he says to Mutt Mulligan, who is a friend of mine and some considerable dog himself, “don't want to come fussin' around too close to my cook tent or my show! Us troupers ain't got any too much use for you hick dogs, anyhow.” ”

“ There are also special trophies for special winnings, such as the best American-bred dog of the breed, or the best brace, and there is the contest between the winners of the different classes in each breed. Finally, in some of the big shows, there is a special trophy for the best dog of any breed in the show. This contest is usually held at the end of the show, or perhaps before the packs of hounds and beagles are judged, and it is always an exciting time. Every exhibitor hopes to win one of the specials, but most of the dogs are trying for their championship titles. ”

“ At the Kennel Club Show of 1909 there was not a single specimen of the breed on view, nor was one to be found at the recent shows at Edinburgh, Birmingham, Manchester, or Islington, nor at the National Terrier Show at Westminster. It is a pity that so smart and beautiful a dog should be suffered to fall into such absolute neglect. ”

“ R with whom I am living is a fine man and he smells good to me I heard him say something about a Dog Show being on in New York now and I thought I ought to tell you what the old veterans in this veterinary hotel say, they say not to go to any such show because those things there are not Regular Dogs, not Red Blooded He Dogs not Dogs as you might say with the Bark On. ”

“ He sets more store by that dog than he'd set by most humans. He's pleased as Punch, every time the collie hauls down a cup at one of these neighborhood shows. Well, that dog ain't going to be fit to go to another show, for a year. ”

“ A dog in perfect condition, with his coat trimmed in the approved style, may yet fail to get his deserts in the show ring, if not properly handled. The professional handlers are past masters at the art of making a dog appear at his very best in the ring, and a great deal of their success is due to this skill. ”

“ Nick turned away and went into the show room to inquire as to the manner in which the dogs on exhibition were guarded and cared for, and in doing so passed half an hour inspecting the dogs.
At the end of that time, as he approached the center division, he saw Mrs. Constant standing beside a dog with her hand upon its head. ”

“ I can only rely upon my best judgment and will ask you to be indulgent with me in case you do not agree with my choice.
"In judging dogs at a show, we do not take into consideration the personal character or intelligence of a dog, but chiefly his physical characteristics. ”

“ It was made blue special for this show. It’s the only blue dog in the world. Folks’ll be comin’ from all over the world to see this blue dog—an’ thrown in in a penny show! If it was in the Zoo you’d have to pay a shilling to see it, I bet. It’s—it’s jus’ luck for you it’s here. I guess the folks at the Zoo wish they’d got it. Tain’t many shows have blue dogs. Brown an’ black an’ white—but not blue. Why, folks pay money jus’ to see shows of ornery dogs—so you’re jus’ lucky to see a blue dog an’ a dead bear from Russia an’ a giant, an’ a wild cat, an’ a China rat for jus’ one penny. ”

“ As regards the sporting dogs, any one who knows the value of good animals of this class will not be surprised to find that the best in the country were not represented here. Indeed, dog-shows have not yet made such way among us as to entice the great sporting magnates to send their dogs, and only a second class of animals was to be expected. ”

“ There is practically no betting connected with any dogshow. People go there to see the dogs and to watch their judging, and for nothing else. As a rule, the show is not even a social event. Nevertheless, the average dogshow is thronged with spectators. (Try to cross Madison Square Garden, on Washington's Birthday afternoon, while the Westminster Kennel Club's Show is in progress. If you can work your way through the press of visitors in less than half an hour, then Nature intended you for a football champion.) ”