The journey of Cash - my Hovawart Photos

9, so he's just under. Doesn't sound as impressive when I say that. However, for a large breed 9 in general is a very low number compared to some other similarly sized breeds.

Have another small open show this weekend, but he has two noticeable cysts that I'm not sure the judge will mark against him for. I have the option of having them removed in the next few weeks which I think I'm going to opt for.

I would guess not, unless they looked unsightly, or affected his movement. Where are they situated?

That's great, where did you go to get hips done, do you do elbows as well.

One is between his shoulder blades and can go undetected depending on how through the judge is. The other is on his side and you can feel it quite obviously. They don't effect his health or movement and can't be seen unless you part his fur etc. Just not something I'm sure judges get funny about or not. We will go to the Sunday show anyway and see what happens.

I just went to my local vet to be honest. Did look into specialists, but for convenience sake my own practice was preferable. I was going to do elbows too, and it is something some in the breed do, but not the vast majority at the moment. I may look into doing so again next year maybe, but to be honest if I was going to have them done I should have had them done whilst he was under for his hips. He still needs a full thyroid function test which the club highly recommend members do.

I agree if you were going to do elbows it would have been ideal to do it then, did your vet do it under sedation or full anaesthetic ,

He went under GA, which I think I preferred to be honest. Less stress all round IMO if he was just completely knocked out.

Well, what a disastrous day we had yesterday at our show. Initially whilst waiting we was met by people interested in the breed, introduced to some other Hov owners we didn't know, and Cash was taking it all in his stride. We watched the junior class before our class and as soon as we entered the ring Cash completely lost himself! He was reacting at the other dogs, would not stand, take treats or even acknowledge me to be honest. I was mortified! Especially as one of the other exhibitors looked at me like she wanted me shot down on the spot All I could do was hold Cash tight on the lead and continue to wave jerky around in his face.......the judge asked me to keep him back a little whilst the other dogs were moving so as not to put them off and then asked me if he was ok being handled. All in all it was just awful and embarrassing and has totally shaken my confidence, so much so I'm most likely not going to LKA in December as planned. I was totally expecting the judge to withdraw us from the class, but I did manage to regain some control and I think that's what kept us in the class. But still. He's never reacted that way in the ring before, although he was a little growly/unsettled at the club show early October.

Perhaps showing is no longer his thing.

Oh no, what a shame, what's he like with other dogs in normal circumstances , do you go to ringcraft classes, it might be an idea to attend some to see how he copes, I would suggest you go to the LKA but perhaps not go in the ring, but only do that if you are confident, otherwise if it has knocked you maybe take a break , concentrate on getting his behaviour under control and see how you go.... Sorry to hear this, hopefully it was a one off,

I stopped taking him to ringcraft about 4 months ago now. It might be an idea to attend again, or at least ask the club's advice and see what they say in regards to us attending. I'd just hate for him to start there too ( even though there has been a couple of reactive dogs there ) and put everyone off.

He's very impulsive and quick to react in many situations to be honest in the sense he lacks self control and just wants to get to things. It's something we constantly work on. He has got a bit growly with face to face greetings with other dogs recently, but is otherwise good with them. He interacted with an 11 month old bitch at the show yesterday, but seemed to be triggered by the other dogs in the ring running

Another thing his breeder picked up on, which is very true, is that he's at a funny age right now and full of testosterone and in the throes of adolescence. I have noticed him behaving slightly more distracted and testing as of late. For example, his recall isn't as sharp as it once was and he doesn't always come when called first thing choosing to walk out to the muddiest part of the field where he's unreachable and stare at me from across the way whether that has any bearing on his behaviour yesterday I have no idea. But very disheartening when all the other exhibitors had perfectly well behaved dogs who floated around the ring, did as their told and some are only a month or two younger than Cash

So sorry to read this Louise, just as you were getting more confident too.
I would go back to ringcraft, and for a while do nothing with him, other than generously rewarding him for looking away from the other dogs, and switching his attention to you.
We can't guess what has happened in his mind - perhaps he had picked up on another dog's body language, but I would take a step back and try to make sure he has no face to face confrontations until he has settled again. I'm sure you will sort it, and he will soon be back to shows again. Good luck.

Thank you Carole. I've messaged our ringcraft club and will go back on the 1st until they close for Christmas on the 8th. LKA is on the 12th, so those two weeks could be valuable either way. I told the club I'd ideally be looking just to regain some focus and control, so thanks for the advice

Sorry to hear about your setback but don’t give up’ most of us have been there at some time. I had a similar scenario at a champ show with one of my Akita’s, he was a seasoned show dog but decided this day to play up, he would not stand’ every time I tried to place him he sat, on the move he just acted the fool the judge tried several times but he wasn’t having it, wasn’t interested in titbits either that day .I felt really embarrassed and wished a hole would appear that I could fall into.
Same thing happened at his next show and I started to think why he was playing up and it dawned on me that it was because he could, he was quick to realise that I ‘didn’t ‘correct’ him in the ring if he started playing up, so I decided id give a quick correction in the ring to remind him that’s not acceptable behaviour, when he started barking or squaring up to other dogs I just immediately turned him around so that he couldn’t see them, Easy to say but the more one anticipates a problem and tightens up or keeps unconsciously jerking on the lead offering titbits the more the problem is likely to happen.
He wasn’t good with other strange dogs at the best of times so I always kept my distance and tried not to give him the opportunity to have a go, I tended not to hang around the ring before going in due to some exhibitors being oblivious as to their dogs. Loose leads, noses up rears when passing by, to engaged in ringside conversation to notice what their dogs were doing, which seemed to hype him up even more so instead id find a spot away from the hustle bustle and do some practise until i got his focus back on me, You don’t need to say anything just head up shoulders back and off you go.!! Walk confidently forwards put in sharp left turns that usually gets them looking at you.

Ring craft/training clubs are great but can be detrimental more than positive if there are dodgy dogs there that have a go or constantly barking at other dogs, they quickly learn bad habits and ones dog can pick up on this and follow, so keep well away from these dogs, I always think prevention is better than cure.

This was so helpful and supportive Vee, so thank you. Cash sounds much like your Akita boy was.

I've considered leaving him in the car until we're ready to go in as some exhibitors do, but I have to exercise him beforehand ( i.e running him around the car park/venue, throwing his tuggy around etc ) because if I don't he's bouncy and harder to control. I try not to let him interact with the other dogs. We stand on our own if possible and I do focus work with him, rewarding him for good behaviour. He's generally well behaved at this stage. But it might be a better idea to walk around the venue until it's our turn to go in rather than wait like you said. During the Champ show in July there was lots of open space and we were able to exercise AND keep an eye on our ring at the same time. Cash was the best he's ever been at a show that day.

But like you said, you can't exactly correct in the ring, at least in the way of a firm 'no' and I feel a bit self conscious tugging him sharply on the lead as I fear the other exhibitors will be looking on and tutting at my need to correct him
I turned him away from the other dogs on Sunday, but he keeps whipping his head around to see where they are which in turn led to him trying to turn around again and he was slouched over and impossible to stand correctly.

The ringcraft club we attend generally has well behaved and quiet dogs. I think it's worth testing him there again and taking it from there.

Here`s another thought, it might be that at open shows ( the venues are usually smaller, more crowded) he feels a bit trapped in, at the champ shows the venues will be bigger with more space to keep a distance.

hope you can sort this out, buy maybe just take some time out from the showing world, allow him to mature , get past his Keven stage, do something else with him to keep his socialization up,

Open shows was the basis of most our showing and he's always been fine. However, could be that Jackie. I know another Hov exhibitor has said they won't be in a rush to return to this venue as the ring itself was small and we was in the car park, surrounded by cars. We was also right on the edge where people arriving constantly was passing our ring. No excuse for his behaviour, mind.

Either way we'll see how he goes at ringcraft before making our next decision as to whether to continue or not.

I had a problem with one of my Rottweiler's (16 months old) would play up everytime I was in ring with him, I was going to stop showing him but this professional show handler took over & the sod behaved perfectly for him, the handler said my dog was testing me to see how far he could push me.
At the next 3 shows he behaved perfectly for me, but then started acting up again so I contacted the show handler & he took over completely & shown him everytime for me.

I'd be very interested to see how he behaves with someone other than me. I have a feeling he'd be as good as gold and someone would show him off to his best ability better than I can do as well. But I don't know anyone to ask!

When you go to ringcraft, see if anyone will handle him for you, if you speak to the organisers, and e plain your situation, they may be willing to help a bit.

The problem is that you get yourself into a catch 22 situation, he misbehaves You get nervous he picked up the vibes and it goes round and round.

The handler that took my Rottweiler had just come out of the ring & passed the dog he had just shown over to the owner, then came over to ask if I needed help with my dog, then afterwards he gave me his business card, that's how I got my professional handler.
Then when I was thinking of showing K9 I asked around at the JRT club & got the names of 6 professional handlers living in my area, that's how I ended up with Flabino (Italian think I might of spelt his name wrong I just call him Flab) he handled K9 brilliantly