Jamie and I took Parker to a local dog show yesterday. We arrived there a bit late and I booked him in for his classes and went to the ringside. I asked a lady with a Red Setter if I had missed the veteran's class. She glared at me and said it was the next class. When we walked into the ring we happened to be behind this lady and she again glared at me and Parker and said "Don't let your dog come near me or my dog. Kerry Blue's have a nasty temperament"! I was shocked as I have never encountered breed prejudice before. I replied "he has a nice temperament" and looked amazed at my husband. This woman couldn't handle her dog at all, she kept man-handling it roughly by the head and grabbing its back to make it stand properly. When I was moving Parker for the judge she completely lost control of it and was getting quite exasparated saying "they told me it would calm down when I couldn't handle it when it was younger but it hasn't" (hubbie told me this afterwards-I was concentrating on moving Parker). I thought-I don't care who wins as long as it's not her!! (guess who won?). Afterwards she walked back to her car with her dog and I gave Parker to Jamie to hold and went and had a word. I said it was unaceptable to speak to someone as she had me and I had complained to the judge ( I did tell the judge what she said and the judge said Parker was a nice temperament). She said it wasn't my dog she was commenting on it was the breed but I replied it was my dog as she had assumed it was aggressive and Parker was a very nice friendly temperament and had obedience awards and she couldn't even handle her dog in the ring. She replied-you try and hold it-it's too strong! I said perhaps she needed some training with it then and walked off. Strange attitide that showing a dog is a matter of physical strength as some very small people have very large dogs or there are children handling large dogs. She shouted out that she had been bitten by a Kerry and they are not nice temperaments and I said that she shouldn't judge all dogs the same (Parker has been bitten by a Staffy and Cherry by a Rottweiller but I wouldn't dream of making that sort of comment to a person handling those breeds). My husband told me later that he remembered this women from the same show 2 years ago and she was acting very strangely then and had trouble handling her dog in the ring. Someone else at the show told me she was a bit loony but I think she should be more careful what she says to people. I was calm and assertive but if she upset the wrong person they could either be in tears or bop her on the nose! I was pleased with meeting some old training friends at this show and another Kerry Blue! (first time). This was also a friendly dog. Parker came 6th in the obedience competition and they had prizes and rosettes to 10th place so he got a squeaky hot-dog toy which he carried proudly to the car. My friend who is a trainer came 5th so I felt he had done well as we hadn't done any obedience training since nearly 2 years ago. I felt I needed to get this off my chest as it was a shock to be glared at and spoken to so nastily when neither I nor my dog had done anything wrong!!
Well done for standing up to her, people like than thrive on sticking their nose in the air, talking down to people & think making others cry is a sport. The fact you told her off & said 'reported' to her will have her worried, with a bit of luck she'll just dissapear & not show her face at the next dog show. It's good to meet somone with the same breed, you can 'compair notes'. Well done for coming 6th hope Parker likes his hotdog
I remember taking Jed along to a champ show organised by the Border Collie Trust. We went along just for a nosey and although we didnt get any comments, many folk were looking at him like he'd got 2 heads! Needless to say that was the first and only time we went along to that show! Well done for getting placed 6th, it's always nice to come away having achieved something.
Sorry for smiling when I read that,but we went to one 2 years ago in Sutton Park, one lady had a beautiful white Poodle, not sure of the cut but it was all fluffy and she groomed and groomed it, powdered it, puffed it, then when we went into the ring she kept moving away from Skye....our BC,:? suddenly she looked at me with a real look, and said ''could you please move her away from mine as I don't like her mixing with ''''''just any breed of dog''''''' Well Skye came first for prettiest bitch, so that was one over on her LOL they get soooooo funny at these shows don't they and we only went for fun
Thank you! I said to my husband "I am going to tell that lady she was out of order with her comments" and he replied "yes, that is ok as long as you don't lead with your emotions because you're upset but you need to be calm" He is very wise!
I actually thought you were going to say she was worried your dog would think hers was a sheep!! I am glad your dog won! Unfortunately this lady won in the class we went to but she didn't enter the challenge for "best in show" -perhaps she didn't want me or the judge scrutinising her dubious handling methods!
How weird, what goes through people's minds when they make these comments - congrats anyway for your prizes
Fun shows should be just that.. Just for fun, and people making nasty remarks makes me mad. I've only ever met 2 kerry blue's before. 1 was a rescue that had been badly treated so was understandably nervous around strangers, and 1 was a crazy, puppy who just wanted everyone to know he was there and to acknowledge his existance But even if the 2 i'd met had both been snappy ( which they were not), i'd not condemn an entire breed just because I happened to come accross 2 not so well behaved ones. I judged at Wragby show today, I could have judged the pedigree's if I wanted, but when asked to judge back at Easter I said i'd prefer to judge the cross breeds and novelty classes as I felt that I'd enjoy that experience much more. What supprised me was the bad sportsmanship exhibited by some people in the ring. One old lady was so rude when she didn't get placed in the first class she entered under me, she stormed between the winners when I was giving out the rossette's and prizes and went off muttering. She entered another 4 classes after that, yanking her poor dog up off it's legs a lot and giving evil looks to all the other entrants. She must have wondered why she didn't get placed.. Well i'm sorry but if you behave like that and give me attitude then dont expect to get placed! I said to the steward perhaps next year they should do a special class for grumpiest owner... there were a few there that i'd have willingly placed in that class! I did enjoy my day though, I met some gorgeous dogs, and some really friendly very proud owners.
I like your idea about having a class for the grumpiest owners! The trouble is the people themselves can't see it-they would have to be nominated by someone else. I think I'll get a t-shirt saying "Beware of the owner" in case anyone else thinks they can say bad things about my lovely Parker!
Someone at my agility class has that t-shirt! "dog is friendly..beware of the owner" http://www.dogstrustgifts.com/acatalog/Dog-is-Friendly-Beware-of-Owner-T-shirt.html
Thanks for your comments! The strange thing is we were at a dog show at the weekend and there were 2 judges doing the various classes. One of them approached me as she said she remembered giving me the "Best in SHow" award at another dog show last month. She said she had given it to me because she thought Parker was such a lovely temperament and she could see what a good bond we had. I was really touched by her comments. Made up for the nasty ones from that woman.
I have a GWP who has aggression issues. I love her but, not sure if I would get another. I love the breed so if any of you have nice laid back ones please let me know. I would like another.
