I don’t want to, and you can’t make me
By Gina Spadafori
November 28, 2008
No, I didn’t watch the so-called “National Dog Show,” which is just another dog show amped up to give NBC something to broadcast other than football. Counter-programming for girl viewers, if you will.
But I gotta admit there was one really cute moment that’s making the rounds now. See, at shows like Westminster and the AKC Invitational, the dogs are all seasoned show dogs. But because this show was a “normal” show, a Shih Tzu puppy had the chance to top established champions in Best of Breed competition and advance to the toy group. There, she decided she’d had a enough.
Very cute, and a hat tip to Peggy Frezon of The Writer’s Dog, the first place I saw this before people started e-mailing links (by the way, Peggy’s dog, a spaniel mix named Kelly, could not be more adorable if she tried):
Thanks for the giggle. That puppy was so cute. Very good natured refusal ;)
Comment by straybaby — November 28, 2008 @ 2:09 pm
Hey, that was a big day and pretty tiring for such a little pup! :)
Comment by Lis — November 28, 2008 @ 2:19 pm
Ya know, I love the irony of Breed shows up against Michael Vick’s ‘sport’. While I don’t list Conformation among my dog sports of choice, I would prefer more dog shows on TV and a whole lot less football, especially on the traditional networks: ABC, CBS & NBC. And that goes for baseball, basketball and hockey as well.
But if really given a choice, I’d rather watch Performance sports like agility, fly ball, dock diving, disc, lure and racing, or even obedience, a sport not known for it’s visual excitement, than any sport featuring just humans, especially human males. But then, I’d rather dogs than my own species any day!
I especially liked how the handler picked up her tired little diva dog, carried her off and kissed her on the way out! The more people are shown kissing dogs on National Television, the better off both dogs and people will be IMHO.
Comment by Anne T — November 28, 2008 @ 3:45 pm
Is it just me or…does it look like maybe her refusal is caused by some kind of pain in her back end? The way she turns suddenly before she stops…almost as if something’s wrong…
I don’t know…it would have concerned me if I had been the handler…
Comment by mikken — November 28, 2008 @ 6:29 pm
She’s looking around at the noise from the crowd. She does it again, flexing her body in a way that seems unlikely if it’s causing her pain.
Her body language doesn’t say “pain” to me. It says, “I’m tired and I’ve had enough of this silly game!”
The handler has the advantage both of knowing the puppy, which we do not, and being right there, to pick up a lot more clues than we can. The judge and the commentators were all amused, suggesting they didn’t see anything that indicated pain, either.
Comment by Lis — November 28, 2008 @ 6:41 pm
I call it puppy latitude, hmm, I mean “attitude”, it was a cute moment! I was all enthralled seeing my “fave” Ch. Efbe’s Hidalgo at Goodspice, AKA “Charmin”…gosh, he still looks gorgeous and hasn’t lost the “tude”, after the toughest campaign trail for a terrier. And yes, the pointer is a deserving BIS…IMO.
Just partial to those “unknown” Sealyham Terriers!
Comment by Barbara A. Albright — November 28, 2008 @ 7:49 pm
You can hear the judge telling the handler to pick the puppy up.
I suspect she was not an experienced handler (maybe the owner or breeder), or she would have done it sooner.
Comment by EmilyS — November 28, 2008 @ 8:21 pm
EmilyS, I was wondering about that. I’m not experienced in shows and wasn’t sure what the ‘routine’ was when something like this happens (they are dogs after all, lol!~) Personally I thought she did pretty well giving it the ol’ college try while still being positive with the pup. At what point (when at a big show!) do you say “Oh, well, we’re done” when in the middle of showing your dog? Keep in mind, I live with a Dal and am used to public displays of humor ;)
Another question, that was the breed competition, right? Was that ring large? At the Garden for Westminster, the breed rings are much smaller it seems. . . they usually have 6 on the floor at once.
Comment by straybaby — November 29, 2008 @ 3:24 am
No, that was the toy group competition. The little pup had already worked hard just to get there, and it was her first show.
She’d had enough.:)
Comment by Lis — November 29, 2008 @ 6:12 am
I think that AKC Conformation is like Obedience.. you can’t leave the ring unless the judge excuses you (which rarely happens, as far as I know.. but in Conformation, you don’t even get excused if your dog, um, “fouls” the ring) I know in Obedience, you have to ask, and your dog has to be sick or injured. Not like agility, where if for ANY reason you don’t feel able to compete, you just ask to be excused (really just a formality) and leave the ring.
I’m sure the handler was extremely nervous; she was trying to do the best for/with that puppy. I bet she was GLAD to be given the chance to leave.
Comment by EmilyS — November 29, 2008 @ 8:29 am
The would not usually pick a dog up until they had left the ring except for placing them on the examination table as is the practice with Toys.
The idea is actually to never carry your dog at a show (unless it’s really crowded and unsafe not to) because the judges are always watching the dogs even outside of the ring.
So, the judge gave her permission, not an instruction, to pick up the pup.
That is one smart little dog and now she knows how to get attention. I suspect this will be repeated. LOL
Comment by Selma — November 29, 2008 @ 2:31 pm
Years back, we had a handler showing Tessa for us in puppy class. Half way around the ring, and Tessa noticed me hiding behind a tree near ring side, watching her show, and she PUT. THE. BRAKES. ON.
She would NOT move. Not for anything. The hander tried tried tried — gave up, picked her up, and carried her around. The judge was very understanding - the handler was pissed at me for making her look bad by distracting my dog.. lol!
That was almost fourteen years ago — Tess just turned 14, and she is still just as stubborn, and just as much a mommy’s girl. She ended up needed 1 more single to finish, and never getting it because showing traumatized her too much. Lack of a “CH” doesn’t change how lovely she is, though :)
Comment by FrogDogz — November 30, 2008 @ 2:22 pm
What had me chuckling was that the handler was (inadvertently, I’m sure) actually *rewarding* her for plopping down. Why do I say that? Well, watch and see when and how the handler gave her the treat - puppy would plop, handler would try to get her to move, and then would walk TO her and feed her the treat AS SHE WAS LAYING THERE. Over and over.
So puppy was learning “Oh, if I plop down and lay here, I’ll get a treat. And if I don’t get my treat right away, I just have to wait a *bit* longer and she’ll come over and give it to me!”
I’m sure the handler was too rattled to even realize this at the time, but she should have held the treat out far enough ahead of the puppy that the puppy would have had to get up and take some steps FORWARD to get it.
Hopefully she’ll think of this if it happens again. And hopefully puppy didn’t learn this lesson TOO well! LOL!
Comment by The OTHER Pat — November 30, 2008 @ 4:30 pm
Oh yeah … it’s like my silly neighbors, who stuff treats into their yappy dogs to shut them up. Wow, I wonder why THAT doesn’t work?
They’re such sweet women — two sisters, sharing a home — and true animal lovers. But they think training a dog “breaks his spirit.” Of course, they don’t realize that a pet gets trained one way or the other.
Oh well.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — November 30, 2008 @ 4:38 pm
“Of course, they don’t realize that a pet gets trained one way or the other”
—(and)or the owners do. :O)
Comment by Lori — December 1, 2008 @ 8:50 am
That is too cute!! Thanks for sharing!!
Comment by Natalie — December 8, 2008 @ 9:07 am