angelsophie Posted March 4, 2010 Share Posted March 4, 2010 I am a fairly new exhibitor and hubby is about to give it a go too. We were talking on the way home from our last show about Gr Ch he was asking whats the point in showing a gr ch as its as high as you can go. There is one in our breed being shown still and a few that are regularly shown in our group here. My thoughts are you love winning(well dont we all LOL), love exhibiting that particular dog, or love showing and have limited dogs ? The one we show with/against alot is an iggy and I will admit I LOVE watching this dog in the ring and while he has many thousands of points and I have seen him take loads of in groups watching him and his owner in the ring is something special. Its effortless and they work as a team. Something to strive for as a new exhibitor! So my opinion is if they show so well together, enjoy it and are sucessfull - then why not! So what did you/do you do and why? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dogsfevr Posted March 4, 2010 Share Posted March 4, 2010 I own 2 at home & have titled many for others. My 2 at home where grand titled at 2 & 3 yrs,well before there prime.To retire them on the title alone would mean there show career had truly never began. My 2 yr did his biggest winning at 5/6 which is expected in the breed . My other went on to win multi BISS at 4/5 Both also multi BIS winners. I dont breed but campaign my dogs ,what i have is what i show through till retirement. The reality is grand title is no different than Aust ch.If they cant be beaten at either level then it either means the quality of the others isnt there & or they just not ready yet, I would hate to see grand ch retired well before there prime which is what happens to most Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angelsophie Posted March 4, 2010 Author Share Posted March 4, 2010 I own 2 at home & have titled many for others.My 2 at home where grand titled at 2 & 3 yrs,well before there prime.To retire them on the title alone would mean there show career had truly never began. My 2 yr did his biggest winning at 5/6 which is expected in the breed . My other went on to win multi BISS at 4/5 Both also multi BIS winners. I dont breed but campaign my dogs ,what i have is what i show through till retirement. The reality is grand title is no different than Aust ch.If they cant be beaten at either level then it either means the quality of the others isnt there & or they just not ready yet, I would hate to see grand ch retired well before there prime which is what happens to most hmmm I hadnt taken into account the different maturity rates accross different breeds. Having a coated dog I understand that although he hits one next week he wont have a truely mature coat for a while - we are still going through coat change!! lol but I do agree to retire just because they hit a number would be a shame especially before their prime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dogsfevr Posted March 4, 2010 Share Posted March 4, 2010 nearly every breed is in there prime from 3 onwards,some even latter. My 2 are coated breeds who are at there peak from 4 onwards. My current youngster by breed tradition isnt in its prime till 7 onwards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angelsophie Posted March 4, 2010 Author Share Posted March 4, 2010 do you think many dogs are retired from the ring after they hit their Grand for no other reason than they have achieved their grand? Apologies if these q's are stupid - just curious. I havent been playing this game long enough to know the answers or to have seen enough Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dogsfevr Posted March 4, 2010 Share Posted March 4, 2010 I dont now of many who have retired grands unless there where elder dogs when made up, Certainly the dogs i owned/showed & the ones owned by fellow friends have all been shown fully if the dogs are still competitive. Some may have been partially retired just for the big shows but often these people had other dogs . In my case i didnt have other dogs so they where retired on big wins or when you new it was the right time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelpiesrule Posted March 4, 2010 Share Posted March 4, 2010 Just because a dog is a Grand Champion doesnt mean it is unbeatable. My young boy who is not even a year old yet, is consistantly beating a Grand Champion at the moment.. and I know if I had his mother out in the ring (she is also a Grand) he would be beating her too. As Showdog said, most of us love showing our dogs (most of us only have one or two)... it isnt always about the winning, my girl loves to show and it is such a joy to run around the ring with her. I still get excited with every win she picks up. She is now six, and I have two young ones from her to bring along, so she will be semi retired.... but I do miss having her at the end of the lead. I also think it would be a loss to the dog world to not keep showing fantastic specimans that are consistant winners. With these dogs, we should not be giving up showing, thinking we will never be competitive with them.. because one day.. we just might be. I always say to my friends, dont give up, dont complain, breed or buy something that CAN beat them Hang in there... we have to remember our young ones need time to mature, and there is hope they will also be Grands one day too :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hilaryo Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 (edited) We have only been showing for 7 years so are probably still considered "newbies". My girl is about 50 points off her grand and will be retired from the show ring when she is finished which will hopefully be in the next month or so. We will bring her out for a few more specialities because we are hoping to gain a special award by our national breed council under a strict criteria. She has just recently turned 6 years of age but it is harder for a bitch to gain her grand than a dog if she has had time out for litters, seasons, and in the case of my bitch, quite a bit of time out for injury also. Added to that she will be the first bitch of her colour to gain her grand title in Australia. I guess to answer your question, no we will not be showing her after that. She will be desexed probably next year to hopefully avoid pyometra and reproductive cancers. I will be looking forward to doing some other activities with her in the future. Edited March 5, 2010 by hilaryo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandra777 Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 (edited) Not a Gr Ch, but a major winning bitch (to the extent only two other bitches gained their titles in the region she was shown during her 5 year career, and one of them was ours ) The point of a competition is to compete with the best. If your dog (not meaning you personally!) isn't good enough to beat the best, whats the point? It just becomes a conveyor belt - ch or gr ch hops off, another puppy hops on Edited March 5, 2010 by Sandra777 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirst_goldens Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 Not a Gr Ch, but a major winning bitch (to the extent only two other bitches gained their titles in the region she was shown during her 5 year career, and one of them was ours ) The point of a competition is to compete with the best. If your dog (not meaning you personally!) isn't good enough to beat the best, whats the point? It just becomes a conveyor belt - ch or gr ch hops off, another puppy hops on +1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angelsophie Posted March 5, 2010 Author Share Posted March 5, 2010 Thanks guys for your answers. I am only new and me and my tobes will be hitting the ring for a while yet :D We all love it. And while he may never get a gr title I hope to be showing him into his prime. It was just one of those questions we were curious about but didnt really know anyone to ask. Personally I'd be dissapointed if this iggy wasnt shown anymore hes really lovely and I always watch him go round when hes here. Just one of those dogs that makes me stop and stare - and clearly very competitive still. Bec Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skyehaven Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 If they enjoy it, look good and are still winning, I keep showing them, although I pick and choose my judges more as show other dogs too, and if my Grand wins under a judge I know won't look at my breed for group, it is points my others could have got that need them more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest CaptainCourageous Posted March 6, 2010 Share Posted March 6, 2010 I've had 3 Grands. The youngest goes into the ring this afternoon. I'm more interested in having an exhibit that can compete for Challenge and higher than whether that exhibit has gone Grand yet. A slightly different question is "Why award Challenge Points to Grand Champions"? (Note I'm not talking about Challenge, just what goes with it). When the exhibit has reached a thousand, points are irrelevant and I don't understand why we trouble the ticket writers to write them out. Friends talk of their triple Grands and quadruple Grands but there's no such thing, stop counting at 1000 please. CC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dellcara Posted March 6, 2010 Share Posted March 6, 2010 A slightly different question is "Why award Challenge Points to Grand Champions"? (Note I'm not talking about Challenge, just what goes with it). When the exhibit has reached a thousand, points are irrelevant and I don't understand why we trouble the ticket writers to write them out. Because who knows whats around the corner ..... they may one day introduce yet another title ...... I'm currently showing 2 Grands... although am much more particular about who I show to now that they have their titles.... I always make sure I pick up my CC Certiicates, or get someone to collect them for me ... I know some people who don't and I think it's extremely rude. cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BittyMooPeeb Posted March 7, 2010 Share Posted March 7, 2010 I'm interested in this topic too . Angelsophie and I both have coated breeds, so I am curious as to whether people would keep showing as much after obtaining a Ch or Gr Ch with a high maintenance coated breed? If, say, an exhibitor only had time to maintain two coated show dogs at one time, they may need to retire titled dogs to spend their time on the youngsters. And another thing I have been wondering, since the new Gr Ch rules came in, is how people decide whether to try for this title with each particular dog. How do you decide if a particular dog is a potential BIG or BIS winner? (hope this isnt too OT AS ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dogsfevr Posted March 7, 2010 Share Posted March 7, 2010 (edited) my guys are coated. The 2 in question took 4 hrs pre groom/trim & 5/6 hrs show bath/dry & no i didnt retire in any hurry Edited March 8, 2010 by showdog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angelsophie Posted March 8, 2010 Author Share Posted March 8, 2010 Nope BMP - not OT I am interested in this stuff and well - dont know anyone to ask. I appreciate that we have this forum and can ask these questions I hope to have le brat in the ring for a long time yet - I guess being my only show dog at present I just cant imagine even being at a show without him. LOL Out of curiosity showdog - what breed do you have? I take ages to groom a toy coated dog and still cant do it well I enjoy grooming him though - its my therapy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemelo Posted March 8, 2010 Share Posted March 8, 2010 Bec you are doing an awesome job grooming Toby, he always looks great, except for if there is a bit of wind around, the he looks like he is going to blow away! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlissPrideaux Posted March 8, 2010 Share Posted March 8, 2010 I have had two Gr's and I showed both of them for approx 12 months after they were titled. I retired them when they were still on top and winning well. I believe that you owe it to the dog to give them a retirement with dignity. Some people call me silly - but I dont regret my decisions.. They were fantastic show dogs and deserved to go out on a high note. My first grand I retired when he was still entered in shows! He took RUBIG, one son took minor in group the other junior in group and I went - well that's it!! Night night nurse!! He really retired on a high!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angelsophie Posted March 8, 2010 Author Share Posted March 8, 2010 that is an awesome way to retire!! well done! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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