I have one question I need your help with. I have been wondering how to show and present a belgian shepherd as best as possible since I got one, and now that I have signed up for Eurodog in Tulln, this 'problem' has become even more present in my mind. At first I didn't approve of dog shows, but then I went to a couple of them, met a lot of people who have become my friends and really started enjoying them .
In this 5 years I have visited about 10 shows with Sambo; unfortunatelly in Slovenija belgians aren't very popular, even less for shows. So I haven't had a chance to observe more experienced people handling their belgians. Since our breed is supposed to be presented in a natural way as possible, I would like to know how to show my dog to make him look as good as he is . Running is not a problem, but when standing Sambo tends to not extend his hind legs enough, so the line of the back doesn't look its best. I usually tell him to stand still and with my leg gently tap one of his hind legs - then he moves it a bit back and by this the back looks better. We are not supposed to put the dog in a right position, so how to correct such mistakes? Another option is a discrete double handling - not the type you see in GSDs and Great Danes, of course . But I hear some judges don't allow even that. Got any tips?
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''If sometimes you feel a little useless, offended and depressed, always remember that you were once the fastest and victorious sperm in your group.''
The best way to show your Belgian (in my opinion), is to have him shown by somebody else who knows how to correct the position of the paws by moving the lead.
When you don't have this possibility (like I most of the time do), I either stand beside him with a cookie in front of him or when it is permitted by the judge I will let him do a stand still in the ring on his own and I will place myself on the opposite side of him a few meters away from him so that the judge has space to move around.
Here in Belgium and also in other countries there is nothing discrete about the double handling. The people opposing to double handling are most of the time people who have a breed which they can place "correctly". I follow show training at my dog club and in the beginning I also got comments on the noise BSD people make. I asked them how they would show a dog that cannot be placed and where the handler stands behind the dog (in most cases) and making sure that the feet are put on one line 10 cm apart from each other. Then they agreed that it is difficult without double handling.
I also think judges should take into account whether a dog is shown single handed or with double handling. In the first case the dog will present himself less than in the second case.
I have also taught Yentos a special command to stand in show position and if I give the command he will position his feet until I say it is ok. If it takes too long I will let him walk backwards until his feet stand in the right position.
It takes some training but it will pay off.
Saskia
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He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion.
I have sent you an e-mail with pictures of Yentos posing at the BSD specialty.
Saskia
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He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion.
Andryana, I know how it should look like, just don't know how to achieve it .
Saskia, how does the moving the lead affect the position of the paws and how do you do that? Sounds interesting, but I have never seen it, I think...
I also do the standing beside him with a treat in my hand, but this doesn't improve the position of the hind legs. What sometimes helps is telling him to walk backwards and then encouraging him to move forward again and with the leash blocking him in the position where he is leaning slightly forward and has his back straightened up. But doesn't always work .
I don't approve of the double handling where people jump up and down like monkeys, stampeding over the crowd circling the ring, making a mess and all the dogs and people near very nervous. Fortunatelly, I have never seen this in a ring with BSDs. But calling the dog's name from outside the ring once or twice to get his attention and throwing his toy in the air is just as effective and indoubtedly less disturbing for others. I know some judges who don't allow double handling, but where fine with my friends calling the dog once and showing him his toy.
One more question - how did you teach Yentos that, by placing the paws in correct position with your hands or waiting for him to stand ok and then rewarding?
Thank you for the pictures! And if anybody else has some tips to add, they are more than welcome.
Ursa
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''If sometimes you feel a little useless, offended and depressed, always remember that you were once the fastest and victorious sperm in your group.''
My older bitch does the work on her own...I just have to say "STAY" and she'll stand there very proudly...the only problem remains the ears...she won't put them up if there is no familiar sound or reward. My younger bitch is not so "experienced" so she still needs someone "on the other side" to, not call her, but just show her her "reward" (a mini tug). It's not noisy, it's descrete but pays off!
In our breed standard belgian shepherd is described as alert and vivid dog. And because dogs owner is the most important thing to it, it usually presents itself best, when owner is not in the ring with it. Actually setting of it's paws is not correct, but all dogs have no will to carry themselves in the ring. Most important is to see, that dog keeps it's feet so that the backline is not broken. But I don't know easier breed to take to the ring. You just go there, run, stop and that's it. Or then I've just been extremely lucky with mine. Here's Nelli pictured so that I kept the leash myself. She is a natural princess, but her grandmother was just like a cow in the ring.
And here's Nelli's sire all free on the yard seeing something interesting without any command at all, nor leash.
Good handler makes any dog look at least pretty - but the true fire comes from the inside of the dog. Best way to lighten it up is to get thouselves a handler and stay out of the ring yourself.
J
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Coffee and love are something you just can't warm up again.
Here in Belgium we have show training classes (I am not talking about junior and senior handling) and there we are asked to present our dogs in such a way that front paws are on one line with feet pointing forward in parallel, back paws on one line and left side and right side paws on one line so the distance between the front paws and between the back paws is equal so you get a nice rectangular form. And this is difficult when you want to do that without putting a dog's feet in the right position. I have shown breeds where you can position the dog and I always find that less difficult (at least when the dog is used to be shown).
Saskia
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He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion.
Over here in the Netherlands we also have show training class, with our first two males we did learn by just doing it but with ous Queeny we went do show training class and it was very usefull and also fun to do.
Well, the last weekend in April we went to a show in Croatia and were very successful ! We were both in a good mood, Sambo ran great, as always, and stood really good. You can see the evidence below. The judge was impressed about him and the three of us were happy with each other . Sambo was the only GN, unfortunately, but nevertheless, our success was still significant as we ended up as third in the first FCI group. So, what do you think about Sambo's posing?
Greetings, Ursa and Sambo (who is growing more and more bald )
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''If sometimes you feel a little useless, offended and depressed, always remember that you were once the fastest and victorious sperm in your group.''
Sambo shows excellent, hope for you to get more competition on the next show. Big congratulations on your group 3, that's very good for a Belgian. Herman
thanks for the compliments. The next competition is this weekend - I already know Sambo will be the only GN, but there will be 3 tervs. And then - to Tulln we go! I'm really looking forward to it.
I have visited quite some shows in my life, showing or just watching and have never seen a belgian among the three in the group, so I'm really happy for us.
Ursa
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''If sometimes you feel a little useless, offended and depressed, always remember that you were once the fastest and victorious sperm in your group.''
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. Running is not a problem, but when standing Sambo tends to not extend his hind legs enough, so the line of the back doesn't look its best. I usually tell him to stand still and with my leg gently tap one of his hind legs - then he moves it a bit back and by this the back looks better. We are not supposed to put the dog in a right position, so how to correct such mistakes? Another option is a discrete double handling - not the type you see in GSDs and Great Danes, of course 
. But I hear some judges don't allow even that. Got any tips? 
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