This weekend we visited our friend Megan while on a trip to see our rehab vet (rechecks for Griffin and Viktor). We’ve had a long standing joke that we should do UKC conformation to get another opinion on whether Griffin or Tonks are structurally more “correct” for a golden retriever. We were able to go to a show – but we weren’t able to really get an answer.
Despite doing dog activities for many, many years, conformation isn’t something I know a lot about. my dogs haven’t been appropriate for it in the past and I’ve enjoyed other activities. UKC is much more informal than AKC. Dogs are not in the same sort of show groom – some dogs had tufts of fur coming off or unusual clips for the breed. I did a partial show groom on Tonks and Griffin – they just don’t have enough hair (and I don’t have enough skill) for the full thing to happen.
UKC allows for multiple shows on a day, so we did two shows on Saturday and two on Sunday. I don’t know exactly how the dogs are arranged – partially separating males and females and sometimes separating by age.
Griffin
We had one other male in his group – also a 9 year old. Griffin placed second to this dog each time and in one situation ended up with a “best male reserve” recognition. The other dog was a much more typical AKC type show dog, handled by someone far more experienced than me, and the dog knew more of what to do. Griffin did stand very well for his exams thanks to all his obedience training! One of the Saturday judges did give very brief comments and said the other boy was “more type-y” but that Griffin was “more fit.”
Tonks
She initially went in the ring alone for each show as she was the only 2-3 year old golden present. We would then go into the ring with the other female who was showing for a group portion. In three of the four shows – the other dog was easily placed above Tonks and the judge didn’t really give a second look. Interestingly enough to me – the judge who commented on Griffin’s fitness also made similar comments about Tonks and said her muscles are “rock hard!” She did place us as “best female” which was exciting. In the last show Tonks wasn’t feeling her best (waiting is boring) and we tried having her go in with a friend (a mistake!). The judge ended up commenting almost excusing them due to Tonks’ appearance and not looking enough like a golden! It goes to show how subjective conformation can be.
Agility
The trial also had UKC agility going on – I was really tempted to enter Griffin but we held off. UKC agility is not common where we are and is completely different from other programs. The fun part is that they have unusual obstacles not found anywhere else. An emphasis is placed on precision. This creates a very different skill set than what we commonly need at home. I’ve known of this program for 15+ years, so it was fun to finally see dogs doing a sway bridge or pause box in real life!
Lessons Learned
We learned a lot at the trial!
- Crating: At many types of dog shows, dogs are crated inside. I don’t usually do this because most trials in our are have very limited space and my dogs relax better in the car. Since my dogs haven’t been trained to crate indoors at a show, we had to hold them. My dogs are not patient. They are used to going to shows to do things – not to sit. I wasn’t prepared with chews as management which made things harder.
- Other People: Because there is so little time between the male and female classes, my dogs had to be ready and waiting right at the ring. Tonks loves other people and Griffin has interest in other people. They did not like waiting with other people. While this isn’t a skill we often need – I do want to work on it so we are more prepared for the future. I was surprised – but it’s also not something we’ve come across previously.
- Heat: It’s been an usually hot week in Minnesota (and most of the midwest). My dogs were hot. I was hot. I was not prepared to be in this weather – and we were expecting air conditioning in the building!
- Barking Dogs: Tonks had a really rough moment the first day when a crated dog barked at her. She was really nervous about that part of the room. I ended up carrying her past the area to help her feel more comfortable. She doesn’t get barked at much. We don’t walk in barky neighborhoods and while barking happens at agility trials, it isn’t her direction. Finding these training opportunities may be tricky – but this is definitely something we need to work on.
- Standing: Tonks has been doing well in training but had a really hard time standing for the judge. I was very surprised when she offered a sit as she has been so steady during lessons. We’ll need this for obedience!
Next Steps?
Will we do this again? Maybe for Tonks… she has more than half the points needed to finish her “championship.” And while this isn’t super important to me – it’s a good experience for me to have. I have occasional students who need confidence building for conformation situations and it will better help me teach 4-H’ers.