In previous blogs I have spoken about the fact that I used to show my
Shar Pei and I would like to use this post to give you the full story.
Since I was a little girl I always wanted a dog and never missed Crufts
on the TV since I can remember, but my mom was allergic so we never got one and
I had to wait till I moved out. My husband had a German Sheppard that had long
hair and was very hansom and I wanted to show him, but thought it rude. So when
I got my Shar Pei I looked into it and found a local club. (I wanted to show as
I thought it was extra training I could do with her and I wanted to meet more
people who loved the breed so I could learn more about them.)A friend came with
me and I was not expecting what I got. A cold icy reception from the trainers
about my breed and looks of disgust of some other exhibitors because I was just
doing it for fun and didn’t want to breed from her. When I am put in a
situation like this I ALWAYS put my foot in it and say things I don’t mean, or
a joke doesn’t go down well. So for the 6 weeks I attended the main trainer
often spoke to me like you would an old school teacher or in her case an old
fashioned dog trainer speaks to her dog. There were a few nice people that were
more than willing to talk to me about showing and giving me all the info I
needed, which I really appreciated and if I ever see them I always say hi and
ask how its going.
There were one couple there that had just started out them selves in
wanting to breed Pugs. I was so put off by them because they looked very mean
and never spoke. They had spent £1000 on a new puppy they wanted to breed from
so they were serious. It wasn’t until I left that club to travel 12 miles to
another very popular ringcraft that I was at a champ show and bumped into them.
Now out of respect I said hello and asked how they were doing, that’s when I
got the juicy inside story on Showing/Exhibiting. As they had started off they
were not placing anywhere and they said its all about who you know, so if both
of us were judges I would place him first and he would place me first if he was
judging. This blew me off my feet and that’s when it clicked why no one spoke
to me at my Shar Club as I have not shown I’m serious and that I have to do a
few years before I get placed, (to state I have entered about 15 shows and
always come last, I did get a first place once, but that was only because I was
the only one who entered that class)
This got me thinking about ‘CLICKS’ and how I have never been apart of a
‘click’ as they are just a bunch of sheep. I did however decided to start
paying attention to this accusation in the Shar Pei world, and did another year
showing. It turns out that this man was right and It’s nothing to do with your
dogs looks but who you know and what you can do for them and likewise. It was
even evident in the newer Shar Pei showers/exhibitors as they were not being
placed in their first year.
I relies that this is a BIG accusation and I only have 2 years to go on
but I must stress that this is my opinion on what I have seen.
When I was showing I was and still am a member of a Shar Pei club. Only
5% of people there spoke to me in the first year, which I really appreciated as
they really helped me out in showing techniques. After a year bang on, 70% of
exhibitors began to talk to me, mostly because I was asking my dog to do basic
tricks to keep her entertained and they all were “how do you get a Shar Pei to
do that’. As if they’re too stubborn to learn tricks. I think for this I gained
some respect as it showed that I put some time into her. Anyway that all
stopped when I started asking if they knew any breeders that had Flowered Shar
Pei, this didn’t go down well and they stopped talking to me again.
It’s a world that I didn’t want to be apart of, especially as they don’t
allow you to show Flowered Shar Pei, so I stopped showing and now only do fun
shows as I get to meet normal pet owners.
If I have offened you then I am sorry, you probably are all really nice
people and most of the British breeders are breeding nicer less wrinkly, more
healthy Shar pei, so well done you and the Cufts winner was a stunner so keep
it up. But this is my observation and how I feel about how i was treated, and would love for respect of a younger person wanting to get into it.
It turns out that I am apart of a click, maybe on the far outskirts but
the HTM folk seem ok, but yet again, nearly several years on there are some
that would rather not talk to me. I’ll save that for another post.
