I was at my first dog show at Sunday trying to figure out how to get into the breeding/show dog business
I came like 90 minutes late so I missed Dogo Argentino’s, German Shepherds and American Staffordshire Terriers
but I got to see other interesting breeds
my favorite breed is Cane Corso because it is strong, mastiff, calm, smart and obedient
and it’s really easy to show him, he will patiently wait for his turn to go to the show ring and you wouldn’t need any help showing him to the referee
but there’s one big problem with Cane Corso… drooling
I mean, a LOT of drooling
which is really bad because it’s such a great breed
I saw this one Cane Corso that was 11 months old, I guess some people from Zagreb own him
he was HUGE
really HUGE!
and he stood from all the other dogs in his age group, all of them were smaller and not his quality
but the problem was, the owners were nervous, since it was both their and the dogs first show
so they made a couple of mistakes handling the dog, trying to switch guides, calling the dog while he was running… that kind of stuff
and they lost ![]()
I was really pulling for them to win the show
so, I can easily breed Cane Corso and show him but drooling is a big negative
I’ve missed Dogo Argentino show but I got to see the dogs around the show ring and they were impressive in size and demeanor. All of them were calm except for one Dogo that was really aggressive and was caged.
they weren’t drooling which was a big + when you think about Cane Corso
but I somehow have the impression that they are not really smart
sure they’re nice, obedient but I want to see some Dogo obedience, tricks etc.
now let me talk about Rottweilers
I consider rotties my favorite breed right now
they are strong, smart, calm, trainable
they don’t drool much although I guess they drool some but nothing like Cane Corso
but they also tend to overeat (I would fix that
), can show people agression (I would influence that), and they’ve got REALLY strong prey drive
I mean they lock on to something and they are REALLY focused on that
and that’s something I think is misused at the dog shows, or at least this one
rotties had the entire ring, a huge ring, just for themselves for the whole duration of the dog show
what I didn’t like were people clowning themselves with toys so that the dog would stand focused on the toy and the ref could see the dog better
now, the ref didn’t ask those people to goof around
some of them were running outside the ring while the dogs were running in the ring circle, calling the dogs, playing funny sounds from using dog toys etc.
I REALLY didn’t like that
from what I’ve seen, it’s really tough to show a rottie
you need to have someone to occupy dog’s attention while you’re with him in the ring
that means either taking someone with you (wife, friend, cousin) that will loose the day with you or paying someone for the goofing job
Doberman Pinschers were a bit easier to show than rotties but not that easy
you still need to have someone to goof around with dog toys so that the dog would focus on the toys
but the ring is smaller, the dogs are not as aggressive as rotties, and dobbies don’t have such strong drives as rotties
or at least that’s what I saw
dobbies looked impressive with their athletic build and size
they looked great without tail and with cropped ears but I guess it’s cruel to the dogs
but on the other hand, how does a dobbie with a tail and natural ears look like? nothing much? I guess so
rotties have ugly, curled tails but I wouldn’t cut the tail from my rottie
I guess I’d have to if I was in a breeding job because people wan’t them without the tail
I guess I’ll learn more at my next dog show
but from what I hear, next show wouldn’t be until spring :-/
