Australia - Six states..and that funny little island.

[Fancychooklady]

I can attest to the b*tchiness and downright nasty attitudes some exhibitors have at dog shows.  I have seen it with my own eyes, but thankfully I've never been a part of it or on the receiving end of someone's tirade. 
Just this past weekend I was at our huge Dalmatian National where more than 130 dalmatians were shown; I was there with my pup Yahtzee.  I must say it was a lovely and pleasant day with no nastiness that I saw.  

Yes, there are are small handful who take things way too far or only care about that ribbon, but for the most part, I do enjoy dog showing very much. 

I have seen it across many disciplines. Poultry, dogs, cats and horses. For some , competition brings out the worst in them. It's particularly unkind in the horse ring as there is usually a kid on the animal being maligned. The state squad that our daughter is on has its own psychologist to deal with good sportsmanship and how to deal with the unsavory side of elite sport. The main reason we chose showjumping over eventing , dressage etc is that there is no ' human factor '
Ie, the judge isn't scoring higher because they are mates with a competitor or they used to own the horse etc. in showjumping the pole is either up or down and the clock shows whether or not you achieved optimum time.

 

[appps]

Well I've worked out to make your chickens start laying again. Wait at least six weeks without eggs then re-worm because you don't think they drank it the first time, wait two days then the chickens will start lining up for the nesting box. Collect eggs then throw in bin for the next two weeks......sigh

 

[K Spot]

I have seen it across many disciplines. Poultry, dogs, cats and horses. For some , competition brings out the worst in them. It's particularly unkind in the horse ring as there is usually a kid on the animal being maligned. The state squad that our daughter is on has its own psychologist to deal with good sportsmanship and how to deal with the unsavory side of elite sport. The main reason we chose showjumping over eventing , dressage etc is that there is no ' human factor '
Ie, the judge isn't scoring higher because they are mates with a competitor or they used to own the horse etc. in showjumping the pole is either up or down and the clock shows whether or not you achieved optimum time.

Yep, that sounds like a good discipline to be in, in the horse world. I've been around horses all my life, but have never competed with them, not am I really ever likely to.
Too much money I think for me to fork out on top of the dog showing

 

[satay]

Hehe, I'd be glad to hang my gumboots up for the rest of winter. This morning it was zero , my windscreen was frozen over. So I fill the watering can and run water accross it , daughter sitting in car saying ' hurry up mum ' thinks she is helping by turning on the wipers. drenched me. No time to change , threw the wet jacket in the back and pray for the heater to warm up.

Oh no kids they always think they are helping.

 

[IamSamSam]

Well I've worked out to make your chickens start laying again. Wait at least six weeks without eggs then re-worm because you don't think they drank it the first time, wait two days then the chickens will start lining up for the nesting box. Collect eggs then throw in bin for the next two weeks......sigh

Lol gotta love that Murphy bloke !

 

[Teila]

TGIF!

I have been battling a sore throat, itchy eyes and blocked up nose; sadly not enough to warrant time off work, but just enough to make each work day seem twice as long and test the patience/tolerance levels.

appps as Fancy mentioned, Carl may be trying to top up some mineral that she is lacking.

Welcome back ambersfarm

Anniebee I am in total agreement with you on the not showing an animal which obviously gets stressed.

Like you, I gave up the showing arena a long time ago … I enjoyed the shows, same as K Spot but not so much some of the other participants. My sister still breeds and shows the most beautiful Rough Collies.

On one occasion a breeder’s kennel was broken into and her champion Collie which had been winning many shows had his coat hacked with a pair of scissors so that he could not be shown!

I also spent some time in the Dog Obedience Circles as both a Trainer of beginner and intermediate classes and competing with a couple of my Collies; having successfully trained a dog to UD level. There was a fellow competitor who had the most well behaved dogs I had ever seen and easily one every competition we were in. I noticed that her dogs did, however, not seem to enjoy what they were doing. We struck up a friendship and she offered to assist with a youngster I was having trouble with; he had the attention span of a gnat. I went out to her place with him for some guidance and she produced a spiked collar! I don’t think so!! Friendship cancelled on the spot!

I wasn’t really cut out for the Obedience Competition either …. I wanted my dogs to enjoy what they were doing, not preconditioned robots; this meant I didn’t stand a chance against others who had other training methods and the slightest lapse in concentration was not tolerated. Both myself and my dogs were a bit too goofy

Had a chuckle at the helpful children and Murphy’s Law tales

Integration news: LuLu, who I think is at the bottom of the ladder, not sure because her and Blondie are always bickering as to just who is bottom, decided to tell Crystal that she was going to be the new bottom rung, Crystal had other ideas and puffed out her little chest and stood her ground … so cute!

Later, LuLu thought it was time for a refresher and this time managed to corner Crystal who was not feeling so brave this time and sung out for her mumma, LuLu got told in no uncertain terms by Cilla that this would not be tolerated.

Not deterred, LuLu thought she would have one more try and this time got told off by Dusty! Looks like Crystal and KiKi have a new ally

No one is getting hurt during this, just little warnings and reminders of your place on the ladder.

I kinda feel sorry for LuLu, she is probably thinking ‘woo hooo, I am not bottom rung anymore’ but if the flock dynamics continue on the current path, she may still end up at the bottom

 

[appps]

It's not just animals either, competition brings out the worst in non animal competitors too. My mum used to enter the flower arranging in the local show and took out a lot of prizes. Towards the end she had to take her arrangements right at the last minute then wander round till it was closed for judging to keep an eye on them as one of the other ladies used to sabotage them. An arrangement would be turned so not the best side, a ribbon pulled out to show a previously hidden un hemmed edge etc etc. bizarre behaviour really as even when you took out a heap of firsts and best in show you were lucky to win even $20.

 

[Teila]

appps that is ridiculous and petty! For a possible $20 prize!

As I mentioned, I am not cut out for shows etc because I have never taken competition seriously and spend more time goofing off than actually trying to win something.

Back in my younger days, many, many, many years ago I played competition Squash and didn’t take that seriously either. I remember playing a game against a like mind competitor and we were mucking around so much and having so much fun, our teams were starting to get annoyed with the amount of time it was taking us to decide a winner. I made a decision to ‘concentrate’ and won the match for this reason but I still had more fun playing than I did winning.

One match I got knocked unconscious when hit in the head with my opponents racket (accidental) and as it turned out, unbeknown to me, I was pregnant at the time

 

[satay]

appps that is ridiculous and petty!  For a possible $20 prize!

As I mentioned, I am not cut out for shows etc because I have never taken competition seriously and spend more time goofing off than actually trying to win something.

Back in my younger days, many, many, many years ago I played competition Squash and didn’t take that seriously either.  I remember playing a game against a like mind competitor and we were mucking around so much and having so much fun, our teams were starting to get annoyed with the amount of time it was taking us to decide a winner.  I made a decision to ‘concentrate’ and won the match for this reason but I still had more fun playing than I did winning.

One match I got knocked unconscious when hit in the head with my opponents racket (accidental) and as it turned out, unbeknown to me, I was pregnant at the time   

Omg. Teila that's terrible. Years ago I used to play a mixed in door volley ball with friends. One of the guys on our team this day kept making mistakes and got so annoyed once he slammed the ball in to the wall and it came back and hit me in the face knocked me fair over but not unconscious thankfully.

 

[Deej211]

 To Deej211 .... have to ask.   Is it possible that your "araucana x pullet" ,,,, was crossed out of a barnevelder x mating ?   So much lacing on that lovely bird. 

Great photographs - lovely chickens - all of them.  ... The eggs are superb - colours fantastic.  

Cheers .... Anniebee. 

yes i believe there is definitely some barnevelder in her somewhere.