From Working dog to Show dog….

few months ago, I had a picture of one of my dogs shortlisted in a national photo competition for a well-known dog food brand. Part of the prize was to go to London, stay in a lovely hotel and take part in the opening of the photo exhibition at a gallery… with the dog! My dogs are all 100% working dogs and have not really been near a place remotely like London yet I like to think that they’ve all got a sound temperament so off I went with my Labrador to London, on the train then the Tube, in a London black cab and then to the Gallery which was full of other dogs and people.

It was into the ‘deep end’ and certainly not something we had ‘trained’ to do but my gundog coped very well with being a city dog and after that experience we now have the outmost respect for all city dogs. Inspired by our success of coping with big crowds, a thought suddenly hit me: Crufts!! Maybe we could try our luck in the show ring?

During the last couple of years BASC has taken on the task of running a ring for working gundogs at Crufts known as the Gamekeepers Ring. Here you’ll find classes such as ‘Regional Gamekeeper Team competition’ and classes restricted to gamekeepers and retired gamekeepers only, as well as ‘Best dog/bitch – for working gundogs’. The working gundog element is taken very seriously and anyone wanting to enter must have a declaration filled in by the Gamekeeper of the shoot they have worked their dog on which must be sent together with the entry form.

Cruft is THE showing event of the year and for us working dog folk it can perhaps only be compared with our big championships such as the IGL retriever championship, and showing people from all over the World spent a lot of time (and money) qualifying a dog for this event. Showing is a serious business and should not be taken lightly yet here I was filling in the entry forms for Crufts entering a dog that has never been in a show ring in his life!

Why would someone doing 60-70 days of picking-up with a bit of beating and walked-up shooting thrown in between, even contemplating showing their dog? Where as many working dog people may have turned their back to showing, dog shows have actually not excluded working bred gundogs and beside the BASC Gamekeepers classes at Crufts there are also classes for Field trailling dogs/bitches. Indeed, show judges have been asked to go and watch Field Trials to make sure that they’re fully up to speed with what is required of a working gundog. The show World has taken steps to ensure that gundog breeds are ‘fit for function’ where as some may argue that working gundog breeders have conveniently ‘forgotten’ about any breed standards which could , inadvertently, make our gundogs ‘less fit for function’. Looking at my own working bred Labradors, they vary a great deal in size and build and during the shooting season, I often come across very small working Labradors which are fine for retrieving pheasants or partridges but would struggle with bigger quarry such as hares and gees.

Having sent the entry forms for Crufts away, it suddenly dawns on me that there’s no way back now and it hits me that I’ve got less than 2 months to prepare myself and the dog for the show ring. We are going to be in BASC Gamekeepers Ring in the class: Best working gundog – dog (Labradors). My clothes are easily taken care of: breeks or leather trousers, shirt and shooting waistcoat and maybe also my tweed shooting jacket; picking-up/shooting style clothes which I noted most handlers were wearing last year. Preparing my dog is a whole different ballgame! First I had to read many pages of show rules and regulations where I leant that I’m not allowed to dye my dog’s coat or add anything to the coat which will remain there while showing my dog. Then I leant that when it comes to the disciplines of showing and ring craft many clubs are offering classes for training those exact disciplines for which I have very little time to teach myself. Having a good looking dog is clearly not enough if you can’t present it right.

The most difficult task is going to be to teach my gundog to ‘stand’ – as 99% of the rest of the gundogs in the UK, my dog will automatically sit when I stand still and that is a big ‘no, no’ in a show ring. He will need to remain standing and then he needs to face me and not be beside me.

A quick look at last year’s entries and winners confirms my worst fear: 1st 2nd and 3rd placed dogs were all dogs of show lines and indeed regularly shown. I’ve entered a class for working gundogs but I am indeed up against experienced show handlers and show dogs which have been worked on a shoot something that may sound odd to many working dog folk. The declaration that the gamekeeper must fill in state that: “…Owner has been a valuable and regular member of my picking up team/beating team together with his/hers dog…”

For some this might mean working their dog a total of 5 days on a small shoot per season whereas many (that includes my dog) are working a considerably many more days per season and this is where the show vs working bred discussions starts: a show bred dog might be perfectly capable of doing anything below 10 days of picking up or beating per season but would it be able to cope with maybe 40 or 50 days of 200 bird driven days?

In spite of all this I’m still going to show my 100% working bred Labrador at Crufts together with many other 100% working bred Labradors because we need to show the judges that there are good looking working Labradors out there which pretty much conform with the breed standard. As a working dog breeder I need to go because it is my responsibility to make sure that my breeding stock is not only healthy and fit but also with a  conformation big and strong enough to remain ‘fit for function’.

For More information visit www.contendergundogs.co.uk