Hi everyone, I have been reading through all the posts related to showing and wondered for all of you who do show your dogs what was it that made you decide to? I have never showed a dog and never considered it either but I have found myself wondering about it recently and if perhaps it would be a fun thing to do with my boy. As Orion gets older and is spending less time napping and more time with me I am starting to look into activities for us to do together - agility, sledding etc and just wanted to find out more about the show experience from those who have done it. I realize that by no means is every dog show quality and to be honest I have no idea if Orion would be or not I was just curious

We've been strongly adviced by our breeder. She even takes him to show with her dogs.

I haven't totally decided I want to show, I went to my first one yesterday as a spectator and left my puppy at home. It's something I'm thinking about as well. I am starting conformation handling classes with him in about 3 weeks, and that combined with attending to watch I think will help me decide. It's something I'm interested in, but I haven't been able to sort out yet exactly what's motivating that for me, lol. If I actually want to do it, or if its an ego thing ha ha. I'm not sure what its like where you are, but I have heard that here, it's very competitive and political. If you breeder shows he/she is probably the best resource for getting information and maybe even finding a mentor. You can attend shows with him or her and get an inside scoop on what's what. I think it's sort of a cliquish and hard to break the ice group. Luckily,there is another forum member near me that is working to show her dog, who is a six month old puppy, that I met up with yesterday. She's gotten to know a few people and I got to hang out with her yesterday. It was pretty fun.

Thanks I went to quite a few shows when I was researching different breeds and what would be best for me - I never thought I would end up with a sibe! I think it was the bond that seemed to be present between the dogs and their people really stuck with me.
It is quite competitive but I'm quite competitive too lol so that doesn't really worry me
I have been trying to find conformation handling classes here but there are none
I will have a chat with my breeder and take it from there luckily for me she not only shows but is a well respected judge here so I will take Orion and get her thoughts, for all I know he may not even be of show quality...

It sounds like she is a great resource! Post some pictures of Orion when you have a moment. I'd love to see him!

Absolutely especially since she is only 10 minutes away
I definitly will when I get a chance it would be interesting to get some opinions of him since his lineage is strongly american. Sibes are still not a "big" breed here in NZ so we do not have the variation you guys seem to so I just love looking at pictures on this site!