A Dog Show; No Bully Show

Today I went to a dog show, no wait it was a bully show. Today was indeed very educational. There is a big difference between a dog show and a bully show. A dog show is very organized and gorgeous dogs trot around the ring as the judge scrutinizes the shape and body of the dog. We wait with abated breath trying our hardest to pick out the winner. The handlers are dressed in their finest yet not taking away from the dog. I know of handlers that try to color coordinate their outfits to the dogs they are showing. The dogs are judge on breed standard and should be able to do the job they were bred to do.

Now the bully shows, come as you are in the show ring. No need to dress up, in fact just attach a tow chain to the dogs spiked collar. If the dog is groomed great if not no worries just take him on in the ring. The dogs are drug around the ring, as most of them couldn’t trot if they wanted to. You think I’m exaggerating? Oh no, these dogs couldn’t stand in the stack position for more than two seconds let alone trot proudly around the show ring. When in the stacked position the dogs would just collapse into splayed out mess. I must hand it to the judge; it must be very hard judging a bunch of pancake dogs. Speaking of the show ring, there are no mats, it is just a roped off area. The funniest thing of all was that there was a beer can in the middle of the ring and no one picked it up. Not a judge, ring steward or contestant had half a mind to kick the empty Bud Light can out of the show ring. What kind of job can a pancake dog do? Be a doorstop? A rug holder downer? Don’t get me wrong I love all dogs and even found a few of them not bad looking. In fact the ones I liked got the gate pretty quick. I found it easy to pick out the winner. Find the dog with the worst confirmation and that was the winner. My friend Pamela and I got pretty good at picking first, second and third. It cost $15 to get in the gate, most AKC and UKC shows are free, it cost to park, again free at most shows. I didn’t pay we hiked in. It cost to set up a booth or tent to hold your dogs. Most people there were young and I would think have a hard time making ends meet. Yet they are paying $3,000 or more for a dog. If I paid $3,000 for a dog, you’d better believe it would be a top notch Catahoula that could walk into a UKC ring and tear it up. It had better not only be able to stand for the judge, it had better be able to herd cattle all day and tree coons all night. Today was an educational day. I’m not meaning to offend the bully people, I just don’t understand the breed standard. Or the wanting to breed a dog that can’t do more than lay splayed out like a pancake.