about the shows here
Hey Lindsay
Personally, I don't do much to Kuma. I give him a good brushing before every run in the ring, and spray him a few times with a human "vitality/strength/shine" hair lotion thingy, that Silvia recommended once. Do hair dryers on him, nothing like that.
And I take it very lightly, no suits or any of that for me, thank you :-P
But a lot of people do all of that here too, with sprays and blow dryers, and whitening stuff to mask colour spots. The works. The Akita Kuma went up against in his first show, in Santarem last year, was a totally different dog before and after his grooming, for example.
It has to be about the dog, for me, and not the grooming of the dog. I know I'm pretty much alone on this, since it seems almost everyone else does it, but there are loads of things that can be done just by grooming, to hide some flaws of a specific dog. I don't like that at all.
Personally, I don't do much to Kuma. I give him a good brushing before every run in the ring, and spray him a few times with a human "vitality/strength/shine" hair lotion thingy, that Silvia recommended once. Do hair dryers on him, nothing like that.
And I take it very lightly, no suits or any of that for me, thank you :-P
But a lot of people do all of that here too, with sprays and blow dryers, and whitening stuff to mask colour spots. The works. The Akita Kuma went up against in his first show, in Santarem last year, was a totally different dog before and after his grooming, for example.
It has to be about the dog, for me, and not the grooming of the dog. I know I'm pretty much alone on this, since it seems almost everyone else does it, but there are loads of things that can be done just by grooming, to hide some flaws of a specific dog. I don't like that at all.
Comments
For the first few shows I did with Ike, I only did bathing, some brushing and water mist. He was the only Shiba at those events though. After these last 2 shows where there were more Shiba, my routine was changed a little, but I think this is due more to the way shows are here. I think when there are a lot of dogs people compare them to each other instead of to the standard because we are "competing" for points. I really don't like this point system. The other handlers told me to use white chalk, hair gel, dye, blowers, trimming, etc. None of this is allowed, but all the products are sold at the shows! I'm glad I know about that stuff now, but my dog is quality already, it feels like cheating. It's frustrating when so much emphasis is placed on grooming, like with poodles and shih tzus.
Are Japanese dogs usually shown with those more traditional tassel type leads in your area? People obsess about leads and collars here-the more invisable the better unless you want to impress the judge and then people really get crazy with jewells and beads on them, it's nuts.
Kuma gets a bath every 4 months, normally the week before the show that's happening at the time. We have a show next Saturday and I didn't give him a bath, even if it's time, because there will be the big Lisbon double show in 3 weeks. He'll get a good brushing though, even because he's at the last stage of his coat blowing. It's impressive to me how much hair came out of that dog, and he still manages to look very god and "showable".