Companion shows are just for fun and so are well worth entering if you enjoy that kind of thing. My WL shepherd and longcoated shepherds have done well and enjoyed their day out at some of these fun dog shows However, I am guessing my WL - and any others - would be laughed out of a breed show, especially if the Judge were a WGSL fan.

Yep judges are a strange breed in themselves. I have had some that prefer the smaller black and white collies instead of my red and white collie which is the right height and size for the breed. In German Shepherds they are all so very different and the judges there have their favourites, the same as in Golden Retrievers. But there we all have our favourites.

Our border collies have no standard as such - as they are either ISDS registered or non registered working sheepdogs. We have a variety of shapes, sizes and colours, but all are beautiful in their own right. Again, they would not suit most show judges.

You are right though, I think we all have our own favourites and idea of what is the ideal shape, size, colour, conformation.

I go just to wind up the show line GSD owners and I've got some really positive feedback about my girls condition and focus but the highest we've placed in a KC Regulated show is 3rd (maybe 2nd once but I'm not sure) but we do a lot of companion and fun shows too and she always shines.

I think with the new standards this could be a opening for more correct IMO dogs to start representing the breed, at the end of the day it's supposed to be to show case the best of the breed that should be able to handle a hard days work for the job they were bred to do. My girl is far from a show dog but we do it for fun - if it's not fun it's not worth it for us.

We parked behind a white van at Stoneleigh last week, it had a CrazyDogLady logo on the back, and a very appropriate number plate. Was that you? If you think I'm being nosey - just ignore this post.

I wish I had that number plate and a big van no it wasn't me I'm afraid

Just a coincidence then. You wait ages for a crazy dog lady, and two come along at the same time!

She looks nice. What is her pedigree, if you don't mind me asking?

At this year's German Sieger this DDR working line dog was V84 (up from V90 last year).

Maybe in the near future, the working lines will be seen more often in show rings. (However, it will be noted that this particular dog is also quite - erm - "shapely" when compared to many WLs).

Thankyou I think she's quite nicely put together. Oh off the top of my head I know there's wolf heart, bricketwood and aristima (excuse the spelling and I only mind them as I've looked on the breeders pages ) but I'll try dig out her papers at some point. She's bred by a pet breeder and I didn't expect her to turn out as nice as she has. She'll try her paw to anything and for me she's a perfect dog 👍