so true!! and as for sharing your lunch.... daph munches the majority of mine, because of course show days she knows her food is rubbish comapred to the stuff i have hiding in my bag

well yes lol but my point is the cheek is there to slate a dog who looks like what it is meant to when they have two designer cross breeds who lets face it the poodle and the golden retriever both get trimmed for the show ring anyway

I guess I forgot to tell my show dogs that they shouldn't run and chase balls in the sea this afternoon? Oh well!

I think it's pretty clear you don't know a lot of people that show their dogs. There are some people that will leave the dogs crated for periods of time, but the majority go so they can spend time with their dog and other like minded people. It's the same as the Doodle thing - there are some terrible breeders out there that essentially breed mutts and call them something fancy, with no hipscores, elbow scores or eye tests purely to make lots of money and there are others that don't. Just because the bad side exisists doesn't mean the good is irrelevant, especially when the good ones are in the majority as it is with dog showing.

And I'm guessing you mean I should justify cutting my dogs whiskers off? To justify it would imply there is something wrong with doing it and that it harms my dog, which it doesn't, so I don't have anything to justify.

Opinions I don't mind, it's the judging I can't stand.

Similarly the money grabbing breeders who breed "doodles" and the obviously oblivious or those wanting something "different" who think and tell buyers these dogs dont moult! Ive boarded loads of them, never two the same and the health and temperament is not good to say the least, but hey, they arent clipped!!

what makes me laugh is the people that claim we are cruel for showing, clipping our dogs ect!!
Yet they go out and by purebred dogs or mongrel from none tested parents..Thats far worse and 10 times crueler than giving a dog a 5min clip, eye diseaes and the like that can be passed down to pups is something that can effect a dog its whole life..Clipping a dog for say 15mins at the most is far nicer!
Me thinks people in glass houses shouldnt be throughing stones, and making comments on something they have proven to know nothing about ...

As for labdradoodles, i wonder if the poodle parent has ever been clipped! are you happy to buy off a breeder that clips her poodles into fancy cuts, but slate others that do anything

That last bit isnt nice - a mongrel is a dog of unknown parentage, the poodle crosses are just that - a poodle crossed with another purebred dog. In any case what is wrong with a mongrel.

My eldest Boxer would have done well in the show ring [except she was bred for the pet trade] - after all this talk of whiskers I inspected our dogs closely - our two youngests whiskers are so funny - they go in all different directions - our eldest has "NO" whiskers

very offended by the idea because I have mutts there is something wrong with that and I cannot comment on the excessive grooming needed by some breeds

What about the Yorkies who have to have their hair bundled up into papers when not shown incase they damage their long silky hair - dosent sound natural for a terrier - and having done lots of crazy things to my hair over the years I can say having rags/papers/anything holding your hair up for a long period of time does restrict your movement and pinches

Trimming off whiskers - why?? If wolves have em and dogs have kept them then they are likely to be using them for something - just cos they can manage without them dosent mean they dont use them when they have them

Just then I brushed my fingers in the air towards Bens whiskers and he twitched them out towards my finger - I didnt know he could do that!
When I play with them he moves his head away - so they are sensitive

Ah, now i never tought to "touch" the whiskers. I'll try that later!

Its cosmetic, someone decided without the facial whiskers dogs have a cleaner outline.

i dont think Devil dogz ment anything Nasty about someone buying a mongral,, she was mearly saying, these people who have bought Any dog.. pure or x at one stage, maybe there parents were clipped/shaved ect ect..

i have,
Long haird dogs, in the afghan hound, am i crule? i have him on the grooming table for 4 hours, getts dried and brushed, Oh he loves it btw, all the fuss and being told how sexy he is..

i have short haird breed, who onlye gets a bath, then a quick brush, i show her so am i crule? she LOVES it.. meets sooo many new people, new places, new smells.

i have the bald breed, in the chinese crested, whom i shave there face, and one of them gets his back shaved, am i crule? or should i leave it to irratate their face?

maybe if you who THINK we are crule, come meet us, see us at a show, or racing with my affies you tell me that my dogs are screamin.feafull,unhappy.. i challenge you infact..

OH im not just some Snob, i have my faithfull Mutt,, he is a 4 way cross, i paid 60quid for him, and he even gets groomed, so i can comment on ALL he aspects of doggy life..

Dogs aren't wolves though are they? Dogs are a man made species and far from natural.

Isla is no longer shown so her whiskers are left intact, I can promise you there is 100% no difference in her behaviour with the whiskers left intact than when they weren't. In fact it bothers her so little to have her whiskers shaved that I forgot myself when I groomed her the other day and half shaved them on one side! I shave them as that is how Spaniels are prepared for the show ring, she isn't shown now so I leave them as I like the way they look. If I thought it harmed her in anway I wouldn't do it and to insinuate that in doing so I am harming my dog is just as offensive as being told mongrels aren't as good as pedigrees imo (which I don't think was intended by that particular post I hasten to add).