For us it's meeting up with people from our breed we haven't seen for ages,enjoying our day out,wether we win or lose,having a drink or two in the bar and looking to see what new dogs are out.
I would never force a dog that hated the ring to show,we had a pup once and she hated it,she wouldn't show and i think we did 2 shows both were a complete disaster,she was never shown again.

I don't show, but I would think it's also proving that a dog is worthy of being bred from - that it is the best it can be, and will produce good offspring etc

Perhaps for the big breeders it helps to build their reputation if they are winning at shows and perhaps helps to sell puppies from litters they breed. But there is no money to be made directly from showing.

I have been showing for almost 18 years and have never bred a litter in my life and have no intention of doing so so I am not in it for the money. I do it for the enjoyment and the social side of things. I also have two dogs who were not happy being shown and I would never force an unwilling dog to attend a show so they remain purely as pets one is now 11 years old and one is seven. I know some show people who would sell on a dog if it was not happy being shown or did not make the grade but I am not one of them. My two young borzois enjoy it so that is okay. All my dogs are pets first and foremost and whether they win or lose at a show I am still taking home what to me are the best dogs in show. Obviously it is nice to win but we show because we enjoy it and if we win it's a bonus.

GSD. don't know if this will help you but these are my reasons for showing just as some people enjoy agility and obedience I enjoy showing.

Absolutely, it does. It seems to me then that a large part of it is the social aspect and I guess just being around like-minded individuals.

Being honest, and this will say more about me than anything else, I always associated it with a bizarre sense of, how can I describe it, egomania. However, thus far, not one person has mentioned the trophies or the rosettes(?) so clearly that shows just how wrong my perception was!

they are just keepsakes to me yeah its nice if your placed but enjoying the day out with your dogs is more important.
if the dogs don't enjoy it theres no point in going in the ring your'll just be wasting your enrty fee.
i guess it depends how serious you are but like others have said even if my dogs was never placed i would never get rid of them as some do.
i don't need a judge to tell me how good/nice my dogs are i know they are great and don't need places from shows to know it.

So glad I could help GSD

To some people unfortunatly it probably is all about winning.
I do it for the social reasons more than anything and because my dogs enjoy it so much. Could be something to do with being born with a show lead in my hand I suppose as my mum has shown for 40 years. I don't know whether I would have got involved in showing if it wasn't for her interest in it.

For me, I first started showing after taking my lab puppies to a ringcraft class as a friend went there and said it was a lovely friendly atompshere and better for proper socialisation that obedience. We'd done companion shows with the mother of our pups but hadn't shown her properly. After being told for 4 months that our male lab was stunning and that we HAD to show him, we entered both puppies into a show. We found it really fun, met lots of doggie people and the dogs thoroughly enjoyed the dayout.

Now we are still doing it because we still meet lots of nice people, and have made friends who we meet up with at the shows, and it is still a great day out with our dogs. Most of the time we dont win, but thats not the point of it for me, its about how well my dogs show and making sure they enjoy their day, if we do do well then that just makes it even better!!

Our dogs do normal stuff all year round, they get walked daily, they're allowed to roll, play and run wherever they want and they act like normal dogs. We bath them before a show, but we dont go over the top about keeping them perfect. We were told to keep our chocolate lab indoors all summer and out of the sunlight to avoid her losing her colour. I thought that was ridiculous and cruel, she's been walked all summer in the sunlight and her colour is just as good as ever!! Some people seem to lose the point of showing and it becomes more about winning and selling puppies than enjoying the dogs they have. I imagine a lot of show dogs have terrible lives and i hate that side of showing.

And, just thought i'd mention - Our "stunning" lab puppy didn't do half as well as the "average" chocolate puppy - He hated showing (he doesn't do it anymore) and she loved it. If dogs didn't enjoy it they wouldn't do it, my Riley is the proof! lol!!

I am actually hoping to lure you up here for a show?

well i can only speak for myself I love showing its a great day out ...... I don;t mind not winning but its nice when we do ........the dogs love it as well