Dog showing - done good, or bad?

Gawd this one's controversial - dog showing, has it made or broken dog breeds as we know them today?

Freak show or a platform to better our breeds? How has showing impacted dog health? And the development of breeds? Would many of the breeds today be extinct if it wasn't for the showing world?

What do YOU think?

IMO it's broken dog breeds, it is a freak show, it has impacted detrimentally on dogs' health and the development for the better of breeds. For sure many of the breeds today WOULD be extinct if it weren't for the showing world - but that is just about all I can find to say that is positive about the showing world.

I agree with everything Gnasher says here.

Showing dogs is horrible. I hate it. Even the local "friendly" shows the dogs are dragged around, groomed to within an inch of their lives, paraded in front of the judges - absolutely nothing to do with the dog, it's all about the owners winning or losing.

I have to say I do not agree with any competitions based upon looks as I think it's wide open for abuse. Dog looks distorted, young women forced into anorexia, muscle men abused with steroids, etc.

Dog shows are no different to Miss This-That-Or-The-Other, or Mr I-Have-Better-Muscles-Than-Anyone-Else.

Take the make-up of the entrants to Miss whatever, remove the steroids of Mr Muscles, remove all artificial "tanning" - and what have you got?

Yes, with dog shows your dog might be judged best but that is by looks and looks only.

No judge is going to look behind the actual looks and how the dog will stand - perform - to see what might lay behind it.

So just as Miss World and Mr Strong Man or any of those pageants [and I include small children in the latter], I do not think that dog shows are anything more than "My Dog Is Better/Prettier/Stands Better/Than Your dog"

Doesn't it depend on the dog ? I have seen happy dogs in the ring and some who would obviously be so much happier elsewhere. So for me it has to be individual choice. I think (she's a cross and old so won't be happening) Mollie would have loved to have been shown, she loves people, and other dogs and showing off and get a camera out and she expects her piccie to be taken absolutely insists on it ! But Betty would rather be any where else at all ! So horses for courses I think and most people would soon know if their dog was happy or not.

I think it depends on the breed as well. Some breeds are very prestigious and are more prone to this 'looking pretty for the show'.
When we had a pure breed, we did intend to show him at the puppy showing as we promised the breeder we would. However it never came to it because he had a stomach bug that weekend and later we discovered he had bad HD so showing was out of the question.
Whenever I saw a Landseer in the ring they always looked like normal dogs and not made up like other dogs.
But I think showing has probably broken more breeds than it's made. As a breeder, I think your first priority should be the health of your dogs and the puppies, and health testing does not need showing.
If you look at dogs where there is a show line and a working line, it is always the working line that is healthier, not the show line. I wonder why that is..

Without dog shows we probably wouldn't still have many of the lovely old breeds we have today.
After WW2 when shows were suspended, a lot of dogs were put to sleep and blood lines depleted.
The revival of dog showing renewed the interest of people in various breeds giving them the opportunity to meet others who shared their love of dogs or a particular breed and to compare dogs to see which ones met the requirements of the breed standard in every way making them suitable for breeding to improve and perpetuate the breed.

In those days there was no health testing, science hadn't progressed that far. Even vaccination of dogs for some conditions was in its infancy.
Undoubtedly there were some medical conditions which were already in a number of breeds and with the overuse of some stud dogs and a progression in veterinary care leading to better diagnosis and dogs living longer, various conditions (I am thinking of hip and eye conditions here mainly) became more prevalent.

I agree thats a number of people misinterpreted breed standards leading to exaggerated characteristics in some breeds. That is not to say dog showing was to blame, more a case of a number of people failing their breed.

I'm not into showing at all it just doesn't appeal to me but whatever floats ya boat as they say. When it comes to buying a pedigree dog I want it to look like the breed it's supposed to be and I have bought all my pedigrees from breeders who do well in the show ring. That's not my only criteria though because I also ensure that I only buy from breeders who go over and above with the health tests available for the breed. Showing like most things isn't perfect but I don't believe it's broken breeds at all. You can't tar all showers and breeders with the same brush, just because a few make bad decisions and breed dogs with health problems you can't assume they all do.

My dog showing days are over I am afraid but this was not my interpretation of judging at a dog show. I haven't been to a show as a participant for many years. The first time I handled a dog at a show so my first 'proper show' was Leeds Championship in 1964 showing Airedales and Lakies, after that I went to what must have been hundreds of shows of every kind.

'Looks' in my experience play only a part in the judging of a dog which is done based on the 'breed standard' .
The breed standard encompasses a whole number of things including conformation, without the correct conformation a dog will not 'move' correctly .

The Breed Standards area carefully worked out blueprints for each breed that specify a set of requirements, without them all breeds would look the same, there would be no delineation between one breed and another.
No guidelines are perfect and some people do tend to interpret the Breed Standards in their own way but then the standard is not at fault, those interpreting it are.
To quote from my own breeds standard..
''Judging to the breed standard ensures keeping to a breed type, if one judges according to personal fads or a fashion and a trend is created that is not necessarily correct to the breed. Correct conformation is more important then colour or other purely beauty points''.

Not just after the war, 750,000 pets slaughtered during the first week of WWII