Hi,

I am very new on the showing scene, I have a young GSP, who I have I am going to show in November. We have been going to ring craft classes and he is doing very well.

Does it matter which hand you show your dog in? The guys at the ring craft all hold the lead in their left hand, I find it very hard to relax with the dog on my left, and find it alot easier with my boy on my right, he also looks more relaxed.

Thanks guy's.

The only trouble is, if you hold your dog in your right hand, you would have to go the reverse way round the ring for the judge to be able to see your dog and not you!

In the showring you have to have the dog between you and the judge, whichever side the judge might be on, so you need to train the dog to go equally well on either side.

Some judges occasionally ask for two circuits of the ring clockwise, followed by two circuits anti-clockwise; for the clockwise circuits the dog would be on your right, and for the anti-clockwise circuits the dog would be on your left, because the judge is in the centre of the ring.

Thank you very much for your advice guys, any tips on how I can relax more on the left?

Practice, practice, practice, I'm afraid.

The only time in reality that you can have your dog on your right is when going up and down and if the judge stays standing at the end.  The left hand is the one that you need the dog to be in the majority of the time.

so I can change hands when going up and down, then doing the triangle?

When you go out for a walk, walk your dog on the left and both of you will get used to it and after a while will think nothing of it as it will become natural thing to do.

Just to add, all obedience training is done with the dog on the left, so if you ever want to go to other training classes it will be a big advantage that the dog is already used to your left.