Yesterday I was at a show, and some disgusting person was chewing gum and then before it completely lost it's minty flavouring they were spitting it out on the floor of the ring!

My friend was showing her dogs which normally do quite well. Her boy got it stuck to his paw and so did not move or stand well, then in a later class her bitch puppy grabbed some off the floor and before we could get it out of her mouth she had unfortunately swallowed it. So the pup then went round with her nose on the ground the whole time. I spotted a couple of other bits which I picked up & took out of the ring with a tissue. I was always under the impression that it was very frowned upon to foul the ring in any way.

<<<I was always under the impression that it was very frowned upon to foul the ring in any way. >>>>

Polly I have been at shows where families sit eating their butties right behind your dog as you are trying to stand him :rolleyes:
Some people have no consideration !

All eating should be stopped at the side of the ring. people could deliberately eat to distract a dog and thats unfair to the handler

Jean

It is the stewards' job to manage the ring remove anything that is a danger to the exhibits and stop people who are distracting the exhibits. So if this happens to you ask the steward to deal with it, if they are interested at all in what they are doing they will help you. They will sort the ring furniture and the exhibits to suit the judge and if you need to inform the judge of anything (like you wish to withdraw) the steward should do it for you.

this could be a cause of unfairness when they do it on purpose so your dogs put off and they win the class because there dogs look the best because all the others are put off i dont want to sound horible but it does happen and comes in many ways
bibi
fiona

Fiona, it would be difficult to put of all the dogs bar one, and have no one complain to the Steward or the Show Manager. If you are ever at a show where you think this is happening then complain.

I had a letter published in Dog World 10 years ago, complaining about this very situation. It seems nothing has changed. In a breed which is never stacked, it is particularly hard.

I remember showing my Dalmatian in one of the younger classes at LKA one year and two people sat by the ring eating burgers :rolleyes:  They were big names in the breed too and should have known better.

i was only saying i have never seen it happen ok

but if it was a really nice dog they were scared of beating them then they would try and put them off and if the dog tryed to eat it then they would be lookin for more
bibi
fiona

I did draw it to the attention of the ring steward, although he was very vigilant he did not see the other bits of gum. I also told the show manager who had a tannoy message put out about it. However it is almost impossible unless you can catch the culprit in the act to actually stop this happening. I was just amazed that anyone could be so disgusting and thoughtless of the dogs!