I have a nearly two year old dalmatian.  She is a normal happy go lucky spot at home the minute we go into the show ring her tail drops her ears go back and she turns into a wreck.  This does seem to have got worse since we went indoors.

I have tried scullcap and valarium drops and tablets, some drops for nervousness and ring shyness from Doreen Paige stand and Serene-um tablets.  We have tried caging in and not caging her on the bench, sometimes the kids sit with sometimes not and nothing seems to make any difference.  It is a shame as she does have a lot of potential but it breaks my heart to see her upset especialy when she has never had a bad experience neither was she like it when she was younger.  I know I could stop showing her which I will do if neccessary but then it will mean she is left at home on show days or stuck in a hospitality tent all day neither of which I want to do.  We have got Crufts coming up and want to take her but not like she is.

Any suggestions gratefully recieved.

Hi
I have had this problem....and solved it by letting someone else show my dog.My 3 year old elkie showed ok for me as a pup.When he got older he completely lost his sparkle....he stood like a bag of spuds and I was on the point of keaving him at home.I had taken him to a champ show and was that disiilusioned with him that I was going to leave him on the bench but after my 11 year old daughter nagged me I allowed her to take him in ....after all it was good practice for her.He showed like a super star!He is still the same ...he will show for my daughter but not for me
How often does she do ring craft? How often is she shown?
Archer

Hi Archer

She does nearly all champ shows and lots of opens.  We tend not to take her to ringcraft as the one we go to is not very good being in a very tiny hall and you cant move a large dog and it generally ends up with at least one or two dogs having a bundle!  There are not many in this area as I did look into before. Someone told us to rest her so we have tried that over the winter went to Manchester and she did the same again.

We have tried to get someone else to handle her but when they talk to her she crouches down like she is going to get beaten. Even I have tried.  She sometimes does this to my husband as well so it looks awful.  I dont think we have ever hit her as my dogs are governed by a water spray so we never need to do anything other than shake a water spray to stop them being naughty. She is not a normally nervous dog and I dont breed nervous dogs this is just her. She can walk past a gas gun going off and not bat a eyelid.

She has got a RCC from a junior class and her junior warrant and gets lovely write ups but quite rightly she has not done very well recently.

TTS

Have you had her checked by the vet just to make sure there's nothing medically wrong with her ?

I had a beardie who had a terrible experience with the local celebrity vet who manhandled her & she went from a confident outgoing puppy to a cringing fearful one. I did obedience training with her & found a young handler to do some training with her & after a couple of weeks they suddenly clicked & we entered her at a championship show & she was BPIB, the young handler showed her for two years & then she  would handle for us & the young handler had got her own dog to show, our bitch ended up a champion in the days when Beardies had over 250 at every show & she even beat the dog CC winner everytime. I think she picked up on the confidence of the young handlers & the bad expeience gradually faded away. Must add instead of getting her to sit in obedience she was stood in show stance & she used to enjoy doing obedience as there was no pressure on her to be handled & we got her to do the obedience Temp Test(just running hand down back)

Edited to add Also did T Touch type massage to relax her

Yes we have had her checked there is nothing wrong with her at all.  I have spoken to a behaviourist about her but was not impressed as her answer was to keep her away from shows and just let her stay at home.  Yes that would be a answer but I dont think she is going to be happy being left at home having travelled the country with her since 6 months.  It is also more difficult as it only happens at shows not the rest of the time.

We even thought it was the show lead as she did cower down once here when we put in on her to practise but it doesnt appear to be that.

What is T Touch massage?  Not heard of that before but I am willing to give ANYTHING a go.

T Touch is a massage that releases the dogs(or any animal including humans !)natural endorphins & helps calm & "chill out

Try this link

I would try some fun obedience training & maybe take her to a few shows but don't take her in the ring & get people to run their hands over her

It may well be that she has had an experience in the ring that was not obviously like a dog staring at her, or a judge touching her maybe as she was coming into season & whlst there was no reaction at the time it might have been unpleasant for her. I would try to "team"her up with another handler for a training session say a friend in the park etc & maybe play games with her. I know exactly what you are going though my heidi was a typical beardie out of the ring & up to when the judge touched her & she would have nothing to do with the judge Some of this was doen to me expecting her to back off or cower & so I unwittingly teansed up(I used to get very tense showing her as she was such a super bitch & I worried about not doing her justice)I am very chilled out in the ring now & just enjoy showing my boys off even if we get nothing. I wish I was close to you as I have "sorted"in a nice way so many show dogs that have lost confidence because I can chill out & relay this to the dog & if anything my dogs are too full of confidence(next to youngest cavalier is very in your face & has to virtually climb all over the judge in the ring on his naughty days but I would rather he was like that than like Heidi used to be)As a judge I would rather a nice dog be a bit naughty that a nice dog be distressed in the ring. My friends Beardie I showed just before Xmas shows nicely for her, but I must have clicked with her as when I took her in she was on her toes & showing her heart out & even my friend said she looked  as if she was overflowing with confidence & sparkle. I think it's the working background in obedience were you can be down marked for a dog not working naturally & people do comment if the dog doesnt look happy so you have to train as a team & enjoy it

She sounds too nice to not be shown & needs just a bit of a boost in her self confidence to get her back to enjoying showing.

My breed (BSD) are very prone to go through a phase of being ring shy - the best way we have found to help them get over this is to teach the stand stay and practise this at all times in all situations rewarding copiously. Ask those folk you know are going to handle her positively to go over her whenever and where ever you can ( but do not allow anyone who is even a little hesitant) ask them to go straight in rather than walking round first or (horrors for a shy dog ) putting the back of their hand in front of her face :( . Do not keep her away from shows but enter those who will have judges that handle in the way I have described (a good breed judge is probably best) treat the next few shows as training sessions and don't worry about where she gets placed. Drop the ringcraft classess if they are not positive experiences for her - they very often are the cause of ring shyness developing as some trainers can approach shy dogs the wrong way and so reinforce the fear of being handled. Do not give her the space or opportunity to back off - hold her if necessary and repeat your stand stay command. Above all remain calm yourself - it may be frustrating but most ring shy dogs do come right with a little peseverence. We once had a Groenendael that could not be handled at 10 months but he was showing like a star by 2 and we made him up at the age of 3 so DON'T give up :D.

Good luck  :)

Yvonne

Thank you Yvonne and Moonmaiden you have both cheered me up a lot.  We do get people to check Molly over before she goes in and you are quite right hesitant people do make her a 100 times worse. We have been known not to take her in if the judge is fannying around.  She is funny though because she will quite happily let everyone make a fuss of her and she will take food of them.  Her sister is going to be off the show scene until Bath due to maternal matters so maybe if she has our undivided attention for a while perhaps it will help her.

People have advised me to move her on to a non show home but she is a genuinely nice person and quite honestly my life wouldnt be the same without her.