hi my puppy is about to go in for her first show and im begining to panick!! loads of silly questions keep coming to mind and i cant sleep at night lol one question which i'd like to ask, do i have to keep her in a crate while im waiting for our turn or can i just keep her with me on her lead? i know it sounds silly but i dont want to make any mistakes and get told off

Hi luvapug you can keep her with, if you have a crate though stick it by your side so you dont have to hold her all the time, my dog comes everywhere with me.  Dont worry you'll be okay, just remeber everyones looking at the dog not you, so that should make you feel better, and if you concentrate on your dog and the judge you will forget about everyone else you only have two to three mins or less to show your dog so it's not that long.. Good luck anyway.

Susan

Definately take your crate along and set it up. You never know how long you will be there. Even if your first breed in, you may win puppy, then have to wait for all the judging to be done to go forward for Best Puppy in Breed. Nine times out of ten at an open show, if you win puppy, you generally win Best Puppy in Breed (unless a puppy is in Junior)
Then you have the long wait until the group or worse until the Best Puppy in Show if it's not on the group sytem.
I also think if your pup knows the crate it is a safe haven for them where they can chill out a bit. I always take a blanket to pop over the crate, so the pup can get some rest away from other dogs.
Good luck and let us know how you got on.

I always take the crate so my boy can rest if he is lucky enough to win BOB and have to wait for the group. And then I can have a quick look round the stalls without watching to make sure he isn't weeing on anything / trying to face up to a Rottweiler and so on (nothing personal to Rotties there, just an example of a big dog that a Cavalier shouldn't go and annoy!!)

Please make sure that you take a padlock for you crate if you are leaving it covered, dogs have been known to be taken at shows.

Lynn

I would have agreed and did used to padlock my crate until I saw a dog in distress and they couldn't get the padlock off. (Someone had put a hot drink on top of the crate and it tipped!!) Luckily the owner came back in time and got it off. It's a difficult one to call.  I find that if you crate next to someone. Get chatting and you'll find that they'll watch your dog and you watch theirs. The same applies when benching at champshows. It's easier there though as you get to know people in the breed and you watch each others dogs.
The only other thing is to get a fabric cage which you could padlock as if the dog has a problem there's always someone around with a pair of scissors to cut open the front.

Hi Luvapug, best of luck with your first show!!!! :) I know how you feel, it will be Pippins turn soon too!!! :) I am going to bring a metal crate, cover it over and set it up at the show, this way he can have a rest and go in there and sleep for a while during the day specially if yankees are not being judged till later in the day (as always get to shows early regardless of order of judging!) I would personally not use the padlock (as I would be worried all day that I would loose the key...knowing me it would probably happen!) but I would never leave him in the crate without ensuring a friend was watching him!
Carol :)

Jsut had a thought, if the show is in the near future, remember to take a crate fan, pugs can get very hot very quickly at both in and outdoor shows, even at this time of the year.

bye
Gwen

Good idea, my Cav appreciates his. We also have a fleecy jacket for cold winter shows! :-D