It is our first show this saturday with our two year old beagle and could do with some advice:

1.  We are going to give him a bath but how long before the show, the day before or on the morning ???

2.  We got some Red Rum horse shampoo as we were told this was good for him, is this true ???

3.  is it worth putting chalk on his white bits before we go ?

4.  He sands very well thanks to the ringcraft classes, but he does get a bit over excited, is a good walk inthe morning worth it to try to calm him down ?

5.  Do they alway show Beagles on the table, we havent at ringcraft classes and whne we tried him at home on a table he started shaking

6.  After the walk and we get him to stand is it better to see if he stands natrualy in the correct position or to straight away help to stand him.

7.  I have read that some tea tree oil on top of the nose is go to stop the urge to sniff everything is this true ??

Any answer to these question would be helpful

Hi Bakerbj,

We are going to give him a bath but how long before the show, the day before or on the morning ???
Personally I'd bath him on Thursday to allow hos coat to settle down - nothing looks worse that a short coated dog having a bad hair day!

is it worth putting chalk on his white bits before we go ?
You can do but make sure you brush it out completely before he goes in the ring.  It's against KC rules and regs to have it in the dogs coat in the showring.

Do they alway show Beagles on the table
Yes

After the walk and we get him to stand is it better to see if he stands natrualy in the correct position or to straight away help to stand him.
If he has good conformation and can stand naturally that's always best.  You can always place a leg or two if needed.  Bear in mind there are some judges (myself included) who ask that the dog be allowed to free stand when coming back to me after moving.

I have read that some tea tree oil on top of the nose is go to stop the urge to sniff everything is this true ??
Personally I would never do that to a dog and certainly not to a scent hound!!  Any judge worth their weight will not mind a scent hound putting their nose to the floor accasionally.

HTH

Debs

After the walk and we get him to stand is it better to see if he stands natrualy in the correct position or to straight away help to stand him.
If he has good conformation and can stand naturally that's always best.  You can always place a leg or two if needed.  Bear in mind there are some judges (myself included) who ask that the dog be allowed to free stand when coming back to me after moving.

If when he is free standing, he puts a leg slight to far back is it alright to move it

Hi Bakerbj

Don't worry too much about your dog if he dosen't stand square and sniffs a little on the move, any good Judge will like to see a dog move naturally and if he drops his head a little, don't string him up on the lead. It is not natural for a Beagle to move on it's tip toes so try to show him on a lose lead so he will move naturally.

Try not to fiddle with him when you have him stacked if one foot is slightly out of place its ok, just relax and enjoy yourself.

Are you going to an Open show?

We are going to the Grantham Show at Newark.  If we use a loose lead, he puts his nose to the floor,  if we keep the lead tight then he ovbiuosly doesnt and looks much better,  will the judge make us down for using a tight lead ?  pictures of Buddy are on this little web page.  standing with a tight lead   www.granthamtown.co.uk/brookhousebeagles.html

Hi..........just one VERY IMPORTANT THING!...........DO NOT .......BATH HIS TAIL!..........might seem silly but the drier you can keep his tail the better, we just wipe the tail with a baby wipe.....not all, but many beagles suffer with what is called 'beagle tail' this happens after bathing or sometimes swimming no one really knows why, one school of thought is that because they dont like wet tails they shake so hard they damage the tail or knock it on something, it is a very sorry sight, a beagle that cannot lift its tail, it sort of just hangs there like a cup hook! so avoid wetting it as it can take 3 or 4 days for it to get better!
not to clog up the board i have also PM'd you
regards
Pauline