I don't know if this should be in showing or behaviour.

I was at a club open show(inside) on sunday with my 10 month old bitch, it was her 2nd show.

We were at W&P the day before and she was fine there (outside) and showed her socks of until a dog in the next ring screached and scared her, and she just went flat, tail as far under her as it could go, but she seemed ok once we were out of the ring and we had a play.
Then the next day at the club show she just wouldn't show, she was ok at the bottom of the ring and stood lovely in the line up but when we got to the top for her turn she just changed, it seemed like the noices were frightening her, a fellow exhibitor did say when she went up for her turn the hall suddenly got louder and everyone seemed to be talking, packing things up etc.
As soon as we were outside she was back to her self, tail high up and bum waggling!

We go to ringcraft twice a week, 2 different halls/people and she's fine in there, do you think this was just a one off? The hall did seem echoey (more than normal halls)
She loves ringcraft so I know she would love showing, I just hope this didn't put her off, has anybody any tips?

Has she had her first season yet? My normally bomb-proof bitch got a little woo-woo before her first season. She was more sensitive to noises and a bit jumpier.

She is very young still and was more than likely a one off if normally ok. At 10 months old though ringcraft twice a week and two shows on a weekend is quite alot. Maybe it was a little too much for her at this stage, I know some dogs love been out an about but I know after a show my dogs are really tired. I sometimes show two days on a weekend if I have two shows I want to attend and my dogs don't tend to show aswell on the second day so don't often bother.

She hasn't had a season yet, so it could possibly be that, I will keep an eye out!

I wasn't too sure how they would be with 2 shows, I've never done it before so I guess I've learnt from that.
Did i do the right thing by staying in the ring? I didn't want to take her out and have her think that there was something to be frightened off, but on the same hand i didn't want to put her off by her being so scared in the ring.

As i said when we were at the botton of the ring (the bottom of the triangle) she was ok & all waggly, it was when we were at the top of the triangle where the judge went over her, one guy did say there was a silly man sat at the top of the ring who kept shouting & generally being loud and he said his bitch got a bit spooked by it.
The judge was very lovely and totally understood and was ever so gentle going over her.
When the judge was going BPIS she did actually say to this man to be a quite and wait to pack up.

I had something similar happen to my youngster last year.  the tannoy was playing up and making strange noises.  Its taken me around a year to get him over it.  I keep going to shows, but tried not to do too many, generally doing no more that one or two a month.  Keep it light hearted and dont make a bit deal out of it and she'll probably come round.  My youngster even now, prefers showing inside (tannoy incident was outside) but is coming round to showing outside.  I also found that by getting him to play with other dogs (he is very social)  outside the ring, when there was a strange noise he didnt like, he'd see the others werent bothered and carry on playing. 

Hope she gets over this

Jill

Hi Gemma
Am I right in thinking you are showing a Boxer puppy? the pic. is not too clear to my old eyes.
Something that I have reccommended to a lot of my members is Evening Primrose oil in either liquid or capsule medium strength, it can be very helpful before,during and post season.( It is also natural)
Re the noise thing, this might souns silly, but I have had a fair amount of success with it: try putting a small piece of cotton wool *loosely* in the ear, dont push it in, just far enough to hold. It helps to muffle excess sounds.

Yep I made sure I didn't seem bothered and just tried to play with her and make it fun, I want her to enjoy it as much as I do, otherwise I wouldn't bother if she didn't like it.

Thanks :)

Did i do the right thing by staying in the ring?

Yes, I think although can be difficult at time try to ignore her and don't fuss her. I'm sure she'll be fine with what you have described but taking her out of ring at the time could lead to her not wanting to go into a ring at all, if that makes sense.

Hi Marion,
yes she is a boxer pup, thats not her in the pic though, its my silly boy!
I will try both of them, she's very good for letting me touch/clean her ears so we shouldn't have a problem with that one.
I'll give it a whirl at Leeds, thank you :)

Sound sensitivity is fairly common in young boxers in fact I had one bitch who used to close her eyes and positively cringe at metallic noises.
Usually the first time you have a problem is when you win something big and the crowd make a lot of noise, the poor pup tucks up and spins around looking alarmed.
At ring craft I 'train for success' which involves hooping and hollering and loud applause ... probably the only place you will find people daft enough to help you with this :-) Also I like the applaud other class winners loudly really close to my youngsters.They do get used to it.
Funnily enough I've never seen this behavior in any other breed I've owned or handled .....if they have an otherwise sound temperament. I've seen it often in dodgey ones though.
The closeness of her season may be a trigger and  muffling the sound whilst she's suffering this trouble is a good idea - if she will tolerate it.

Thanks for that, all the people at ringcraft said they will help with clapping etc

Phewwwww I was worried as some people say its not "true" to a boxer to be alarmed but she's also curious as well as frightened which I think is ok, I encourage her to go sniff what ever made the noise, like when I drop something I make a silly fun voice "oh dear what was that Lily, lets have a look" and she comes and sniffs it then wags her tail :)
We're going to sit in at the local obedience/agility club, just to get her use to that surrounding.

I have a weimaraner bitch who is 10 months and she has just recently started going through the same issues... she has been showing since 3 months and has never had an issue up until now.
My breeder thinks it may be related to her season coming soon, and others have also recommended going to places with plenty of noise and interaction.  Friends of mine combatted this problem with one of their dogs by taking them to an entry to a fairly busy shopping centre and getting them to learn to focus on them rather than the noises and people... you could try a market too... (dogs aren't allowed at Markets very often in Australia)