Hi,
I have got a 5 month old setter bitch, I was about to start show classes with her (I'm a complete newbie so don't know what I'm looking for in a dog at all), and just happened to have noticed this evening that she appears to have a slight underbite, basically her top teeth are slightly behind her bottom teeth.  Is that considered a major or minor fault?  I'm absolutely devastated as I really wanted to show her but don't know if I can now.  If I could show her for conformation, is it still possible to show her in other types of shows?  I have heard of agility but not sure what else there is, and not sure if they would still look at conformation as part of that.
I feel so sad as she is an absolute babe of a dog and I love her to pieces, and am so gutted that I can't get to train with her and go to shows with her.  I wouldn't mind but my other half is saying we should send her back and next time get another puppy which appears to have the right standards (I didnt' know when I was getting a setter that I wanted to get into showing so badly until it's just been brought to my attention that I won't be able to), which I will never ever do, but that's upsetting me even more and first and foremost she's my girl :-(

he's saying we should show our boxer or SBT, but I can't get myself excited about showing them like I would my irish!!

sorry to be the bearer of bad news but I am afraid it is a bad bad fault, and very unlikely to come good now, there is a slight chance but as the lower jaw continues to grow after the upper jaw it would take a miracle but hey who knows!!!  as a fellow setter owner ( i have 5 english) I feel for you, cheers Di x

Have you spoken to the breeder about this and whether this is something which may come right or even have someone who knows the breed to look over her for you? Sometimes what we see may seen a huge thing, but in reality its not that bad.. Things look worse to our eye as we keep looking at them, but to someone else in the breed they may not see what you are, if you get my drift..
Have you measured the size of the gap(if you can)?
Every dog has its faults and its whether this will have a huge part to play if you do show. Some faults are worse that others in different breeds.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings but a bite fault in a gundog is heavily penalised by most judges.

Having looked again, it doesn't look so much like it's an underbite, but that the top and bottom teeth when the mouth in closed are not meeting. I've heard in gundogs it's a bad fault, just gutted to the core as I love her to pieces.
Does anyone on here show Boxers or SBTs and know anything about showing them?  They are my other KC females as well and having looked at the breed standard they seem to have no major faults at all, but never thought of showing them.  I didn't realise how much I wanted to get into showing until it's been brought to my attention that I can't show my Irish girl.

Whichever breed you choose nothing is certain until the puppy has matured, the teeth/mouth can be wrong, only one testicle may descend, they may grow to big or be to small..It is hard but sometimes you just have to take a chance and hope for the best..I have had many pups that I thought were fantastic and then they have gone through the gangly phase, but thankfully have come back..They are much loved anyway whatever happens.

there is a lot of competition in the irish classes
its hard even if you got a really good dog
try agility
i did a bit with one of my setters
get  into  good club and have fun
you could do the companion shows for fun
my self i could never get rid of a dog just because can not be shown
no breeder can one hundred percent guarentee any puppy is show quality
things can go wrong
or a dog may hate being shown
does the breeder show
what has she said

1) Was breeder aware that you wanted to show?
If they weren't then they can't really be held as at fault.
Some buyers don't ask as they fear that some breeders might ask more for a 'show' puppy.

2) There are never any guarantee's all breeders can ethically do with an 8 week puppy
is sell a 'promising' puppy. Things can go wrong even on the most promising of puppies.

Certainly showing Boxers is also highly competitive - entries at Champ shows varies but normally you can expect 200-300
(Although who knows with the credit crunch). Entries vary at open shows average entries in the South are 10-20 dogs but you can get larger entries.
Some of the Boxer breed clubs hold monthly matches where you could take puppy and ask more experienced
Boxer breeders exhibitors for an assessment of puppy & if it shows promise for showing.

Again as SBT's are a popular breed I should imagine that competition is high at Champ shows, with big entries.
Not sure of entries at open shows for SBT's.

> Having looked again, it doesn't look so much like it's an underbite, but that the top and bottom teeth when the mouth in closed are not meeting.

You need to get someone with experience of showing each breed to objectively assess them.
Recently I had someone come to me to look at her adult CKCS with a view to showing and I had already asked her how the dogs mouth was - perfect she said.
Unfortunately she had mis-interpreted the standard and the bitch was reverse scissor - easy mistake to make for a newbie.

I would never ever get rid of her in a million years, she is still my girl and that is for certain, I've waited 8 years to get a setter so there's no question of even considering her going!
what are companion shows?  It's not necessarily that I wanted to be next crufts champion (caspians intrepid she is not!) but thought it would be a lot of fun and a good way to meet other owners.  I know there are agility trials but trying to get her to do as she's told is, well, interesting, I think if there was a goofing around show she'd win hands down.
I don't blame the breeder at all as she said from the get go she doesn't guarantee quality of her pups for showing or breeding.
I'm interested in these companion shows though, if someone could post more about what they are then that would be interesting.

As she is a teeething puppy, are all her front teeth through yet, because if she is part way through changing them and has some baby teeth and some adult it may not be clear what her bite is.

If you go on the Kennel club website here http://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/item/1821 you will find more info.

usually they are advertised in the dog papers or local papers
mostly in the summer tho
google companion shows , there was a site with list of shows on

I do agility with my Irish, its a real challenge but so much more of an achievement when they get it right than winning a piece of card in a breed show (I do both).

my first boy had an undescended testicle and was undershot at 5 months, his mouth came good but his testicle never did.  The breeders did offer to rehome him for me but I couldnt have done that so I do agility with him and show my other boy.

who bred your girl (you can PM me if you like) maybe they can help out with some advice.