Hi
Does anyone have any experience of showing a neutered dog (veteran classes)?
Do you feel that you are given a fair chance against entire dogs?
Do other exhibitors know that your dog is neutered and are you happy for them to know?
Given that it's veteran class do you think that the judges make allowances for the age of the dog and the possible reasons for being neutered?
I am possibly going to show my veteran after he has been neutered.  We have done well in veteran classes up to now but it seems a rather taboo subject that nobody really talks about hence my posting on here.
Thanks in advance for your replies.

I showed my dog Luke after he was neutered. He actually won another CC from veteran after being neutered :) I had a letter from the vet saying he had been entire before he was neutered.

BUT I also showed a different dog under a different judge after he was neutered. The steward was insistent that I should have a letter from the KC saying I had permission to show him. She passed this misinformation to the judge who asked me about the "letter". My dog was 3rd out of 3 in a veteran class under a judge who'd given him one of his CCs .... The steward was wrong, you just need to have informed the KC that your dog has been neutered, not gain permission to show. I contacted the KC about this as I was so disappointed by the attitude at the show :( So - even though it's not necessary - I would advise anyone showing their neutered dog to take their letter from the KC acknowledging that you have informed that about your dog being neutered.

I think especially dogs with a track record, often already well known sires will not be penalised for lack of gonads in veteran classes.

A letter from the vet confirming entirety would be a  good idea though.

The steward was wrong, you just need to have informed the KC that your dog has been neutered, not gain permission to show.

Actually this is no longer the case, it changed recently. You DO need a letter. I have done this 3 times in the past 4 months. Permission is automatic and not published like other permissions to show, but you do need to wait for the letter to be able to show. The KC was very good just before Christmas, I had a bitch spayed on the 18th of December and informed them she was entered at Boston and that I wanted to enter her for Crufts  and I got the permission to show letter on the 27th. See here:
http://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/forms/neutered-dog/

In my experience it is totally pointless showing a neutered male dog though and I would never consider it. Certainly in my main breed it is just as common for the ticket to go to the veteran as to a younger dog and the standard is expected to be the same.

The KC doesn't help people by constantly changing their rules! Thanks for the update

Thanks for your replies.
I did call the KC and they said I just need a letter from them once I fill the form in & send it off. She did say to keep it with me in case anyone asks me for it.
I'm interested to know how many people show neutered dogs & their success. My veteran has done well both in veteran & in the past, no CCS though & I'm not expecting anything now but don't want to give up spending nice times with him just cos he's got his bits missing!

Well for starters, you can show a neutered male and it would be pretty obvious to anybody that he wasn't entire LOL.   I'm fairly confident that being neutered may well mean some judges wouldn't give him top honours - which is a pity but perhaps understandable in the scheme of things.    I have shown my spayed bitches, with written KC permission to show after I told them, as required although this was before neutered dogs could be shown (I wish Breed Standards were amended!!).   I suppose it's also required when a male is castrated despite, again, it being allowed for neutered dogs to be shown.

Has this rule been changed - I've not been involved in showing for years now.

Add -   I note, reading through the answers here, that this rule HAS in fact, been changed - again?!!    Also I took a RBCC Crufts with my Champion bitch, who as I recall (memory isn't as good as it was!!), had been spayed by that show.  But this was a bitch, with no outward sign of being spayed.

As far as the KC are concerned, the young lady just told me that I needed to fill in the form, send it to them and wait for a confirmation letter back from them, then we're ok to show.  I don't have to put it on the entry forms or inform the steward, I just have to make sure I have the letter with me at shows in case I'm asked for it.

Well that's the tricky thing isn't it - females, you can show and nobody else would know that they had been spayed.  I have certainly heard stories of people showing spayed bitches and not having informed the KC - and who is going to challenge that?

My breed is a coated breed so, in theory, you wouldn't necessarily know that he's been done - it would be just between me and the judge.
It will be interesting to see how we do in our classes with the same dogs that we have beaten before.

The rule has not changed and no mention of waiting for a letter is mentioned, only the requirement to inform the kennel club before the dog is shown.

No act or operation which alters the natural conformation of a dog or any part thereof may be performed except:
a) Operations certified to the satisfaction of the General Committee of the Kennel Club;
b) The removal of dew claws of any breed;
c) Operations to prevent breeding provided that such operations are notified to the Kennel Club before neutered dogs are show;

Nor must anything be calculated in the opinion of the General Committee to deceive

Previously (when I started showing in 1988) the rule was as above, but under neutering it said any dog could be shown as long as it had registered progeny, no permission or informing mentioned, they then very shortly after (within a year or two) changed it to that rule as above, with a requirement to 'inform'.

In 1995 top dog all breeds was a Shetland sheepdog bitch Ch Myriehewe Rosa Bleu born in 1993 who was spayed following a pyometra after her first season, so the rule must have changed by around 1993-4.

I am always surprised how often the idea still persists that neutered dogs can't be shown in the UK, as obviously they have been allowed to be shown for a very logn time (even though it was restricted to those bred from before the early 1990's.