Chalking Prior To Entering Ring

[Ridgesetter]

Join our free community today.

Connect with other like-minded dog lovers!

Login or Register

As Aslan posted, chalking etc is technically not allowed here in Oz, however, most use chalk. However, when we have judges from the UK, most exhibitors keep chalk to a bare minimum. It's more interesting when the poodles go in the ring under UK judges. When the first one is sent out because of all the spray, the rest start brushing madly! (w00t)

As an exhibitor, I use chalk sparingly. As a judge, I hate excessive chalk or hairspray in dogs. I feel there is a swing towards over grooming dogs today. Coats of some breeds should be harsh yet they are so soft and plush. But what I hate the most is the clipping and shaving of whippets. :rant: Why any exhibitor feels the need to shave off whiskers and clip from the chin through to the pants and some down the back of the neck on a whippet is beyond me. They say it gives the dog a clean outline but I ask does it make the dog any better?

Whatever happened to showing a dog 'naturally'?

 

[aslan]

Ditto Toni. I don't like the shaving of whippets either.

And how could a whippet possibly possibly have a cleaner outline?

 

[dessie]

But what I hate the most is the clipping and shaving of whippets.  :rant:   Why any exhibitor feels the need to shave off whiskers and clip from the chin through to the pants and some down the back of the neck on a whippet is beyond me.  They say it gives the dog a clean outline but I ask does it make the dog any better? 
Whatever happened to showing a dog 'naturally'?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

​

[SIZE=21pt][/SIZE]

 

HERE! HERE!

 

[bardmand]

I think it mostly boils down to exhibitors' nerves - they don't want to leave anything to chance, and on the day there is only so much you can do to "improve" on a whippets' appearance.

Another thing is the welfare of the dogs. I wonder what hairspray and chalk smell like to dogs, and what long-term effects such substances can have on their respiratory systems, for instance.

 

[Cartman]

I have seen many chalk up befor going into the ring. Glossy stuff here & there. Color changing stuff all over. Extra brushing to make it look like there is more. the list goes on & on etc etc.

Sometimes they do it to the dogs too. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :thumbsup:

 

[Ridgesetter]

I think it mostly boils down to exhibitors' nerves - they don't want to leave anything to chance

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

​

Maybe, but often it is the 'leaders' in a breed that start trends and the newcomer feels they have to do the same to be competitive. In time, the trend becomes normal practice for all.

I can remember when I had my Gordon Setter. New to the breed, I just put a brush through Zorro and tidied his feet and head. Well, my first Royal show and the breeder said to me I couldn't take him in the ring looking like that (w00t) so on the table he went, out came the clippers and scissors and he was a different looking dog. Sure, he looked good, but it really didn't alter the basic dog. I continued with his clipping and listened about how some exhibitors scissored in angles, but often I was frustrated with my grooming attempts and felt as though I wasn't doing it right and therefore, if my dog didn't appear well groomed, he wouldn't win!

The same applies to chalking and clipping of whippets. I've seen newcomers with badly clipped whippets. I tried it a couple of times believing that you just had to do it, but like the setter, clipping well is an art. In my heart, I don't think it matters or makes any difference to a 'good and honest' judge. However, I have to question whether newcomers they feel that they are not presenting their dog well and in turn will stand out because their dog isn't groomed the same as the others, and do they then give up on showing their dog?

I'm older and wiser and put more emphasis on type, conformation and movement of a dog and my whippets are generally shown untrimmed, have their whiskers and lately dew claws, are occasionally minimally chalked - but showing RR's, then Salukis and straight in with whippets, chalking is a bit of a luxury for when I am organised and have time.

I like to believe that a good dog can't be a bad colour and that good dogs will win more than poorer specimens regardless of trimming and chalking. :thumbsup: Everyone can't be a winner and if you don't win today, well there's always another show. Whether my dogs are winners or losers, I love them just the same.

 

[Seraphina]

[


I like to believe that a good dog can't be a bad colour and that good dogs will win more than poorer specimens regardless of trimming and chalking.  :thumbsup:   Everyone can't be a winner and if you don't win today, well there's always another show.  Whether my dogs are winners or losers, I love them just the same.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

​

I refuse to chalk or trim on a principle, and if I stop believing what Toni said above, I will give up showing.

Lida

 

[Lolcoe]

I have only met one person who chalks her whippets and to be honest if i being a novice could tell, surely the judge could spot it. Is it a case ofyou can do it but all traces should be removed or just not done at all? I dont fully understand the rules.

Whippets are such easily groomed dogs, why bother parping around.

Mine have a bath, scrub their nails with a toothbrush and then a good rub with a chamois leather, the same as all my dogs. I do however attempt to trim their tails and trim the arches if they look straggly.

 

[dessie]

Whippets are such easily groomed dogs, why bother parping around.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

​

It is just plain bone idleness!!!

I don't bath mine for every show purely because I think you can overwash and strip all the natural oils from the coat (mine probably have 3/4 baths a year depending on their propensity for rolling in unspeakable things!) but it doesn't take much time to wash white feet, or in winter mine might just have an undercarriage/leg wash if they have got mudsplashed.

 

[JAX]

Whippets are such easily groomed dogs, why bother parping around.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

​

It is just plain bone idleness!!!

I don't bath mine for every show purely because I think you can overwash and strip all the natural oils from the coat (mine probably have 3/4 baths a year depending on their propensity for rolling in unspeakable things!) but it doesn't take much time to wash white feet, or in winter mine might just have an undercarriage/leg wash if they have got mudsplashed.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

​

I agree there Dessie . although I must admit Libbee has had more baths than my others would have done , but she is predomiatley white isnt she

 

[bertie]

My true feelings about this subject is that in part dog showing is about presentation of your dog, and asking the judge if they feel that this is a true example of the breed.

using chalk as a dry cleaning method for white points is fine (in my opinion) providing it is brushed out.

Ask most Judges and im sure they will agree they all want clean dogs to go over.

As for trimming of undertail hair why not? it is a Show not a track meeting, and we should aim to make our dogs look the best possible.

One question to anyone that will not do any form of trimming,

What about your whippets nails do you trim them??

Sometimes we need to be careful what we wish for in this culture of BAN BAN BAN.

 

[dawn]

As for trimming of undertail hair why not?

My pet hate is bushy tails!!! even our 12 year old girl gets her tail trimmed along with the others!

 

[dessie]

As for trimming of undertail hair why not?

My pet hate is bushy tails!!! even our 12 year old girl gets her tail trimmed along with the others!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

​

LOL! I hope you never see my Lochsong again then!! I trim the underside of tails on the dogs currently being shown if they are really straggly but not the old or retired ones. Nails are done on all of them on a regular basis for the comfort of the dogs, not for cosmetic purposes.

 

[Canada]

Here in Canada, chalking is quite common on whippets feet,hocks and blazes on the nose.HOWEVER it is against the rules. I've never seen one dismissed from the ring though!

 

[Karen]

I would rather see an untrimmed tail than a badly slashed/clipped tail and chopped backend.

Like Dessie I think over bathing can just make the coat look dead, as for chalking I seem to get more over me than the dog so stopped all that years ago (w00t) .

How many of us think about a good single coat when choosing a stud? There seems to be a lot of bushy Whippets about now.

 

[bardmand]

How many of us think about a good single coat when choosing a stud?  There seems to be a lot of bushy Whippets about now.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

​

Very good point.