# Covid era show dogs



## DanaRuns (Sep 29, 2012)

We have two puppies who just turned 9 months old (went from the 6-9 to the 9-12 class in the middle of the weekend). Our puppies are not as well socialized as previous puppies because they were born in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic. I suspected this might be an issue when we started to show them, and boy was I right.

One of our puppies started off a little shy, but by the second day of show she was fine, and by the third day she was having a blast. She didn't place the first day (Friday), won her 6-9 class the second day, and then won the 9-12 class the third day (Sunday).

But our other puppy didn't fare so well. She wouldn't bait. She fussed when the judge was going over her. And she wasn't having fun. Sadly, unlike her sister, she didn't improve over the weekend. In fact, she seemed to get worse. And she placed third on Friday, and got no ribbons Saturday or Sunday.

And I saw lots of dogs with tails between their legs in the ring and ears back and down, which was very un-Golden-like.

So I started asking around. Sure enough, exhibitors of many different breeds told me they were having unusual challenges, particularly with their younger dogs, but also with some older class dogs who essentially sat at home for a year without showing. The breed ring didn't seem to have that problem. All the champions seemed their normal selves, and I was super relieved that my special, Deuce, seemed to relish being back in the ring. It kind of amazed me, actually. He finished his championship at 18 months just before the 2019 National, and we put him away to mature after that, so he was out about a year and a half, and as soon as he got back in the ring he was fantastic. Totally remembered his job, showed with the kind of enthusiasm I had when I went to my first post-vaccination restaurant, and took the breed one day and got a select the next, in 5-point shows.

The point is that I think covid-puppy syndrome might be a real thing. The lack of typical socialization has affected lots of dogs across the breed spectrum, and it plays out at dog shows. I wonder what these puppies will be like a year from now. Will they still have issues that other dogs don't? I dunno.

Have any of you seen this kind of thing?


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## Emmdenn (Jun 5, 2018)

DanaRuns said:


> We have two puppies who just turned 9 months old (went from the 6-9 to the 9-12 class in the middle of the weekend). Our puppies are not as well socialized as previous puppies because they were born in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic. I suspected this might be an issue when we started to show them, and boy was I right.
> 
> One of our puppies started off a little shy, but by the second day of show she was fine, and by the third day she was having a blast. She didn't place the first day (Friday), won her 6-9 class the second day, and then won the 9-12 class the third day (Sunday).
> 
> ...


My puppy, also 9mos had a similar experience this weekend. We were at a show indoors, at a big expo center. Even though these events are “show & go” there were 1400+ dogs entered and at any given times hundreds of dogs in the building at a time. My girl is a softer dog, but she has been socialized very well, and we surely got her out and about to places around people and usual noises, though there really wasn’t anywhere I could have taken her to prepare for the atmosphere of a big indoor show. You could see her excitement go down 5 notches when we walked into the building for our ring times.

I had been moving her around outside at our setup with a squeaky toy and some yummy chicken and she was doing awesome, but the second we got inside her ears went back, her tail wasn’t between her legs but she didn’t carry it out like she usually does. She was a good girl in the ring and let me stack her, was very good for the judges exam both days and wagged her tail and let them go over her perfectly. When I took her around/down and back she trotted along with me but hung back and wasn’t moving like she usually does in handling classes. Of course I’m baby talking and praising her incessantly so she knows all is well and she’s being a good girl. She did improve the second day and hopefully with more exposure she will be fine.We have one more indoor show and the rest are outside so it’ll be interesting to see if she does better with the outdoor shows. Someone also dropped a grooming table in the building which basically sounded like a bomb going off with the echo and this puppy hates fireworks so we also had to work through that as well. I was a little disappointed because she is really a showy little girl and because of her type I have my work out for me already. Hopefully she works through it and we continue to improve.


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## ArkansasGold (Dec 7, 2017)

Oh yes, I definitely have seen it and have several examples. Not with my own dog because she started showing in 2019 and we actually made it to 5 clusters last year. I have seen it in other people's dogs though. One of my breeder friends here showed her keeper puppy from a litter that was born right after the shut down last year for the first time weekend before last. I met the puppy at 6 months old last year, and she was very unsure about everything. She was a bit timid the first day weekend before last, but was better and more confident the second day. 

Back in November, I took the WD back in for an acquaintance in Breed and he was just all over the place. Apparently it was only his second show ever and he was overwhelmed. Clearly hadn't seen that many different types of dogs before and was laser focused on the other rings. He wouldn't bait and was jumpy anytime I touched him, wouldn't hold a stack, etc. I did get him to gait for me a little, but it wasn't easy. I'm honestly surprised he got the points because apparently he was just as bad for his owner in the classes. 

Most recently, I met an 8-month old COVID puppy who I think will come out of her shell with continued exposure. She was bred by a professional handler who normally would have taken her along to shows at a younger age, but so many clients were dying for their dogs to be shown at the few shows available that she didn't have room. So, the puppy stayed home. She just recently came home with a friend of mine for a few weeks for socialization. She worries about stuff until you make her do it and then she's like "oh this isn't so bad." or "this is actually fun!". I think she'll be fine eventually, she just needs to experience the world. 

In summary, I agree that COVID puppy syndrome is a real thing and it's not just limited to pet people, but is happening to dog people as well. People that know what they're doing and actually train their dogs. Just goes to show that early socialization does make a huge difference. I think that depending on the dog's temperament, some will be able to overcome it rather quickly. Others might take more work, and still others might never fully recover from never leaving their house for the first year of their life.


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## diane0905 (Aug 20, 2010)

I don't show mine, but when I got Logan the pandemic closures started about two weeks before his puppy kindergarten. I wasn't able to get him into an obedience class until he was 10 months old and then only for 10 weeks before that was shut down. Our obedience club here in Columbia is still not having any kind of group classes for rally, agility, or obedience. You'd think they could at least start doing agility since it's outside. I have found some group obedience private classes and Logan is in his second give week session of those. I have also found private agility classes -- just us and the instructor -- and we've been doing that once a week since November. He loves that. I bought him jumps, cones, and 2X2 weaves for training at home.

Right after Covid started EVERYONE was home in the neighborhood and coming out of their houses because they were stir crazy. It was a lot for a puppy.

I think the impact on us has been it taking longer to get Logan to stop being an over-excited greeter (he's doing much better there with people), over-excited to see other dogs, and general frustration on my part as a novice to not have any help with starting rally or obedience. He's 16 months now and time keeps moving on. I think we are about ready to do course one for virtual rally and I'm going to try to get that under wraps and our video sent in sometime in the next couple of week or so. He has two tricks title (TKN and TKI). Our teacher in obedience thinks he can give CGC a go, but I sure don't think he is ready. We have a few more weeks before that and we'll try, but it may take a few times.

Anyhoo, it's rough also for novice people who have never done any sort of dog competition, but who want to. I'm putting in the effort on my end, however, and Logan is so smart given the quality of "I'm not sure what I'm doing" training he's getting -- I hope it pays off.


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## diane0905 (Aug 20, 2010)

Emmdenn said:


> View attachment 882161


Beautiful! 💗


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

My youngest was 7 months old when he showed the first time back in Jan 2020, and then NOTHING through today.

I did have him in obedience classes through last spring/summer, but gradually stopped doing them because I hate bugs + I saw quality of work from him and his brother going down the drain with the unorthodox classes outside. We will start up obedience classes probably in summer, but am really sad that he's almost 2 and has no obedience titles or chance of obedience titles on him until he will be 3 or 4 years old.

For conformation, I'm actually pleasantly surprised at least in how he handled his first class back last week. We are going tonight and will see, but he actually gaited better than his older brother + stacked like a pro.

His almost 3 year old brother was completely different - I ran out to grab him during the bottom half of class and it took him quite a bit longer to settle down and remember his "job" out there. He stacked very nicely, but gaiting was pretty awful. He was butts out prancing while looking up at me. >.< <= It's a little depressing since he was the one who got a major reserve the last time he showed back in Jan 2020.

I have both boys entered in shows at the end of the month.... I expected the youngest to be terrible because of all the time off, so I just entered him in 1 show to the nicest of the 3 judges.... am rethinking that based on how they are training right now.

And that's with dogs who were already "out" before covid shut everything down..... I have spoken to people who had baby pups as of last fall and they were well behind where they needed to be. You had big handlers who said they were seeing poorly socialized pups at shows or dealing with that.

That's just covid affecting dogs.

Imagine how it affected kids.  Even homeschool kids normally have big outlets for socialization outside of the home to prevent them from becoming painfully shy or unable to promote themselves when it comes time for them to get jobs. With everyone glued to computers for the last year +, it's not good....!

*** my baby sister saw it a little with her kids. She has her 4 year old starting preschool this fall and is trying to get the 3 year old into preschool too just to help him out more. When the kids go to the playground, my niece is flying out and making fast friends, but my nephew is holding back and sitting by himself because he's so shy.


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## ArkansasGold (Dec 7, 2017)

I heard that Jamie Hubbard recently withheld WB in Berger Picards because not a single class bitch could stand for exam. While I highly doubt that Winners would be withheld in Goldens since our entries are generally higher than most breeds and surely at least one dog could be examined, I don’t doubt that we will see dismissals for that same reason.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

ArkansasGold said:


> I heard that Jamie Hubbard recently withheld WB in Berger Picards because not a single class bitch could stand for exam. While I highly doubt that Winners would be withheld in Goldens since our entries are generally higher than most breeds and surely at least one dog could be examined, I don’t doubt that we will see dismissals for that same reason.


That's really surprising.... he's a pretty nice judge and usually more understanding of young or inexperienced dogs. 

They must have been acting fearful or shy....


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## ArkansasGold (Dec 7, 2017)

Megora said:


> That's really surprising.... he's a pretty nice judge and usually more understanding of young or inexperienced dogs.
> 
> They must have been acting fearful or shy....


I’m guessing they were acting fearful since they are a herding breed and lots of herding breeds (most?) are wary of strangers at the least. Supposedly he was extremely patient, kind, and gentle per his usual AND gave them all multiple chances to get it together. Not a single one could do it, so he withheld.
I’ve shown to him before and enjoyed it. He was very gentle with my 9 month old puppy and she actually behaved for him too. He has a calming presence I think, so for the dogs to be unable to settle isn’t a good thing.


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## Lovin'Goldens (Feb 17, 2021)

Honestly, everyone has been affected mentally by COVID-19, even dogs. The sad part is, we can use things like zoom and our phones to connect/talk to people. But, dogs don't have things like that, they need proper socialization and COVID has affected that process from happening. .

However, with the vaccines become more available and the weather getting better, I am sure things are going to better!


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## ChrisFromOC (Sep 19, 2018)

Another thing that will be sorted out is how dogs who were starting to show will respond to such a long absence. My dog will be in some upcoming shows and I am curious as to what he will think about the whole thing after such a long absence. Hopefully he jumps right back in where he left off but I do wonder if he could sort of look around and say this isn’t my thing anymore ...


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