people that know about Border Collies and/or showing, help me PLEASE

Hi everyone, I'm new to Pet Talk, but I can already tell I'm going to love it here. Well to start off with a couple introductions, my name is Courtney and I love horses (Paints are my fav), dogs, sheep, rabbits, etc....(hehe, actually all animals). I have a question that is to anyone that has shown dogs before: I have been in 4-H for almost 7 years now, but I have never shown dogs. This year I'm going to try showing with my Border collie/Kelpie, Katie. A couple problems though, I would like to show in dog showmanship, but I don't know how, if anyone here could help me by either typing out how to or giving me a website address that could help me. It would be greatly appreciated. Also, my other question, when I groom Katie to show her, is there anything special I should do? All opinions and help would be GREATLY appreciated, thank you show much.

Courtney (aka APHA_lover)

Hi Courtney, I can't really help ya there, but welcome to PT! You will love it here, don't worry about that ;D

Here are some websites that might help you out:
http://www.dogpatch.org/dogs/shows.cfm
http://www.akc.org/dic/events/conform/begnshws.cfm
http://www.showdogsupersite.com/

You could also try going to the library to look up some information about the subject. Good luck! :)

By showmanship do you mean for her looks? If so this is called conformation. There is a lot to learn about grooming for this aspect and even to know if your dog is breed standard enough to even enter a ring. It is very political and opinionated.

My best suggestion would be to find a Dog Club around that does Conformation and begin going to practices. You need to know how to have the dog move correctly, running and walking and how to show the dogs strong features off. This is what most clubs will teach you.

I am planning on showing my male in conformation. I have been active in showing in obedience and field for a long time. We also have done some agility showing.