Quote Originally Posted by MajesticCollies
There is a lot of politics between judges and handlers unfortunately. Like me, if I show Steele against lets say a renound John Buddie, I wouldn't stand a chance cause I'm still a novice in the show world. Although I have a John Buddie Tartanside Collie they wouldn't recognize my name. All politics.
This is the biggest reason we had to stop showing my RB collie Willie when I started going to college. He only needed one 3 pt major to finish, but any big shows required traveling and hiring a handler since a lot of the judges just will not pick a novice in the ring even if their dog is the best. Unfortunately in the conformation world (at least in the U.S), a CH in front of the name doesn't always have value. I saw some pretty crappy collies conformation-wise that got fast championships because the owners could afford to hire top handlers and send the dog to show after show until they got it. I really enjoyed showing Will and watching him win, but I hated the politics of it and came away from the show world somewhat disenchanted. If I got involved in an activity with a dog again in the future (which I hope to), it will probably be obedience, agility or something along those lines. I'd still love to go to shows and watch them though.