i understand how you can be concernd about this......show dogs DO love showing. and if the dog was gone for 6 weeks i'm sure it missed it owner,but when you are handling a dog the dog and you have to have a bond. it's important for two reasons. 1. is because the dog must understand what you want from it in the showring to be succesful. 2. is because it's easier on the dog. it's like having two owners. one for the road and one for the home.

as for the owner tolerating being dog-less for that long......well,i couldn't do it.

hope it explains some....i'm not very good at explaining things.lol