u/sokatmatt

I posted a few months back about whether I was too late to start training my dog for conformation showing at 3 years old. Thanks to encouragement from you all, my breeder, and friends, we have been regularly going to handling classes since January and are loving it. Our next step is actually entering and going to a show.

I am beyond nervous as a mega-newbie but one of my friends suggested going to an IABCA show at the end of the June as a more lowkey fun exepeirnce for me and my dog. 

Does anyone have an experience with these shows? I'd love to know the good, bad, and ugly!

I know they count points/titles very differently than AKC. My dog has great structure but has a bit of a sparse coat for the breed, so I am not sure how successful we would be in AKC in our area and breed. Is it worth playing in this venue for a little bit while I am still learning?

Not sure if this matters but I have no intentions of breeding my dog, unless my breeder wants to use him for her program, so we are just doing sports and shows for fun! We love Nosework, barn hunt, and obedience and now conformation is another fun thing we like to do together :) 

My dog is crated trained and loves his crate at home and has slept in there since we brought him home. But the second we get to a trial the crate become a prison of hell and tries everything to not have to go in. He does his best acrobat impression and flips around like crazy. Once I get him in there he’s completely chill just hangs out and doesn’t bark.

I don’t want to have to shove him in there between runs but even treats and special crate toys don’t make a difference. I know it is partially trial excitement and anticipation for his runs, especially at barn hunt when he’s at his max amount of excitement. But he’s even starting to be weird about it at scent work class!

Any tips for making crating easier in these situations?