November 25, 2025 • 20 mins
The question is about what to do with puppies that have meltdowns at shows or trials or any socialization situation: "My 7 month old puppy just had a meltdown. At our National this past weekend he showed OK on Thursday and Friday. A little unsure. But showed. On Saturday he was amazing and took Winners Dog. Sunday, he had a complete melt down. He has shows again in 5 days my inclination is to pull him. Work with him at home. Thoughts?"
In this episode I discuss:
- When to hold back, and when to continue exposing puppies after meltdowns
- Rating experiences for success
- Thoughts about avoiding future problems
Visit our website madcapradio.com for further reading.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
I'm Jane Messineo Lindquist.
And this is a Puppy Culturepotluck podcast.
You bring the topics,
we bring the conversation.
This episode's topic is puppy meltdowns.
(00:25):
And here's the question.
My seven month old puppy
just had a meltdown.
I'm thinking stacked stressors.
Now. How do I get him through this?
Here's the situation.
At our national specialty last weekendI had issues getting his nails done.
(00:46):
It took three of us.
It's never been an issue before.
After that, he became leery of everyone.
He showed okay on Thursday and Friday,a little unsure, but showed.
On Saturday he was amazing.
Went in for puppy sweepsand won best puppy.
Took his class and then took winners dog.
(01:10):
He did bark at the judge on the rampwhen she first approached him,
but she made friends with him.
Sunday he had a complete meltdown.
He did allow his teeth to be checked,but shied away on the physical exam.
Wanted nothing to do with it.
The judge was great.
(01:30):
She talked with him and took the time
to pet him and made it fun.
But he was done.
I was also under a lot of stresswith some negative things going on,
and I'm sure he was feelingthat he has shows again in five days,
and my inclinationis to pull him, work with him at home,
(01:52):
or show him a few daysand let him sit out a few.
Thoughts?
Okay, this is me again.
I do know a little bit of the historyon this particular puppy,
because this person has been very activein the discussion group.
So I knowthat he's already been to five shows.
(02:13):
She did a lot with himin the 4 to 6 program,
which is a great program, and I wish morepeople would take advantage of it.
And he did well with those
other shows, but she did note
there is a history of being somewhattentative with strangers,
but probably not outside of normalfor his breed,
(02:37):
and he always didseem to have good recovery.
Let me open up by saying
that there are some obvious,
let's say, elephants in the room
with this history,
but I'm going to put that aside for nowand answer her question directly,
(03:01):
and then circle back to
advice for best practices
with puppies in these situations,because, you know,
it's a very common thingthat maybe we are not all perfect
and we make mistakes along the way, butthen we find ourselves in this position
(03:21):
with a puppythat's had a core meltdown at a dog
show or anand agility trial, or wherever it is.
And the question is, do I hold or go?
Do I stay at homeor keep trying to work on it?
And I think that'sa really legitimate question.
No matter what you've done, whether you'vedone everything right or not, whatever,
(03:41):
you know, all the dog trainers outthere are saying,
you know, I wouldn't have done itthat way.
People are going to make mistakes.
We're all going to make mistakes.
So it's a really legitimate question.
What do I dowhen I've put my puppy in over threshold?
The puppies had a core meltdown.
(04:01):
What do I do?
It's a distinct question fromhow do I prevent it?
And it really is a pet peeve of mine
when someone postsand they've been in this situation,
and instead of offering
immediate advice for how to move forward,
people are Monday nightquarterbacking the history of the puppy.
(04:25):
Not thatthat's not important to understand
where the errors were in the process,but I think we have to be compassionate
and understanding with peoplethat it legitimately
can happen to the best of us.
Okay, that out of the way.
My first inclination when I read this was
(04:48):
I would take the puppy to the shows
that he scheduled to go to in five days,
but I would not show the puppy.
I'm going to take my cues from the puppyin this case,
and allow the puppy to experience this dogshow environment
in a way that's going to be positivefor that puppy.
(05:11):
I can't say what's positivefor this particular puppy,
but I can give youan example of my own puppy
that I'm currently working withthat is the same age as this puppy,
seven months old, and also
is a little prone to softness at shows.
So for my puppy,
(05:32):
she is very happy
and willing to engage in the environment,wants to engage in the environment,
but feels likeshe needs a safe place to come back to.
She is very happy to sit in a chair
with me ringside,I bring my own director's chair
and I put a blanket down in it,so it makes kind of like a hammock thing,
(05:53):
and she'll sit in that chair with meand watch the rings for hours.
This is a perfect way for herto have a positive experience.
She loves it.
She's very human centric.
She loves to spend time with me.
This is good for her.
Now, another puppy
may not want to sit ringside,may just want to be in a crate.
(06:15):
Maybe wants to move a lot of puppies
like movementthat makes them feel more secure.
Some puppies like food.
Some puppies like play.
You just have to read your puppyand know that whatever you're doing
is building a positive experiencefor him at that dog show.
But there is no way that I would take
(06:36):
a puppy like thisinto the ring at this point.
I want to get at least 2
to 3 good experienceslike this under my belt,
where my puppy does not have a meltdown,where my puppy is happy at the show
before I take him backinto the fray of the actual show ring.
Because, you know,my puppy is very happy outside the show
(07:01):
ring to play with other puppies,to say hello to people.
But the minute they go into that ring,especially if there are no other puppies,
or onlymaybe one other puppy in the class,
it's like being in a fishbowl
and then a person is approaching them
sort of impassive,and they don't understand why?
(07:21):
Because they're puppies.
And the only way people
have ever approachedthem is really in a socialization setting
where you're trying to formgood connections.
The puppy doesn't understand why
the person is so impassiveand ignoring them.
The puppy doesn't understand that you'reholding them still to be manipulated,
and they're in this fishbowlwithout any of the social support
(07:42):
of the other puppies.
So long and short.
That's what I would do.
I would bring the puppyand just let the puppy have
some good experiencesin the context of a dog show.
That's what I've been doing with my puppy.
She goes to every show, every trial.
We set up a chair. She sits with me.
I'll even set up a cratewith an open and she,
(08:05):
I'll have her unleashed, but she'll go in
and put herself into the cratewhen she feels it's overwhelming.
I allow her to explore at her own pace,come back to home base.
She's like a Roomba re dockingwhen she gets overwhelmed
and you know she's getting better.
Another thing I'll say about puppies
(08:25):
like this,or any puppy really, for that matter,
is there is no bad time
to pull chocks and leave.
You can decide the morning that you get up
that your puppy looks a little wiggyand stay home.
You can decidewhen you take the puppy out of the car
(08:47):
that the puppy's not quite right,and go home.
You can decidewhen you're standing in the ring ready
to go in, that all of a suddenyour puppy has a core meltdown.
You don't have to go in the ring.
Even in the ring,the puppy can be examined
and have a core meltdown,and you can say, you know what?
(09:09):
We're going to leave.
You always have to advocate for your puppyand put your puppy first.
Don't worry about social conventions.
Don't worry about breaking the major.
If your puppy really,legitimately is in over threshold
and having a core meltdown,there is never a bad time
(09:32):
to take that puppy out of that situation.
That should be your first responsibility.
So that was my first impulse.
Okay.
This is my general advicein these situations.
However, in the comments,
this querant mentioned
(09:54):
that the show she's planning on takingthe puppy to is the National Dog Show,
and that changed my advice fromtake the puppy,
let them just experience it to, hard
no, skip that show because
the benched shows in particularare stressful
(10:15):
because you have to get there earlyand stay all day.
For those of youthat don't know a benched show
means that you are obligatedto stay there.
Keep your dog in the crate there all day.
It's a great thing for public relations.
AKC likes benchedshows for public outreach.
(10:36):
People get to see dogs.
They get to see different breeds.
It is a good thing, but with a puppythat you're not sure about,
I would never do a benched show.
Furthermore, that particular venue
is one of the most challenging venuesI have ever shown in.
It's an indoor,enormous conference center.
(10:59):
Everything about it, from the wayyou get in to the way
that you get to your crating area,is challenging for dogs.
The acoustics are challenging.
It's super tight and crowded.
There's tons of people there,a lot of spectators.
It's the kind of thing that you build upto that you bring your seasoned dogs to.
(11:21):
It's not some place you bring a puppythat's on the fence and not real
sure if it likes dog shows or not.
So my specific advice to her
was there's another set of shows
a month from now in a much quieter,smaller venue
within an hour of the National DogShow venue.
(11:43):
And those are the showsthat I would be targeting for this puppy,
just to get some goodexperiences under his belt.
Now let's
talk about the history on this puppya little bit,
because I do think there are some teachingmoments here.
Okay, the puppy
was a little tentativeabout people approaching him,
(12:07):
but you know, she really did do good work
with getting him out to those five shows.
And he had good recovery,even if he was giving us, let's say,
the memo thatperhaps he could be tentative
with strangers, that he'snot 100% comfortable with strangers.
But I still think it's a reasonable thing
(12:28):
to take this puppyto the national specialty.
But then I don't really knowhow it happened
that the dog was having his nails doneat the national specialty.
Probably.
She said he never had a problem before,so it didn't occur to her why not?
But I definitely
do not do any kind of grooming like that,
(12:50):
like clipping of whiskers or nail trims.
I don't do anything like thatat a dog show.
I make sure that's done at home, because
even for
a puppy that doesn't showany problems with it,
you just it's again, like she mentioned,a stacking of stressors.
(13:12):
There is the stress of being
away from home at this dog show,and now you're doing the nails.
And even if visiblythe puppy is tolerating it
at home, it'sstill a stressful thing to do.
So number one, I wouldn't have done it.
Number two, if the puppy really resistsand I have had puppies resist things.
(13:32):
I mean, I have had puppiesthat I put on the table
and went to do chalk on their faceand they growled at me.
My response is, thank you
Sir or Madam, forletting me know how you're feeling.
I have never had any of those dogsgo on to be a problem,
but they're giving you information thatwhatever it is, it's too much for them.
(13:58):
Forcing the issue
of getting people to hold the dogand do the nails.
It's not what I would recommend.
And I think
probably the parent at this point is like,yeah, maybe I wouldn't do that again.
So I'm I'm not taking her to task for it,but I'm just acknowledging that
when animals, especially out of character,
(14:20):
are objecting to something,there's an underlying story.
Either it's
stacking of stressors
that they're stressed in some waythat you wouldn't have known if you hadn't
then gone to do this husbandry procedure,or it could be something painful.
There could be a toe,a nail, broken, or a toe hurt.
(14:40):
But whatever it is, it's information
and we need to take that informationand listen to it.
If you're at a dog show,that is not the time to address it,
and that is not the time to get throughpeople to hold the puppy down, to do it
again.
Trust me, I am not taking this womanto task for having done this
(15:02):
because I think if we all reflect,we've all been in a similar situation
where we just didn't listento that little voice inside our head.
So it's a safe space here,but we're just putting it on the table
that the best practiceis not to try and do
major husbandry items at dog showsand listen to your puppy.
(15:27):
If your puppy is objecting to something,deal with it at home.
Don't deal with it at the dog show.
Not to go too fardown the rabbit hole with this,
but you know there are some breedsfor which heavy
grooming and groomingat dog shows things like stripping.
They're going to have to get usedto that, but that's something
(15:50):
that you really have to train separately,in my opinion.
I don't think it's ever advisableto force it on a puppy
that's having a meltdown about it,or objecting strongly to it.
I just think it puts the onus on you
as a breeder exhibitorto make the time to get the puppy used
to having that husbandry done in public,whatever it is.
(16:14):
But again, at that inflection
point where the puppy saying no,
you just have to listen to the puppy.
And then there's the situation
of, okay, we know the puppy
has been soft in the pastwith people can be hesitant.
(16:37):
Showed a little bit of that on Saturday.
You know, do you show the puppy on Sunday?
I mean, I can't blame her.
She just got winnersdog at the national specialty.
I don't blame her for entering the dogthe next day.
The only thing I can say,
(16:58):
and I don't know because I wasn'tthere, is
if there were any early warning signs
that this puppy was trending toward more
no than yes with this situation,I know it's hard
when you're on a roll and you just wonwinners dog at the national specialty.
(17:20):
But again, if your dog is good enough towin winners dog at the national specialty,
your dog is good enough to have a careeras a show dog.
And we want to think long term.
So it's the hardest thing.
It's one of the hardest thingsto do to advocate for your dog
and to invest in the future of the dogby saying, you know what?
(17:43):
This isn't right for my dog today.
No matter what the upside is,this isn't right for my dog today.
Everyone struggles with it, okay?
Not just show people.
I just had this conversation with one ofmy co-owners at a nose work trial.
She went out for the first search.
It's raining. It's windy.
(18:04):
Her dog was miserable.
But you know,the dog nailed the first search.
So now it's like, well,I spent all this time and money.
Do I take the dog out againand try and get the rest of the searches?
But, you know, the dog, every timeshe took the dog out of the car was trying
to run and get into other people's carbecause she didn't like being rained on.
(18:25):
Even just staging, she was going tohave to be out in the cold rain
and she didn't like it.
And my co-owner, much to her credit, said,you know what?
I'm not doing this. I'm going home.
I'm taking my dog home
very hard to do when you've woke up at4:00 in the morning and driven two hours.
But in my opinion, the right call.
(18:45):
I have left
agility trials with the dogwhen I had one Q under
my belt and was looking at a double Qbecause the air conditioning
in the sports centerjust was not keeping up
with the number of people and dogsthat were in that sports center.
And it was too hot for my dog.
And I, I left
(19:08):
very hard to do,but I think we just have to
will ourselves out of the I could get it.
I need to stay.
I paid the money.
I drove five hours.
I got up at two in the morning.
It's the fallacy of sunk costs.
Don't fall prey to it.
(19:29):
There is nothing more important
than the long term career of your puppy.
Just always keepthat number one in your mind
and let it be your compass for decidingwhat's right to do.
If you liked this podcast,
you love our show Puppy Bundles.
(19:51):
Check them out at puppyculture.com.
And while you're there, don'tforget to stock up on our booklets.
Our best selling puppy exercise booklet,
our Be Your PuppiesAdvocate booklet for puppy owners,
and our spay neuter bookletthat will help you decide
whether spaying or neuteringis right for your puppy.
(20:15):
Well, that's it for this time.
Thanks for listening. Bye bye.
I'm Jane Messineo Lindquist.
And this is a Puppy Culturepotluck podcast.
You bring the topics,
we bring the conversation.
This episode's topic is puppy meltdowns.
(00:25):
And here's the question.
My seven month old puppy
just had a meltdown.
I'm thinking stacked stressors.
Now. How do I get him through this?
Here's the situation.
At our national specialty last weekendI had issues getting his nails done.
(00:46):
It took three of us.
It's never been an issue before.
After that, he became leery of everyone.
He showed okay on Thursday and Friday,a little unsure, but showed.
On Saturday he was amazing.
Went in for puppy sweepsand won best puppy.
Took his class and then took winners dog.
(01:10):
He did bark at the judge on the rampwhen she first approached him,
but she made friends with him.
Sunday he had a complete meltdown.
He did allow his teeth to be checked,but shied away on the physical exam.
Wanted nothing to do with it.
The judge was great.
(01:30):
She talked with him and took the time
to pet him and made it fun.
But he was done.
I was also under a lot of stresswith some negative things going on,
and I'm sure he was feelingthat he has shows again in five days,
and my inclinationis to pull him, work with him at home,
(01:52):
or show him a few daysand let him sit out a few.
Thoughts?
Okay, this is me again.
I do know a little bit of the historyon this particular puppy,
because this person has been very activein the discussion group.
So I knowthat he's already been to five shows.
(02:13):
She did a lot with himin the 4 to 6 program,
which is a great program, and I wish morepeople would take advantage of it.
And he did well with those
other shows, but she did note
there is a history of being somewhattentative with strangers,
but probably not outside of normalfor his breed,
(02:37):
and he always didseem to have good recovery.
Let me open up by saying
that there are some obvious,
let's say, elephants in the room
with this history,
but I'm going to put that aside for nowand answer her question directly,
(03:01):
and then circle back to
advice for best practices
with puppies in these situations,because, you know,
it's a very common thingthat maybe we are not all perfect
and we make mistakes along the way, butthen we find ourselves in this position
(03:21):
with a puppythat's had a core meltdown at a dog
show or anand agility trial, or wherever it is.
And the question is, do I hold or go?
Do I stay at homeor keep trying to work on it?
And I think that'sa really legitimate question.
No matter what you've done, whether you'vedone everything right or not, whatever,
(03:41):
you know, all the dog trainers outthere are saying,
you know, I wouldn't have done itthat way.
People are going to make mistakes.
We're all going to make mistakes.
So it's a really legitimate question.
What do I dowhen I've put my puppy in over threshold?
The puppies had a core meltdown.
(04:01):
What do I do?
It's a distinct question fromhow do I prevent it?
And it really is a pet peeve of mine
when someone postsand they've been in this situation,
and instead of offering
immediate advice for how to move forward,
people are Monday nightquarterbacking the history of the puppy.
(04:25):
Not thatthat's not important to understand
where the errors were in the process,but I think we have to be compassionate
and understanding with peoplethat it legitimately
can happen to the best of us.
Okay, that out of the way.
My first inclination when I read this was
(04:48):
I would take the puppy to the shows
that he scheduled to go to in five days,
but I would not show the puppy.
I'm going to take my cues from the puppyin this case,
and allow the puppy to experience this dogshow environment
in a way that's going to be positivefor that puppy.
(05:11):
I can't say what's positivefor this particular puppy,
but I can give youan example of my own puppy
that I'm currently working withthat is the same age as this puppy,
seven months old, and also
is a little prone to softness at shows.
So for my puppy,
(05:32):
she is very happy
and willing to engage in the environment,wants to engage in the environment,
but feels likeshe needs a safe place to come back to.
She is very happy to sit in a chair
with me ringside,I bring my own director's chair
and I put a blanket down in it,so it makes kind of like a hammock thing,
(05:53):
and she'll sit in that chair with meand watch the rings for hours.
This is a perfect way for herto have a positive experience.
She loves it.
She's very human centric.
She loves to spend time with me.
This is good for her.
Now, another puppy
may not want to sit ringside,may just want to be in a crate.
(06:15):
Maybe wants to move a lot of puppies
like movementthat makes them feel more secure.
Some puppies like food.
Some puppies like play.
You just have to read your puppyand know that whatever you're doing
is building a positive experiencefor him at that dog show.
But there is no way that I would take
(06:36):
a puppy like thisinto the ring at this point.
I want to get at least 2
to 3 good experienceslike this under my belt,
where my puppy does not have a meltdown,where my puppy is happy at the show
before I take him backinto the fray of the actual show ring.
Because, you know,my puppy is very happy outside the show
(07:01):
ring to play with other puppies,to say hello to people.
But the minute they go into that ring,especially if there are no other puppies,
or onlymaybe one other puppy in the class,
it's like being in a fishbowl
and then a person is approaching them
sort of impassive,and they don't understand why?
(07:21):
Because they're puppies.
And the only way people
have ever approachedthem is really in a socialization setting
where you're trying to formgood connections.
The puppy doesn't understand why
the person is so impassiveand ignoring them.
The puppy doesn't understand that you'reholding them still to be manipulated,
and they're in this fishbowlwithout any of the social support
(07:42):
of the other puppies.
So long and short.
That's what I would do.
I would bring the puppyand just let the puppy have
some good experiencesin the context of a dog show.
That's what I've been doing with my puppy.
She goes to every show, every trial.
We set up a chair. She sits with me.
I'll even set up a cratewith an open and she,
(08:05):
I'll have her unleashed, but she'll go in
and put herself into the cratewhen she feels it's overwhelming.
I allow her to explore at her own pace,come back to home base.
She's like a Roomba re dockingwhen she gets overwhelmed
and you know she's getting better.
Another thing I'll say about puppies
(08:25):
like this,or any puppy really, for that matter,
is there is no bad time
to pull chocks and leave.
You can decide the morning that you get up
that your puppy looks a little wiggyand stay home.
You can decidewhen you take the puppy out of the car
(08:47):
that the puppy's not quite right,and go home.
You can decidewhen you're standing in the ring ready
to go in, that all of a suddenyour puppy has a core meltdown.
You don't have to go in the ring.
Even in the ring,the puppy can be examined
and have a core meltdown,and you can say, you know what?
(09:09):
We're going to leave.
You always have to advocate for your puppyand put your puppy first.
Don't worry about social conventions.
Don't worry about breaking the major.
If your puppy really,legitimately is in over threshold
and having a core meltdown,there is never a bad time
(09:32):
to take that puppy out of that situation.
That should be your first responsibility.
So that was my first impulse.
Okay.
This is my general advicein these situations.
However, in the comments,
this querant mentioned
(09:54):
that the show she's planning on takingthe puppy to is the National Dog Show,
and that changed my advice fromtake the puppy,
let them just experience it to, hard
no, skip that show because
the benched shows in particularare stressful
(10:15):
because you have to get there earlyand stay all day.
For those of youthat don't know a benched show
means that you are obligatedto stay there.
Keep your dog in the crate there all day.
It's a great thing for public relations.
AKC likes benchedshows for public outreach.
(10:36):
People get to see dogs.
They get to see different breeds.
It is a good thing, but with a puppythat you're not sure about,
I would never do a benched show.
Furthermore, that particular venue
is one of the most challenging venuesI have ever shown in.
It's an indoor,enormous conference center.
(10:59):
Everything about it, from the wayyou get in to the way
that you get to your crating area,is challenging for dogs.
The acoustics are challenging.
It's super tight and crowded.
There's tons of people there,a lot of spectators.
It's the kind of thing that you build upto that you bring your seasoned dogs to.
(11:21):
It's not some place you bring a puppythat's on the fence and not real
sure if it likes dog shows or not.
So my specific advice to her
was there's another set of shows
a month from now in a much quieter,smaller venue
within an hour of the National DogShow venue.
(11:43):
And those are the showsthat I would be targeting for this puppy,
just to get some goodexperiences under his belt.
Now let's
talk about the history on this puppya little bit,
because I do think there are some teachingmoments here.
Okay, the puppy
was a little tentativeabout people approaching him,
(12:07):
but you know, she really did do good work
with getting him out to those five shows.
And he had good recovery,even if he was giving us, let's say,
the memo thatperhaps he could be tentative
with strangers, that he'snot 100% comfortable with strangers.
But I still think it's a reasonable thing
(12:28):
to take this puppyto the national specialty.
But then I don't really knowhow it happened
that the dog was having his nails doneat the national specialty.
Probably.
She said he never had a problem before,so it didn't occur to her why not?
But I definitely
do not do any kind of grooming like that,
(12:50):
like clipping of whiskers or nail trims.
I don't do anything like thatat a dog show.
I make sure that's done at home, because
even for
a puppy that doesn't showany problems with it,
you just it's again, like she mentioned,a stacking of stressors.
(13:12):
There is the stress of being
away from home at this dog show,and now you're doing the nails.
And even if visiblythe puppy is tolerating it
at home, it'sstill a stressful thing to do.
So number one, I wouldn't have done it.
Number two, if the puppy really resistsand I have had puppies resist things.
(13:32):
I mean, I have had puppiesthat I put on the table
and went to do chalk on their faceand they growled at me.
My response is, thank you
Sir or Madam, forletting me know how you're feeling.
I have never had any of those dogsgo on to be a problem,
but they're giving you information thatwhatever it is, it's too much for them.
(13:58):
Forcing the issue
of getting people to hold the dogand do the nails.
It's not what I would recommend.
And I think
probably the parent at this point is like,yeah, maybe I wouldn't do that again.
So I'm I'm not taking her to task for it,but I'm just acknowledging that
when animals, especially out of character,
(14:20):
are objecting to something,there's an underlying story.
Either it's
stacking of stressors
that they're stressed in some waythat you wouldn't have known if you hadn't
then gone to do this husbandry procedure,or it could be something painful.
There could be a toe,a nail, broken, or a toe hurt.
(14:40):
But whatever it is, it's information
and we need to take that informationand listen to it.
If you're at a dog show,that is not the time to address it,
and that is not the time to get throughpeople to hold the puppy down, to do it
again.
Trust me, I am not taking this womanto task for having done this
(15:02):
because I think if we all reflect,we've all been in a similar situation
where we just didn't listento that little voice inside our head.
So it's a safe space here,but we're just putting it on the table
that the best practiceis not to try and do
major husbandry items at dog showsand listen to your puppy.
(15:27):
If your puppy is objecting to something,deal with it at home.
Don't deal with it at the dog show.
Not to go too fardown the rabbit hole with this,
but you know there are some breedsfor which heavy
grooming and groomingat dog shows things like stripping.
They're going to have to get usedto that, but that's something
(15:50):
that you really have to train separately,in my opinion.
I don't think it's ever advisableto force it on a puppy
that's having a meltdown about it,or objecting strongly to it.
I just think it puts the onus on you
as a breeder exhibitorto make the time to get the puppy used
to having that husbandry done in public,whatever it is.
(16:14):
But again, at that inflection
point where the puppy saying no,
you just have to listen to the puppy.
And then there's the situation
of, okay, we know the puppy
has been soft in the pastwith people can be hesitant.
(16:37):
Showed a little bit of that on Saturday.
You know, do you show the puppy on Sunday?
I mean, I can't blame her.
She just got winnersdog at the national specialty.
I don't blame her for entering the dogthe next day.
The only thing I can say,
(16:58):
and I don't know because I wasn'tthere, is
if there were any early warning signs
that this puppy was trending toward more
no than yes with this situation,I know it's hard
when you're on a roll and you just wonwinners dog at the national specialty.
(17:20):
But again, if your dog is good enough towin winners dog at the national specialty,
your dog is good enough to have a careeras a show dog.
And we want to think long term.
So it's the hardest thing.
It's one of the hardest thingsto do to advocate for your dog
and to invest in the future of the dogby saying, you know what?
(17:43):
This isn't right for my dog today.
No matter what the upside is,this isn't right for my dog today.
Everyone struggles with it, okay?
Not just show people.
I just had this conversation with one ofmy co-owners at a nose work trial.
She went out for the first search.
It's raining. It's windy.
(18:04):
Her dog was miserable.
But you know,the dog nailed the first search.
So now it's like, well,I spent all this time and money.
Do I take the dog out againand try and get the rest of the searches?
But, you know, the dog, every timeshe took the dog out of the car was trying
to run and get into other people's carbecause she didn't like being rained on.
(18:25):
Even just staging, she was going tohave to be out in the cold rain
and she didn't like it.
And my co-owner, much to her credit, said,you know what?
I'm not doing this. I'm going home.
I'm taking my dog home
very hard to do when you've woke up at4:00 in the morning and driven two hours.
But in my opinion, the right call.
(18:45):
I have left
agility trials with the dogwhen I had one Q under
my belt and was looking at a double Qbecause the air conditioning
in the sports centerjust was not keeping up
with the number of people and dogsthat were in that sports center.
And it was too hot for my dog.
And I, I left
(19:08):
very hard to do,but I think we just have to
will ourselves out of the I could get it.
I need to stay.
I paid the money.
I drove five hours.
I got up at two in the morning.
It's the fallacy of sunk costs.
Don't fall prey to it.
(19:29):
There is nothing more important
than the long term career of your puppy.
Just always keepthat number one in your mind
and let it be your compass for decidingwhat's right to do.
If you liked this podcast,
you love our show Puppy Bundles.
(19:51):
Check them out at puppyculture.com.
And while you're there, don'tforget to stock up on our booklets.
Our best selling puppy exercise booklet,
our Be Your PuppiesAdvocate booklet for puppy owners,
and our spay neuter bookletthat will help you decide
whether spaying or neuteringis right for your puppy.
(20:15):
Well, that's it for this time.
Thanks for listening. Bye bye.
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