[QUOTE=S1969;8473684]
Are the 9 champions from the same litter? That would be extraordinary! [/QUOTE]
No, the breeding was repeated 3 times over 5 (6?) years; the 11 pups are split across the three litters. But they ARE full siblings, and 9 are champions (5 of those are dual Am/Can CH, and 4 are GCh).
The “other three” all do performance events - my dog’s finishing up his Masters titles in AKC agility, an older brother is working on a MACH, and their sister does obedience.
His mom is retired and living in a pet home now, so her page is out of date, but here she is with a semi-complete listing of her accomplished babies.
I’d recommend the breeder in a heartbeat- for all his “conformation faults,” my Oliver is a truly a fantastic little dog. He has a great, super outgoing temperament and unbeatable work ethic.
I believe that some breed people are this catty and rude, but most of the breeders and breed people I know are not - at least not like this example - not to random strangers at a performance event.
In all fairness, I’ve met many nice conformation folks. I just wanted to back up EKLay’s experiences with similar ones of my own, and specifically mention that while nasty behavior is a low base-rate phenomenon in both working and conformation circles, on the rare occasions it’s been directed at me… it’s almost always been conformation folks.
Even more oddly, it’s been twice in the last month! The previous incident, I was on-deck for a run at a trial last month. The woman running the gate complimented my dog’s looks. I responded with, “thank you, he’s a very good boy and he loves agility.” She smiled and said, “oh yes, that’s important of course, but we want our dogs to be beautiful as well!” I smiled politely at her, but since nothing matters less in agility than looks, just continued to interacting with my dog/prepping for my run.
The woman next to her then started talking about my dog, while I was still standing there- “I do not like this trend of breeding these giant shelties, just for the ‘flash factor’… just look at what it does to their hind ends…”
Now, this might’ve be a worthwhile point IF she and I were two friends discussing sheltie breeding, maybe even if we were acquaintances at a breed show discussing trends. Even if she’d just waited until I was out of earshot, who cares.
But I was a complete stranger, about compete in a performance event. I don’t show in conformation, I’m not my dog’s breeder, I can’t change his size or build, and he isn’t going to be bred. Yet she still chose to make the remark in a place and at a volume that guaranteed I would hear it.
Most litters result with the majority of dogs NOT going into conformation homes - even from great breedings. It’s just how it is, unless your breed has extremely small litters. Even if you happen to have the greatest litter in the world, it’s extremely difficult to place 10 puppies in show homes. OR, the breeder might prefer to place the ones that aren’t standouts at 8 weeks with people who just want a dog to love, because it would be “safer” than placing it as a show dog and having it not work out.
Exactly!
I honestly can’t even think of a breeder that would act like you’ve described. Is it possible that the breeder was just being factual about the dog’s faults (not scoffing about them?) Not that it’s much better - because that would still show a lack of social etiquette - but it’s possible some of them can’t help it. (E.g. saying “well, I can see why she didn’t keep this one, with that bite (or missing teeth)”…not realizing that it might sound like scoffing?)
If she’d said, “I don’t love his rear end assembly, his shoulder’s a little short, and I don’t care for the lack of full dentition” (or whatever)… it would have been WAY less offensive than the pursed-lipped “he’s for sure no breed ring dog” she offered up.
(edited to add - Houndhill- you made me laugh! If she’d even said his teeth were white I would’ve appreciated that she was at least trying. She didn’t say anything kind about him. Just pursed her lips after feeling his build and watching him gait. C’mon, he’s not THAT terrible :lol: )
In hindsight, the best explanation I can come up with is that she initially approached me because she thought I might be a fellow (educated) conformation enthusiast? Based on her story about the dog with the “poor temperament” she helped place, all I can think is maybe she sees my dog’s breeder as a competitor and felt some level of satisfaction/smugness at seeing my dog aka a “lesser” dog from the breeder? I just have no idea… 
My cousin quietly observed the whole interaction. After the woman walked away, she asked me point blank if many dog people had such terrible social skills and were so rude. I assured her that most people are very nice, but witnessing that interaction was enough to make her decide not to try agility out with her little Heinz 57 terrier mix after all. She actually said (much to my protest), “sheesh, I don’t even know what people would say about my dog at one of these things!”
So I guess the point of my rambling here is… if a club wants to get more members, friendliness of people and a decent number of highly accessible events (in terms of entry timelines, training requirements, etc.) seem like the most important elements. Practice barn hunt runs, practice lure coursing runs, etc., are all things that require little training to do at a low level, and can generally accommodate day-of entries.
I love dogs and am a hardcore agility enthusiast, but if I was more sensitive or less hardcore about my sport, the two comments I’ve described above might have caused me to stop competing entirely.
They are 
) and just got my feet wet in the conformation ring this past year with Toy Fox Terriers.