So apparently all my dog show friends are a bunch of weenies since not one of you sent me a less than flattering win picture. Or maybe it's that none of you have ever taken a less than flattering win picture? Because if that is the case, I'm screwed.
Now, to take the post title another direction... This morning I was thinking about owning a stud dog and what that has meant to me personally. In the world of dogs, there are people who prefer to own dogs and those who prefer to own bitches. In most respects, it doesn't really matter to me - I have both - but owning a stud dog seems, to me, to be a little different.
When Sam came to live with me, nearly 10 years ago, it was supposed to be a temporary situation. As a novice Cardigan owner I had no intention of becoming involved in the conformation or breeding side of owning dogs. Ginny had come to live with me about 5 months earlier and I had originally thought I would pursue competitive obedience with her (the only dog sport I was aware of at the time) but that wasn't panning out. Sam came along and things began to change.
I acknowledge that every stud dog is different and what I've experienced with Sam may not be the norm but, here's what I've found:
- Some stud dogs don't like other intact males. In my first group of Cardigan friends, there were a bunch of intact males. Some had stood at stud, others hadn't. None of them liked each other. We all socialized at agility events but we had to do it from a 6-10 foot distance if we had the dogs with us.
- Intact males can be wonderfully polite around girls in season or real idiots. Early on, Sam was very polite when his girlfriends would come to stay with us. As he's aged, he's gotten less polite and more of an idiot. The whining and tap dancing that accompanied Georgia's last season were ridiculous.
- When you own a stud dog, you sometimes have to take matters into your own hands. Enough said.
- Taking your stud dog to a good looking, male repro vet to be collected on can seriously impair your sang froid.
- Owning a stud dog causes you to have what most people would think of as completely inappropriate public conversations about testicles, penises, semen, sperm counts, motility and virility. It also causes the guy at the UPS store to ask if you were the one who shipped a 'whole bucket' of sperm to England. I was not.
- Owning a stud dog means you don't have to be married or have a boyfriend to experience having a man in your bed who hogs the bed, steals the covers, throws the pillows on the floor, snores, farts and kicks you when he's dreaming.
-Owning a stud dog means you can have lovely friendships all over the country and world with people you've never met because their dog has your stud in its pedigree. I'm always thrilled to see pictures of members of the Samily and hear about their exploits.
What about the rest of you who own stud dogs? Anything to add to the list?
5 months ago
