[sasha]

I am not familiar with guinea pig showing, and only know about dogs because my mother's friend who rescues has done agility shows with some of her dogs (she does not breed, she gets quite a lot of surrenders with the proper papers)So is the following also true of guinea pig showing?

Most people that breed dogs will never go to some of the larger shows that truly have the best dogs, but they do know of them. If there is better stock out there that they know of, and they are breeding mid level dogs, they are not improving the gene pool by breeding. So spend thousands on a true champion if you are really itching to sentence a shelter puppy to death, or shut up about it, a mutt is healthier anyway most of the time. Not to mention, if you want to show, you don't have to breed, even rescues get dogs with papers. I realize that some kennel clubs require that show dogs not be altered, but I'm sure you could find an owner give up or the occassional rescue that would consider that you were specifically trying not to breed.

excuses, excuses