Hi i got a Question on showing

[ilovepiggies197]

[font=Arial]Can you show guinea pig that are not from a breeder?[/font]

[clover-crystal]

Just to say; this forum is anti-breeding and anti-showing.

[Spirited]

At shows there are generally pet classes - where just the health, temperment and care of the guinea pig is taken into account. Also, from what I can make out, unlike dog showing you don't need papers or anything, so if you found a rescue guinea pig that was a good example of it's breed (according to the standards) then you could show it in the pedigree class.

I don't know whether this counts as a 'How to' question on showing or whether it is just asking about how show a show works.

I believe the general consensus is that even pet showing is not in the interests of the guinea pigs. The noisey, busy atmosphere of a show and travelling conditions go against the shy and retireing personality of the average guinea pig who would rather stay at home. Add to that the small exhibiting and travelling accomodation and you are probably left with unhappy and stressed pigs - why do it for a ribbon?

On the other hand I can see some benefits of 'non pedigree showing' for gregarious animals like dogs and rats who love to show off at agility and intelligence competitions. But again, potential stress to the animal has to be taken into account, exposure to diseases etc, and whether or not the show in question is all about the animals as pets, or whether there are breeding classes as well.
Spirited

[CavySpirit]

I don't know whether this counts as a 'How to' question on showing

Yes, it does. A show with a 'pet class' means they are a subset of the main show. The only good 'show' is a 'pignic' type event.

If there is much more elucidation on showing, the thread will be closed. Thanks much.

[Sabriel]

I think if someone could figure out how to pull off an indoor pignic it would make pignics more popular. It is either too hot or too cold/damp up here to bring piggies outside.

[salana]

You need a lot of empty space, a lot of cubes, a lot of waterproof things to put on the floor, a lot of hay and veggies and stuff.

[Percy's Mom]

Maybe if you could borrow the gym at a school or something like that and have everyone who comes bring a shower curtain, spare cubes, cable ties, and a few towels. You'd end up with giant floor time.

[pamziaw]

How does a pignic work cos you can't just stick them all on the floor together?

[CavyKind]

My personal take on any kind of animal showing ~ is that it is the owners who crave the attention (and hopefully) adulation. A bit sad really.

I have shared my life with both "pedigree" and crossbred animals, all equally beautiful, special, loved and when no longer with us, equally missed...and still loved.
I didn't need anyone to "pat me on the head" or tell me how wonderful they are/were! I always knew...

Barbara

[salana]

The one pignic I've been to was something like this:

One pen took up almost a whole room. In it were about 7 sows and 3 neutered boars.

Another pen was brought by the owner, and there was a neutered boar and 4 sows in it.

Two more smaller pens had two boars each in them, and other boars visited them at various times. (Jackie was excited to have new boars to hump. His brother had gotten boring.)

Everyone brought hay and veggies and hidey houses.

I was so embarrassed because my two sows turned out to be the playground bullies and chased the other sows and the neutered boars endlessly, chattering and peeing.

[pamziaw]

He he! But arn't you basically doing just one big introduction? Doesn't it ever get ugly?

[daftscotslass]

Originally Posted by salana

(Jackie was excited to have new boars to hump. His brother had gotten boring.)

I almost snorted out my salad through my nose when I read this.

[salana]

Some pigs had to be separated because they didn't behave or were excessively terrified (thanks Cuddles), but it was basically a big playdate. Plus everyone had space, veggies, hay, and hidey houses.

And even Jackie gets bored with sneaking up on his blind, deaf brother and unloading boar glue on his cute widdle hiney.

[Percy's Mom]

Originally Posted by salana

And even Jackie gets bored with sneaking up on his blind, deaf brother and unloading boar glue on his cute widdle hiney.

Well, I would imagine there isn't much sport in it if his victim can't tell what's about to hit him.

[ilovepiggies197]

k i didnt know you guys dont like showing, i dont like breeding either i am such a dork

[DaCourt]

We had an indoor pignic last Christmas. It ended up being much bigger than we excpected. I had to run home and borrow grids off my own cage. We had so many pens set up...I think we had around 50 pigs. But we did not put pigs with strange pigs. People would take their pigs out to cuddle, etc...no one would pick up someone elses pig unless they asked. We had name tags on most of the cages. We also had pig races and a photographer. It was a lot of fun. Here is a link to the pictures of the event:

http://imageevent.com/occavyhaven/ho...fmmuu2.zebra_s

[Maggie]

Originally Posted by ilovepiggies197

k i didnt know you guys dont like showing, i dont like breeding either i am such a dork

Yeah, , it's best not to mention either.
But, I just wanna say: In most shows they allow / have a class for non-PEDIGREED pigs, pedigreed pigs usually come from breeders. But anyway, if you do enter a pet pig in a class, it's just more likely they won't win against the selective breeding pigs... Not saying it's right.