Showing: I don't understand why showing is bad...

[auburnmare5]

I know that showing is not considered a good thing, but I have done thread searches, and I cannot figure out why showing is so bad?
I am confused, can someone please explain?
Thanks.

[sealion]

Well, I don't know much about the topic, but I think it would be very stressful for piggies. And of course most people who show their pigs often breed a lot to have THE perfect pig.

[Peggysu]

It's not just with guinea pigs but it's with other animals. It's about breeding the "perfect" animal.

That's not fair for the poor animal that is forced to breed and it's not fair for the off spring who are not "perfect" enough.

Unfortunately Showing leads to breeding and breeding leads to over population.

Plus showing is hard on the animals and they are usually shown in poor housing conditions.

At least that's my take on it.

[fieryone]

Ditto, and to add to what the others have said, it could also expose them to other animals that may be ill. Lots of reasons to just say no in my opinion

[auburnmare5]

So dog showing and horse showing- are those considered bad kinds of showing. The horse showing I do, the horses were not bred for showing. They are not perfect, they are schooling horses, some of the horses were adopted and given a second chance at life, and others were bought. But is this bad showing as well?

[sophistacavy]

Yup, it's pretty much the same reason's why dog shows are a bad thing. There are really strict requirements in order to avoid being disqualified, so they have to breed a lot to attain the perfect pig, just like Sealion said.

They are also required to put these metal ear tag thingies in their ear, and to put them in, they have to be pierced. Which falls into the category of cosmetic alterations without consent (consent wouldn't be possible of course), and it's a vanity thing also.

Also, when they transport the cavies to and from the show, they are in really small metal carriers that are seperated into "stalls" (barely enough room to turn around in).

I think the judges poke and prod them a bit, like you'll see them do to dogs in the dog shows (you can watch those on tv). Dogs probably don't mind as much, but the guinea pigs likely feel a great deal more stressed because they are, after all, prey animals. And dogs are predators, of course.

There might be something I'm missing, so someone else can add in if I've left something out.

[Peggysu]

I don't know about horse showing like what you do.

[Paula]

Because it promotes breeding. For every "showable" animal, there is usually an entire litter that's deemed "pet quality," which therefore creates more animals that need homes, all for that one or maybe two animals that can be taken to a show and displayed.

[s_anthony]

I'll pop my $0.02 in here on this one.

I am an ex-breeder. I showed Guinea Pigs and Mini-Rex, Rex, Dwarf Hotot and Mini Lop rabbits under the TRBA and ARBA nearly 15 years ago.

My guilt for breeding and showing these poor creatures is one of the reasons why I now choose to rescue instead.

I have to admit, I loved showing my animals. It was a fun time. I got to see friends every few weekends and we would travel over the state. But in truth, it is stressful for the animals to ride in a tiny case usually in the back of a truck, or in a trailer of some sort.

Not only is it stressful, but you can introduce your creatures to diseases as well.

My first few shows, I had very few buns, and I was 14 at the time. A friend gave me a few mini-rexs to start out with. Show quality but not perfect. At the same show, a woman was giving away 3 gorgeous long haired angora rabbits. To make a long story short, when I got home I found out why the woman was giving away these rabbits - they had ear mites so bad. It spread to some of the rabbits we had in the same trailer...

I didn't want to be #1 every time. I didn't breed for perfection, I did it for the fun of getting to do something I loved. I worked a part time job and all of my money went to my buns and piggies. They were spoiled unlike some of the breeders I knew. I'm not saying all breeders are bad - so please do not read into my comments like that...

The biggest issue on showing is that in the long run as someone previously posted, encourages breeding, it increases the chance that people will cull (or kill) parts of their herd because they are imperfect too. It also increases the risk for new genetic issues in bloodlines when you get an inexperienced breeder who thinks you just put a male and a female into a cage and let them go at it. Genetics plays an important role in breeding.

People also joke about the term "ethical breeder". I think its an oxymoron personally, because there is no way that someone can be ethical in their breeding purposes. Someone can be more careful in their choices to breed, and can learn more about the genetics behind breeding, but its just not truely possible to be a 100% ethical breeder.

The horror stories I heard over the years were another reason that I left. There was a rabbitry that had apparently either lost their land or their home or something similar to that. They had hundreds of rabbits on that property. They couldn't let them all go - so they slaughtered them all and dumped them in a ditch. The problem was that half of these poor rabbits were still alive when found in this ditch. I do believe that they were prosecuted but its bad decisions like this that really makes the industry get more of a reputation than just the breeding alone.

I've gotten off my topic. Not all breed shows are the same, but in the long run they do all somehow encourage bad habits in some way or another - whether it be breeding, or neglect, or similar. There are so many already homeless animals out there, why do we need to breed other than to prevent extinction. Even that I still have my disagreements with, but that's another topic

[lmarieaa]

Also, a lot of breeders cull the undesirables, meaning, killed or left to die on its own.
I once read an article about how some dog breeders were drowning puppies, the same breeders that compete in these shows animal planet likes to air constantly.

[Res Judicata]

Horse shows confuse me, too. I have a girl in one of my classes who shows her horse, a blind elderly gelding. That does not seem like horse show material because I also knew a girl way back when I was still in undergrad who nannied for some ridiculously rich family who spent buttloads of money on "the perfect Tennesee Walkers" for their horse shows. I do not know. Are there informal "let's get together and do a bit of dressage just for fun" type horse shows?

[s_anthony]

Originally Posted by Res Judicata

Horse shows confuse me, too. I have a girl in one of my classes who shows her horse, a blind elderly gelding. That does not seem like horse show material because I also knew a girl way back when I was still in undergrad who nannied for some ridiculously rich family who spent buttloads of money on "the perfect Tennesee Walkers" for their horse shows. I do not know. Are there informal "let's get together and do a bit of dressage just for fun" type horse shows?

Some county fairs and carnivals have shows like this where you just get judged in general. No weight classes, no hair checks etc, making sure the animal is healthy and happy too ... I could go for a "show" like that. Something that judges for the positives, not perfection.

[auburnmare5]

Yeah those are the shows that I do. They are called schooling shows. There are no money prizes involved in the ones I do except for the games classes, but it isn't that much. The only big prize you get out of them is a great experience and a ribbon if you place.
Schooling shows are the lower levels of showing...sort of like an intro.

[Res Judicata]

Ah. Thanks, you two.

[s_anthony]

Originally Posted by auburnmare5

Yeah those are the shows that I do. They are called schooling shows. There are no money prizes involved in the ones I do except for the games classes, but it isn't that much. The only big prize you get out of them is a great experience and a ribbon if you place.
Schooling shows are the lower levels of showing...sort of like an intro.

Although it still sounds like a lot of fun and I have to admit it would be difficult for me to say no, I still see this as a doorway into the larger shows...

[s_anthony]

I guess I won't mention that my neighbors who got me into the 'biz' raised buns and pigs too... the pig cages they had measured maybe 1x2 at the most. And I think I'm being generous. They were stacked 10 high and 10 across. the only thing that separated them was the hay in each of the cages.. I felt for the poor creatures below...

Money lessens the concerns for the health, welfare, and happiness of these creatures. Again I am not generalizing ALL breeders, but you got to admit, money talks doesn't it.

[akstrohm]

I think that horse shows, schooling shows as well as bigger shows, are generally good. With horses, shows promote good training. A well trained horse is *much* more likely to have a good future than than untrained horse, which is much more likely to end up in a slaughterhouse. That's not to say that the only way to have a well trained horse is to show, but it does provide the right incentive as far as I'm concerned. The only horse shows that I consider cruel and would definitely avoid are those that promote/tolerate practices such as soring in Tennessee Walking Horses and other similar practices. The show horses that I know are quite well taken care of both at home and at shows and are not under much stress, as a guinea pig would certainly be. A guinea pig will never become fully accustomed to traveling and being at a show... it will always be a stressful situation.

Horse shows also require proof of vaccination against certain diseases, so it is much less likely that your horse will get ill at a show than a guinea pig.

[s_anthony]

Very good points. I still think a show is a show is a show.. but if the proper things are taught then it isn't all bad. It's hard to not group them all together I guess..

[pigsforlife]

Never been to a show. Never will. I hate the fact that people breed the perfect animal for no other reason but to make themselves feel good. I have met breeders. My 2nd and 3rd pigs were from breeders (1st was from a petstore - then I found this site and others like it). My 2nd pig, Buttercup, was purchased from a breeder who had 100+ pigs. She had 6 pigs at a time stuffed in 6sq ft cages and heaps running around her backyard. She bred to make the perfect pig. Buttercup was not good enough because she had little rips in her ears from being picked on by the many pigs she was in with, so she got rid of her. Come on, how pathetic is that? At the time I thought she was the best in the world. I was so stupidly ignorant I am ashamed and deeply embarassed, but I didn't know better. She told me to give cornflour to Buttercup when she had diarrheao. And to wash them with washing up liquid (detergent for your dishes).

The usual scenario; Once a breeder has the perfect pet, they pack them up in cages too small to move. Then they are carted off to a show with unfamiliar noises. Imagine how scared you would be. The weather can be unpredictable at the best of times - the heat would be awful, likewise the cold. The pigs are poked and prodded, passed around from person to person. Mixed with other pigs who have who-knows-what wrong with them. The pig is stressed, scared - perfect breeding grounds for mites and other nasties. The pig gets absolutely NOTHING out of it. It is all for the owners selfish enjoyment.

[ferndalezoo]

Originally Posted by sophistacavy

Yup, it's pretty much the same reason's why dog shows are a bad thing. There are really strict requirements in order to avoid being disqualified, so they have to breed a lot to attain the perfect pig, just like Sealion said.
.

Actually, when it comes to DOG showing (and I am not advocating it, but I have several acquaintances in the dog-show world, so I know some about it), the "good" ones don't "breed alot". In fact, many never breed at all. A "good" show breeder (and of course that's in quotes because there isn't really such a thing) might have one litter a year or every other year.

Dog showing, though, is different from cavy showing in a lot of ways. You can clearly tell the ones who want to be there, and it shows all over their faces. Cavies just get stressed out. They don't have a clue what's going on, they just know that suddenly they are in a very small cage all day with strange noises and smells, and people poking and prodding them. Cavy showing also exposes them to potential disease (quarantine is supposed to be in completely different rooms with doors closed, but show pigs sit in little cages one beside the other). And of course since the "point" of showing is to "evaluate your breeding stock", showing, by its nature, advocates breeding.