Went to a show today...

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hils78

Well I thought I would go & see first hand what its all about.
My first impressions I have to admit weren't good, but I suppose you can read anything you want to into anything, it was a bit dark & dingey. When I decided to put 'positive head' on in all reality I suppose if I push myself it wasn't so bad. All cages had hay in & the majority had water- some had these funny mini bales of hay which stops it getting every where. There weren't half as many pigs as I expected & the biggest section was the pet one which I liked as it showed that people were just 'into' their piggies. There were some very happy looking piggies coming to the front of cages when I spoke to them & others (in the minority I must add) that didn't look too good being there - heavy breathing stressed look.

There were a vast selection of animals for sale - surprise surprise out of about 40 pigs I think only 6 were sows. Prices ranging from £3 to £10.

The people there were as different as the Piggies. There was one woman who obviously had pigs in show & for sale who was litterally constantly walking round them all the time giving them veg & checking them - seemed very caring - BUT there were others who I felt like punching. Going through the sales pens hoiking out the pigs with now gentle word of warning, flipping them upside down barking out things like 'too bindle' & practically dropping them back in the pens. I gave her 'the look'!

I got talking to one woman who was showing interest in the 'uglies' like me (the ones with ears chewed & the ones with non standard markings etc) & got talking. She was the same as me - has an interest & just wanted to see what it was all about. We openely & loudly talked about the way the woman was handling the for sale pigs & I think she heard ;D this nasty woman was just a punter though not one of the people running the stand. The ones doing this were really nice & knew their stuff but didn't get the fact that I wasn't bothered if the stunning silver teddy didn't 'throw' true teddy - & looked at me v strangely when I said I didn't care because if I took him he'd have his nuts off straight away!

The only thing that I thought was utterly weird was a couple of people walked in right up to the top table with a box of ferrets & got them out - now correct me if I'm wrong but wouldn't they kill a Guinea Pig? :~D

So to sum up - I probably wouldn't go to one again, it would be very easy to buy a nice cheap pig instead of going to a rescue. The people who aren't so nice & caring seem to dominate the ones that were.
 
Which show was it you went to?
Most shows don't have an admission fee and the general public are free to wander into the place and look around. This means you don't know who the exhibitors are and who are just having a nosey.
Also, a lot of shows now don't allow sale pens (especially agricultural shows where there are hundreds of spectators) as they can encourage impulse buying. Most sales in the shows are between exhibitors. Its rare for it to be a member of the public who buys them.

Unfortunately if one doesn't like shows they will only see bad things about it. At the end of the day, with the exception of a few not so savoury exhibitors (who quickly get a reputation) the exhibitors are out to win prizes and to do this the pigs must be in 100% health and condition.

I could go on but I won't as this is a showing related thread and will most likely be deleted.

Kat
 
ok - just thought I would share my experience that's all. I hope I've remained neutral on what I've commented on by listing good points & not so good points. I didn't think that this could be a controversial thread :-[ Anyway as you said Kat it was free to get in & other than the woman who was taking good care of her piggies you couldn't really tell who was who. It did surprise me how easy it would have been to buy a piggie.

If a mod would like to delete this thread please do - I really haven't intended on igniting any controversial talk & would rather not be the instigator of such thing! Pm me if you need to.

Hx
 
I don't like the way you said that lady was handling the piggies, if she was at a show I was at I would probably say something to her or say something about the way she was handling them to someone else. But the thing is like in life you have good, piggy fanciers and bad piggy fanciers.

I think the ferret thing was a bit daft to be honest - who would honestly bring a ferret in?

I do show etc, but that is a different story.
 
hils78 said:
Well I thought I would go & see first hand what its all about.
My first impressions I have to admit weren't good, but I suppose you can read anything you want to into anything, it was a bit dark & dingey. When I decided to put 'positive head' on in all reality I suppose if I push myself it wasn't so bad. All cages had hay in & the majority had water- some had these funny mini bales of hay which stops it getting every where. There weren't half as many pigs as I expected & the biggest section was the pet one which I liked as it showed that people were just 'into' their piggies. There were some very happy looking piggies coming to the front of cages when I spoke to them & others (in the minority I must add) that didn't look too good being there - heavy breathing stressed look.

There were a vast selection of animals for sale - surprise surprise out of about 40 pigs I think only 6 were sows. Prices ranging from £3 to £10.

The people there were as different as the Piggies. There was one woman who obviously had pigs in show & for sale who was litterally constantly walking round them all the time giving them veg & checking them - seemed very caring - BUT there were others who I felt like punching. Going through the sales pens hoiking out the pigs with now gentle word of warning, flipping them upside down barking out things like 'too bindle' & practically dropping them back in the pens. I gave her 'the look'!

I got talking to one woman who was showing interest in the 'uglies' like me (the ones with ears chewed & the ones with non standard markings etc) & got talking. She was the same as me - has an interest & just wanted to see what it was all about. We openely & loudly talked about the way the woman was handling the for sale pigs & I think she heard ;D this nasty woman was just a punter though not one of the people running the stand. The ones doing this were really nice & knew their stuff but didn't get the fact that I wasn't bothered if the stunning silver teddy didn't 'throw' true teddy - & looked at me v strangely when I said I didn't care because if I took him he'd have his nuts off straight away!

The only thing that I thought was utterly weird was a couple of people walked in right up to the top table with a box of ferrets & got them out - now correct me if I'm wrong but wouldn't they kill a Guinea Pig? :~D

So to sum up - I probably wouldn't go to one again, it would be very easy to buy a nice cheap pig instead of going to a rescue. The people who aren't so nice & caring seem to dominate the ones that were.
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i wish I'd have gone with you,you and me as a team giving filthy looks to people wouldve been fun ;D
 
Oh, I don't think its controversial... me and my boyfriend were just saying that we wished there was a local pet show as we would love to take our bunnies, piggie and hamster coz to us they are, of course, the most beautiful! We would just be interested to see how they got on, but if they were not happy then i would take them straight home, especially if somebody was picking them up and "pig-handling" them... Tiger our piggie would probably wee on them anyway - he did on me last night and on Dave the night before, naughty boy!
I don't see many piggie sthat look like him though, also our Dutch bunny is very pretty and our magpie bun is unusual, so it would be interesting to see how they got on... we just never seem to hear of any pet shows round here (Buckley, Flintshire, N.Wales).
 
It's interesting to hear what the show was like - after all, it is guinea related but yes, the 'rights & wrongs' of showing has been done before.

Everyone would agree on here, whether they're into showing or not, that they want to see the guineas treated well.

Yes I'd have thought a ferret would find a guinea quite tasty! That was insensitive to take a ferret in.

It's nice to hear about the guineas that came up for a fuss - they're obviously well loved and happy.

I'm trying to stay very neutral here! Just wanted to say it is interesting to hear what the shows are like. Do they have trade stands at all (thinking of Crufts here I think!) ;D
 
Brindle is an even intermixing of red & black hairs :)

Exhibitors have to take piggies to shows to see how they are with it all. There are pigs who don't settle and get stressed and thus don't fare very well on the judging table. These pigs will not be exhibited again if this is so. Most piggies do seem to enjoy themselves and really show themselves off on the judges table. You will often find piggies sleeping in their pens and we all know that a scared, stressed piggy will not relax and go to sleep.
Look at this pic of a lemon agouti rex I took at a local show, isn't it a cracker ;D
lemonagoutirex.jpg


Kat
 
Hmm, don't think I'd like it if someone plucked my Tiger out of his bed, declared him as "too hairy" and dropped him back in his cage - hopefully he would wee on them as thats all he seems to do at the moment!

How are animals treated at shows in general? I would be horrified if I took one of mine to a show and he was scared or mistreated...

Thats a lovely picture by the way. I don't think any of mine would sit still long enough though, they are so nosey!
 
KatsCavies said:
Brindle is an even intermixing of red & black hairs :)

Exhibitors have to take piggies to shows to see how they are with it all. There are pigs who don't settle and get stressed and thus don't fare very well on the judging table. These pigs will not be exhibited again if this is so. Most piggies do seem to enjoy themselves and really show themselves off on the judges table. You will often find piggies sleeping in their pens and we all know that a scared, stressed piggy will not relax and go to sleep.
Look at this pic of a lemon agouti rex I took at a local show, isn't it a cracker ;D
lemonagoutirex.jpg


Kat
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LOOK :o :o :o
piggy lips!!
 
katiep said:
LOL! You lot are obsessed with piggie lips! I like their little noses and their floppy ears!
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I do too,but those lips are just smoochable
 
Hahaha I thought that pic would go down well with everyone's obsession with piggy lips ;D

The piggies are usually treated well at shows. The judges are cavy keepers as well and do handle them properly. If there is any mistreatment or rough handling of any pigs at shows then people will complain and the complaints usually end up in cavies mag for everyone to know about.

Kat
 
KatsCavies said:
Hahaha I thought that pic would go down well with everyone's obsession with piggy lips ;D


Kat
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you just had to tease us and set us off on one didnt you lol ;) ;D
 
Oh yes, I have quite a few pics of piggy lips ;)

Personally I love their front feet with their little toes, they're so cute :D

Kat
 
Hmm.. when I was at the Harrogate show it was ok. There was some pigs that came up to us and wanted to be fussed and everything, then there were others layed at the back looking terrified.. some didn't have water or even any hay either. I noticed that every person handled them differently, but on general they looked to be handled okay.

Sehnsucht said:
katiep said:
No way, there's a cavy mag too?!
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there is? :o
Click to expand...

I think so, saw them at harrogate show.
 
I haven't been to a show for years, but reading your experience Hills, nothing much has changed ::)

How horrible, but I'm not surprised to see that they selling off their unwanted stock for as little as £3.00 no doubt we are talking about boars here), it's surely not the act of a caring and responsible breeder to sell from a table top at a guinea pig show?

Again, sad, but predictable that the majority of guineas for sale were boars, unless they are of really good quality their uses are obviously limited to a breeder, poor babies...It makes you wonder what happens to the ones that don't sell? A trip to the nearest auction, pet shop or free ad paper?

Showing is about the owners enjoyment and I believe is not in the best interests of the poor guineas in the show pens and certainly not the ones in the sale pens. If breeders wish to sell their surplus animals, they should have the decency to do so themselves, from their own homes. By allowing sale pens, the show condones this type of behaviour as do the people who show their animals.

Just my thoughts :-\

Barbara
 
The piggy that I saw being handles in a way which I didn't like was a piggy for sale, not one that was 'in the competition'. As a whole the handling was fab, I didn't show - none of my pigs would deal with it & I'm not entirely sure whether I would like to put my pigs or myself through that either. I really don't tihink that they would relish the experience! But I did see pigs asleep some were even coming up for piggy kisses. The judges were particularly gentle.
If one pig that was for sale had been a sow I would have had it then & there. It was a beautiful little golden agouti doing popcorns & standing up at the front of the pen & puttting his head up while I tickled under his chin - def a one in a million!
 
I think everyone who is concerned about guinea welfare should have a look around a few shows and make their own mind up.
Again, as always, I'd urge people to look behind the facade and consider the bigger picture and welfare issues this may raise.

Hilliary, as with pet shops, buy from a table top sale and you you give the message that you find selling guinea pigs in this manner acceptable. If you do then fair enough...it's not a problem.

If people do want a pedigree pig, then it would be much better to source a breeder that allows you to visit their "shed" and where you can see conditions and their other guineas first hand. Also where they would be available to answer any questions you may have.

I'd ask people to consider if they would find it acceptable if dog and cat shows allowed breeders to sell off unwanted dogs/cats/puppies and kittens like this? If you would find the idea abhorrent...and hopefully most of us here would?
Why is it okay to sell guinea pigs like this?

Again, my thoughts on this :)
Barbara
 
I wasn't even aware of guinea pig shows until I came to this Board - seems a bit odd, considering piggies are naturally skittish, timid prey animals to have them subjected to that kind of atmosphere to me, but then I've never been to one so I'm not qualified to comment.

Personally I'm not a really fan of any kind of pedigree showing, whatever animal, but thats just my opinion. :)
 
cavykind said:
I think everyone who is concerned about guinea welfare should have a look around a few shows and make their own mind up.
Again, as always, I'd urge people to look behind the facade and consider the bigger picture and welfare issues this may raise.

Hilliary, as with pet shops, buy from a table top sale and you you give the message that you find selling guinea pigs in this manner acceptable. If you do then fair enough...it's not a problem.

If people do want a pedigree pig, then it would be much better to source a breeder that allows you to visit their "shed" and where you can see conditions and their other guineas first hand. Also where they would be available to answer any questions you may have.

I'd ask people to consider if they would find it acceptable if dog and cat shows allowed breeders to sell off unwanted dogs/cats/puppies and kittens like this? If you would find the idea abhorrent...and hopefully most of us here would?
Why is it okay to sell guinea pigs like this?

Again, my thoughts on this :)
Barbara
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I completely agree, there is no way on this earth that any of my pigs would go up for sale in that manner. You just haven't got a clue where they are going. It would have been very easy to take the beautiful little boar - I've got the room but just couldn't do it, I wouldn't have even done it if it had been a sow if I'm honest. I am probably a 'non-impulse' buyer! I hadn't even considered what may happen to the pigs that didn't sell I just assumed (ain't assumtion a dangerous thing) that they would go home with the owners.
I am very glad I went as it has given me further insight into the world on the 'other side'. I think that my only other experience of show breeders has been an unusually good one.

This place was a seedy dark little village hall & prob not one of the better examples of a show. I'm not going to say where it was though!
 
I think it's good that you have been along. It's the only way we learn about these things :)
If you can get along to a couple more, do so and see what you make of things then.

I too have been to the village hall types and yes it is rather grim isn't it ::)
If you get the chance to go to an agricultural show, maybe consider that too. A bit more of a "party atmosophere" but with the same underlying concerns (for many of us) and crowd :-\

Barbara
 
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