Dealing with Disappointment at Dog Shows By Vicki Ronchette Dog shows can be amazingly fun. They can be rewarding and allow you and your dog to build your relationship, compete together and grown and learn as a team. When everything goes well; you have an amazing win, you get to Read more
By Vicki Ronchette I’ve been meaning to write a blog post about the topic of filming our practice and our in ring performances with our dogs. This is really helpful in conformation as well as in other dog sports. In coaching my students we oftentimes review video together to plan Read more
By Vicki Ronchette This is an honest and legitimate question because at some point you will be forced to decide whether you will be honest and truthful or untruthful in an attempt to be kind and spare someone hurt feelings. Whether someone is asking me about the quality of their Read more
Building a Rapport is the First Step in Training By Vicki Ronchette Several years ago I was one of a handful of animal trainers who were invited by the PPG (Pet Professional Guild) to go to Best Friends in Utah to teach animal training workshops. There was someone hired to Read more
Why We Breed Dogs By Vicki Ronchette If you asked 10 breeders why they breed dogs you would get 10 different answers. Everything from “to better the breed” to “so I have something to show” and a billion things in between. As a breeder myself both of those answers, and Read more
I Placed my Show Prospect…..and I couldn’t feel Better About it By Vicki Ronchette As breeders we are often faced with difficult decisions, one of which is placing older puppies or adults. While this isn’t always fun it is sometimes necessary. When you breed dogs you are always looking to Read more
To Special or Not to Special By Vicki Ronchette A “special” is a dog that is competing beyond a championship and is likely going for group wins, specialty wins, best in show wins and a ranking among the country’s top winning dogs. Of course many of us have dogs that Read more
Reflecting on Our 2025 Goals By Vicki Ronchette If you are a regular here at Show Dog Prep School you probably already know that I am big on goal setting. As we prepare for the New Year I start thinking about my goals for the next year. Before I can Read more
Don’t be a Keyboard Critic By Vicki Ronchette Oftentimes after a big show, usually a televised one or sometimes a popular national I will see a lot of posts with people commenting on the results. It’s not uncommon to see comments about how some people don’t understand the standard or Read more
When Your Dog has a Poor Experience in the Ring By Vicki Ronchette If you have read From Shy to Showy or attended one of my workshops, you may already know my position on this, but I still see it happen so often, I felt the need to address it Read more