Watching dog shows is much like making sausage; you like the result, but don’t necessarily want to see the process.

The Westminster Dog Show, going on now in New York City, is the gold standard of dog shows in the United States.

Who cannot love seeing the beautiful animals? Their hair is all fluffed up and ironed with not a bit of mud or unmentionalbles smushed into the fur. If only they would stay that way, huh?

Dog shows are not for the economically challenged. One person estimates it can cost about $700,000 to bring a dog to Westminster. That’s how much the owners of Rufus, a bull terrier who won best in show in 2006, spent to bring the dog to the head of the class. Most of the money was spent on ads in show journals touting each successive win.

A colleague, who used to show her pit bull terriers says unfortunately, while there are some terrific breeders at dog shows, most tend to lose focus on the dog and convert to winning at all costs.

I have done inumerable consultations with people who have gone to dog shows researching breeds, only to come across a show breeder “who just happened to have a dog they were not planning to show anymore and they would reluctantly sell him at a discount.” There is a reason they are selling the dog at the dog show, folks.

Retired show dogs can come with their own bag of behavior challenges. Just because they are pretty doesn’t make them perfect. Few dogs are.

I attended a seminar last spring at which a woman extolled how much her dog loved to “show.” She described in detail how the dog loved to be bathed and primped, put into the car for the ride and once they arrived in the ring, the dog would react to the other dogs. One surmised her dog liked attention and car rides, but not being so close to other dogs. It was a shock to her to hear she liked to show, not her dog.

But still, I like to watch dog shows.