RE: thinking about a dog - impact on contests?
Some things to consider are the temperature and accommodations for the contest. Some dogs will be ok leaving them in the hotel room while you go out to dinner, some not so much. A hot 5 days in Muncie in July is not a picnic for most dogs so that needs to be addressed too for their comfort. Lotto not too happy being left alone in hotels so he sits in the car completely happy with the a/c running at dinner which is no problem with a separate set of car keys. As Lotto gets older I don't take him to the NATS as I don't think it's fair to take him out in that heat for days. He has been there many times when he was younger with zero issues. Lotto has gone flying with me 90% of the time since he was a little puppy and he knows the routine and what is expected from him but like Mike said, all dogs are different and some will work and some not so much.
Lotto at the NATS