Show Dog Breed Competition

In Breed Competition, no matter what the breed, the individual dogs are judged against a written breed standard, which describes the attributes the "ideal specimen" of the breed should possess. The breed standards include descriptions of head, eyes, pigment, coat, color, bite (i.e., placement of teeth), structure, and movement. In an ideal world, the dogs are each judged against the standard and the person showing the dog is ignored. (In the real world, the person on the end of the lead can sway a judge's decision because some judges are prone to award the win to professional handlers and ignore those who aren't.).

So, here is how the classes are run. First, the classes are divided by sex. The males compete against the males. The females compete against the females. For each sex the following classes are available:

Puppy 6-9- Puppies that are not yet champions and that are between six and nine months of age compete in this class.

Puppy 9-12-Puppies that are not yet champions and that are between nine and twelve months of age compete in this class.

Twelve-To-Eighteen Months- Adults that are not yet champions and that are between twelve to eighteen months of age compete in this class.

Novice - To compete in this class, a dog must be six months of age or older; must have won less than three first places in the Novice Class; must not have won a first place in Bred-by-Exhibitor, American-bred, or Open Class; and must not have won any points toward their championship.

Amateur-Owner-Handler- Dogs that are at least six months of age and that are not champions must be handled in this class by their registered owner. The class is limited to exhibitors who have not, at any point in time, been a professional dog handler, an AKC approved conformation judge, or employed as an assistant to a professional dog handler.

Bred By Exhibitor - This class is for dogs that are exhibited by their breeder owner and that are not yet champions.

American-Bred - To enter this class, a dog that is not yet a champion has to have been born in the United States from a mating which took place in the United States.

Open - This class is for any dog of the breed that is at least 6 months of age.

Let's say that there are at least 4 entries in each of those classes. Starting with the puppy dog (male) 6-9 class, the dogs are called into the ring. The dogs are identified by a number the exhibitor wears on an armband on his/her left arm. They go into the ring in numerical order. Generally, the judge first lines the dogs up, stands back and takes a quick look at each. S/he may stop in front of each dog to look at head and expression. Then s/he tells the exhibitors to "take them around" the ring and to stop at the examination table. Each dog is placed on the exam table where the judge "goes over" them, examining each dog and comparing its attributes to the breed standard. Next s/he asks each exhibitor to move his/her dog. This is often referred to as a "down and back," since the judge sends the dog away first to judge the dog's rear movement, then back toward him to judge the front movement. Some judges then send the dog around the ring to the end of the line so they can judge the side movement. When all the dogs have finished the movement portion of the judging and are back in line, the judge will stand back and give another look at the dogs before making the placements, sometimes returning to a dog to give a second look or asking an exhibitor to move a particular dog again. Often judges will ask the exhibitors to take the dogs around the ring one last time. Then the judges make their placements.

Each class has the possibility of four placements, and ribbons are awarded for each. First place = blue ribbon, Second = red, Third = Yellow, and Fourth = white.

The next class would be Puppy 9-12 and so on until all the male dogs in the various classes have been judged. The judging routine should be the same for each class.

Next comes the Winners Dog class. The first place winner of each male class is called back into the ring. This time they line up by class in reverse order, with the Open Dog winner being first in line and the Puppy 6-9 winner being last in line. The dogs are again judged, but usually not put back on the table for examination. The dog that wins this class is referred to as the Winners Dog. He gets a purple ribbon and, most importantly, the points toward his championship.

  After the Winners Dog is chosen, the other winners remain in the ring because the judge has to choose a Reserve Winners Dog (the runner up). The dog that took second place in the class that the Winners Dog came from comes back into the ring to compete for Reserve.

For example, let's say the Winners Dog came from the Bred By Exhibitor class. Then the dog that took 2nd in that Bred By Exhibitor class comes into the ring with the winners from the other classes to be judged against them for Reserve. Then the judge awards a Reserve Winners Dog.


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