Turns out, a Fun Match is for practice for dog shows! Because, as handsome as I am of course I am going to be a Show Dog! But if that's all that there is to it, I don't know if it will be that exciting. Gimme Ma'am had to set me straight about that!
Over the last two days, she has been to a real dog show. And without me, the most handsome dog in the world! How could that be? Well, let me try to explain it (like Gimme Ma'am explained it to me).
I'll start with the easy part: I am too young. At a dog show, you must be at least 6 months to enter. And that includes conformation (the beauty contest part), obedience, rally, agility, tracking, or whatever. I am only 4-1/2 months old right now. Well, almost 5 months. But still too young. I guess they would be embarrassed to have such a young studly puppy such as myself go Best In Show over all those experienced older dogs. I can't really blame them for that.
Anyway, once you are old enough, you can enter a dog show. There is paperwork to fill out and money for entries to be mailed in. Wow. I didn't know it cost money! That could get expensive I bet!!
Focusing on the AKC (the American Kennel Club - the largest and most well-known kennel club in the United States. They host the AKC/Eukanuba dog show every year and Westminster Kennel Club which is also on TV, is an AKC club) here is what happens. After the entries are in, you get mailed a confirmation and judges' schedule which lists how many dogs of your breed are entered and what time they will show. You arrive on the correct day and time and and ring ... and then wait for your number to be called. The breeds are split into boys and girls and then by classes. There are puppy classes (for puppies between 6 months & a year old) and a class for dogs from 12 - 18 months. Bred-By Exhibitor is a class for handlers who have bred and own the dog they are showing. Mommy can't show me in this class since she didn't breed me; she only owns me. Gramma Rhonda could though since she co-owns me with Mommy. Another class is called Novice and that is for Novice dogs who have not won 3 first places in that class. Amateur Owner-Handler is for people who have never taken money for showing dogs. Yes, there are people (Professional Handlers) who do this for a living!! American Bred is for dogs that were whelped (born) in the US of A! Open is for any dog over 6 months old, but mostly it's used for more mature dogs. Some breeds, like us Saint Bernards, might have the Open classes split in some way. Saint Bernards are split between long hair and short hair. Great Danes (like Gimme Ma'am) are split by color (Open Fawn, Open Brindle, Open Black, etc...). Once all the boys have been judged, all the winners of the classes go back in for a final time. One of these dogs is chosen "Winners Dog". That is the only male of it's breed that will get points towards its AKC Championship. A Reserve Winners Dog is also chosen (If, for some reason, the dog that got the Winners Dog points is disqualified from showing, then the Reserve Dog will get those points). THEN, the whole thing repeats for the girls until you have only one girl who has been chosen Winners <gulp> Bitch. (Bitch is an OK word in the dog world, as it means female dog, I swear!).
Once both Winners have been chosen, the dogs that have already won their Championships (like Gimme Ma'am) come into the ring. They are not split into sexes. ALL Champions come into the ring together along with the two Winners. From this group of dogs, a Best of Breed is chosen. It can be any of the dogs in the ring for Best of Breed. This is a high honor to have happen. Plus, this dog then gets to be the breed representative in the Group competition. There are seven groups (Sporting, Hound, Working, Terrier, Toy, Non-Sporting, and Herding). Once a winner has been chosen from each of the seven groups, those seven dogs then go on to Best In Show. Only one dog is chosen Best In Show and Gimme Ma'am tells me that Mommy would really love to have a Best In Show Dog!!
It turns out, that you need 15 points to get an AKC Championship. At least 6 of these points have to be from "major" shows - or shows where there are enough dogs that you earn 3, 4, or 5 points all at once. So you need two majors. AND you need theses points under 3 different judges. So you need multiple people to think you are beautiful. That should not be hard for me!!
Points are figured by the breed (you need fewer Saints to make a major than you do Great Danes, for example), the sex (boys typically (but not always) need fewer entries to make a major), and where you live (Saints in Colorado have a different schedule than Saints in Maryland).
Wow. This all be so confusing!! I'm not sure how Gimme Ma'am learned all this but I bet she had help from Fox Sir! And because of that, I'll leave it for now. That is a very quick tutorial on AKC dog shows. If you want more information, Gimme Ma'am says go to http://www.akc.org. OK. That one I know she got from Mommy Laugh Laugh!!
Before I go, let me post a picture of Gimme Ma'am winning Best of Breed last year. Doesn't Mommy look SO happy??
Later Gators!!
Alf
