A UKC Dog Show

This past weekend, Mommy went away for days and days and days. OH! It just seemed like forever!! I am sure it wasn't really that long (forever) but to us dogs, it sure can feel that way!! It turns out that Mommy went to a UKC (United Kennel Club) Judge's Education Seminar. She was in Hickory, North Carolina (wherever that is! All I know is she is still complaining about the flights!! Laugh Laugh!)! She is waiting for the information on the UKC website to be updated but she is now a UKC judge!

As I did with the AKC shows, I will explain a UKC show....

In UKC, you must also be 6 months old to enter (whether it be conformation or obedience/rally/agility or whatever). Some shows include a non-licensed puppy class call Novice Puppy and you only have to be 3 months old for that. But not all clubs offer it and it's just for fun. You can't get points towards your championship.

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. It is getting more and more expensive for Mommy to show me! Whew. Maybe it's a "good" thing I'm not showing right now...???

The UKC (United Kennel Club) is the largest registry in the world and has registrations from every state and many countries not in the US. While not as well known as the American Kennel Club (AKC) they are older. Every year they host their UKC Premier in Kalamazoo Michigan. And they have lots of events. Not just conformation but also rally, obedience, agility, dock diving, lure coursing, weight pulling, and terrier races. They also have what they call the Total Dog contests. The dog (like me) must compete and win in conformation AND compete and qualify in a performance event. At the Premier, those Total Dog qualifiers then compete in groups and a Total Dog Best in Show!!

Anyway, once you have entered a UKC show (and you can enter the day of show!!) you wait for your turn. Unlike AKC shows where you can only pre-enter so you know exactly how many of your breed is entered and what time - at UKC shows you go to the show early and just wait for your class.  The breeds are split into boys and girls and then by classes. The UKC classes are: Puppy (for puppies between 6 months & a year old), Junior (dogs from 12 - 24 months), Senior (dogs from 24 - 36 months (or 2-3 years), and Adult (dogs over 3 years old). Breeder/Handler is a class for handlers (or a member of their family) who have bred 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 or Grandpa Keith could though since they bred me. You will not find a professional handler in UKC unless they are showing their own dog. UKC discourages the use of professional handlers!!   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 Female.

Once both Winners have been chosen, they both come back into the ring for Best of Winners competition. At this time, the judge chooses between these two - and these two only.

Immediately following the choosing of Best of Winners all the dogs that have already won their Championships come into the ring. They are not split into sexes. ALL Champions come into the ring together. From this group of dogs, a Best Champion and Reserve Best Champion is chosen.

Then the Grand Champion class comes into the ring. From this class, only one Best Grand Champion is chosen.

Finally, the Best of Winners, the Best Champion, and the Best Grand Champion come into the ring for Best of Breed competition. At this point, the judge will never have more than 3 dogs in the ring to choose from. The judges are encouraged to choose the BEST animal no matter what class it comes from.

This dog then gets to be the breed representative in the Group competition. There are eight groups (Companion, Guardian, Gun, Herding, Northern, Scenthound, Sighthound/Pariah, and Terrier). Groups are typically judged as soon as all the breeds are judged for that group. Once a winner has been chosen from each of the eight groups, those eight dogs then go on to Best In Show.

One dog is chosen Best In Show and one dog is chosen Reserve Best in Show. Gimme Ma'am tells me that she has won Best in Show twice, and Reserve Best in Show three times at UKC shows!! Mommy has also had another Great Dane Best in Show winner (Tia) and a Doberman Best in Show winner (Isis).  Mr. Fox Sir has multiple Group Placements and Doozer (Mommy's first Saint Bernard) won the Group once. Wow! Lots to live up to!!

It turns out, that you need 100 points to get a UKC Championship. You get 10 points for winning your class (even if there is no competition), 15 points for going Winners (again, even if there is no competition), and another 10 points for going Best of Winners (here, there must be competition). However, it's not as easy as it sounds!! Because you also must have three wins with competition!! This can come during breed judging (a class animal defeating a Champion for example; or a Best of Winners win).... or you can do it during Group judging. If you place in the Group (first through fourth) but there are more dogs behind you, then you get a win with competition. For example, if there are six dogs in the group, and you place fourth, you have defeated two other dogs and so you get a win with competition. However, if you win first in your Group because you are the only one in your Group... that is not a win with competition.

To get a Grand Champion in UKC, you must defeat any combination of at least 3 Champions/Grand Champions at least 5 times. So if there are 3 Champions and you win the Champions class five times you are a Grand Champion. If you are the only Champion but there are 2 Grand Champions and you win Best of Breed 5 times, you are a Grand Champion too!!

Points are the same no matter what breed you own & show or where in the country you live. It is much more simple than the AKC in that respect!!
 
Sometimes I wonder how Mommy keeps this all straight!! Laugh Laugh!!

So there you go, a very quick tutorial on UKC dog shows. If you want more information, Gimme Ma'am says go to http://www.ukcdogs.com.

Here is a icture of Gimme Ma'am winning Best in Show last year. Doesn't Mommy look SO happy??

 Happy Showing all you little dudes out there!!

Alf