As a total novice can anyone advise in which groups one should start out in when showing. The groups in question are (1) Minor Puppy (2) Puppy (3) Junior. I note all groups allow entries from six months old, so should I be looking at entering just one of these or in-fact all three.

If you have a very forward puppy, you might swerve the Minor Puppy class, but that won't allow for your puppy misbehaving perhaps!!   If you want experience, for both of you, then by all means put him in all the classes he's qualified to be in, remembering that once he's beaten in a class, he can't progress any further (ie for BOB or BP).    Personally I'd only enter more than one class at one of the lower shows - eg Open.    If you go straight into Champ shows, just enter one class, and to begin with, I think that should be Minor Puppy.    His breeder should be the one to assess your puppy, and advise you - as his breeder, she'll be bound to want him in the best class, for him, so he does well for you.

You always have to bear in mind too that showing can be stressful for a puppy - so introducing him gradually (just the one class) may be better for him.

Agree with MamaBas. Personally I don't ever enter a puppy in more than one class. With my main breed Malinois, a bad experience at a show can ruin the pup for showing for life, and so I will not risk more than one class. It has to be fun for the pup and it's a lot easier to stick to one class then. Other breeds are so different/confident that it doesn't matter. I also don't always take a winning puppy into the puppy group unless I feel sure it can cope. Not long ago I had a Papillon pup scared in the group by a Pug, a breed looking very different to her own, and it took a year before I could get her back into the ring again, and she is still terrified of Pugs.

I would always enter just the one class (unless I was chasing JW points) and it would always be the lowest class my pup was eligible for, so if my pup was 6-9 months then only Minor Puppy would be entered

Many thanks everyone, I will take everything on-board and will just enter Minor Puppy as he will only be a little over six months

Same here, if a champ show just Minor Puppy probably, but if an open show I'd probably do both MP and P for experience. If there are AV classes for your group, specially if it's a different judge from your breed judge (talking open shows again here) I usually enter 1 breed class and 1 AV class, gets another judge's opinion for just an extra £2 or so. :-)

I would only enter in class too. Usually the first one, but if I had a more mature looking pup I would go up a class.

As you are a novice it might be worthwhile saying this. I'm not having a go, just hoping to educate so that you don't make a big booboo at a show ;-)  You are entering a CLASS, not a GROUP. The group is the whole section. In my case the Gundog group. Each breed has classes that you enter and hope one day to win best of breed so that you can go into the Group ring for best of group.

Have fun and enjoy your new hobby, but be warned, you will either love it (and be addicted and therefore skint for the rest of your life ;-) ) or you will hate it.

I always enter 2, MP & P or P & J depending what classes are scheduled as it no good deciding at 16 months old that your youngster is actually close to its JW and had you started earlier would have completed it easily.

Ditto, but in my breed it is because there are so few puppies bred and consequently shown that you often don't have the three in the class for points.

I would enter 2 as well, MP & P.     I would never move a more mature puppy up to an older class.

My boy was up to height at six months and fairly forward so we missed MP and went straight into Puppy. I was told never to enter more than once class at a Champ so as it reduces your likelihood of getting into the challenge.

If you're beaten in another class you'd have been beaten in the challenge, So that doesn't really hold water. :-)

I always enter Minor Puppy and Puppy; the number of times you can 'qualify' from Puppy because the ones who beat you in Minor Puppy aren't there is surprisingly high!

>If you're beaten in another class you'd have been beaten in the challenge, So that doesn't really hold water. :-)<br />

It's rare you'd win in the challenge as a puppy anyway, though I have won the CC and BOB, then group two having entered Puppy, Junior and Post Graduate, and our first ever CC and RBIS at breed club championship show, winning five classes starting with Junior.

In both cases the dog was better with each class being able to settle as we get few exhibits in our age classes especially, so often the dogs don't gain enough experience in just one or even two classes, so breed makes a difference.

I think this really does depend on a few factors. Breed numbers & puppy maturity naming just 2. If your breed normally gets a goodly amount in each class(my breed gets 10 to 20 quite often) then 1 class is more than enough for a young puppy. I have seen many a puppy go off the boil for being shown far too much.

>If your breed normally gets a goodly amount in each class (my breed gets 10 to 20 quite often) then 1 class is more than enough

Quite, in my breed we have a problem to get three in the class.  Even with three classes entered I have sometimes not had any points.

Quite, in my breed we have a problem to get three in the class.  Even with three classes entered I have sometimes not had any points.

In my main breed there is no such a thing as a Junior Warrant -there's never been one! Well there has, but that was many years ago when all the 4 BSD varieties were counted as one single breed for a few years and were in the same ring. Since that was stopped and things went back to normal, there's never been enough entries for a Malinois to gain a JW. It's easier to become a Champion, and there's been 5 dogs with the Show Certificate of Merit, but never a Junior Warrant. One breeder/owner tried, having had to keep 3 pups from the same litter, but as not the same one won each time, not even that worked.

It's a very rare year we get any in our breed.