Hi, I often read lots on this board and I wondered if you could explain how 'shows' work to me, just out of interest really, I love reading all the new posts but sometimes dont know what some of the showing terms are, so just a basic explanation of how it all works if possible! (or point me in the direction of a 'showing for dummies' type website!) So how does you dog gain a championship? what points do they have to get? Is it the same for all breeds? (I'm particularly interested in GR's) What does CC and JW mean? Are there different types of 'champions' like for dogs that work in the field aswell as been shown? any info would be great!

If you want to go and watch a show do you have to get tickets? Do you just watch or can you walk around? What are shows called that just have one breed there? I would love to go to a golden retriever show (just to see all the dogs) but as you can tell I am pretty clueless to it all!

I apologise for all the questions!

Oh Shannon, I could sit here all day and all night writing about showing dogs, and I still wouldn't have finished. There's so much and so many little details. I'll start with a few things and otheres will chip in with more I'm sure.

A puppy must be registered with the Kennel Club on the breed register to be elligible to compete in KC shows. They must also be a minimum of 6 calendar months old. Shows must be entered in advance of the show date, with the exception of Companion shows. There is often a charge to get into a show if you want to observe the proceedings, but then you can wander amongst the dogs and rings as you like really.

The new Kennel Club website has a whole section dedicated to exhibiting. Check out www thekennelclub.org.uk

Dawn R.

Hi Shannon

I don't know whereabouts in the country you live, but if you are in the south you could go to the Southern Golden Retriever Show on 29th October at Leatherhead Leisure Centre - don't take your dog with you but you could go and look around; there are breed classes (inside) and obedience and agility (outside).

Thats sounds great, but I am a bit far (yorkshire) How do I find out about show dates for GRs more up my end of the country...?

Yorkshire GRC secretary's e-mail: telkaro@hotmail.com
Northern GRA secretary's email: northerngolden@talk21.com

Thank you very much! oh you are all so speedy with your help!

Its done by idiots who spend a fortune thousands of pounds a year then get up in the middle of the night, travel hundreds of miles,
move the dog and its entire wardrobe of cages,brushes,leads collars  to the benches then run round a ring
for 5 mins then HOPEFULLY take home a piece of ribbon worth pennies :) :)
:):):):):):):):):)

But it is very addictive.

lol Carolyn - very accurate description, but you forgot the queuing for ages at the ladies, then giving up and going to the gents instead , walking knee deep in mud carrying your very heavy dog to keep it clean. :D Ah I remember it well - it took so long to get over the addiction too :D but it was a great way of keeping a workaholic OH with us at the weekend :rolleyes:

What does CC and JW mean?

CC means Challenge Certificate - given to the best dog and best bitch in any one breed at Championship shows. (You also get Reserve CCs (RCCs) for the second best dog and bitch).   JW means Junior warrant - for dogs between six and 18 months - points are collected for specific wins at Championship and Open shows.

So how does you dog gain a championship?

At Championship shows where CCs are on offer for the breed - three CCs from 3 different judges make a Champion.

Is it the same for all breeds?

No, some breeds do not have CCs in the UK.  These are classed as Rare Breeds and cannot become UK Champions.

Are there different types of 'champions' like for dogs that work in the field aswell as been shown?

Yes, any of the gundogs that win their show champion title are known as Sh Chs unless they win their champion title in the field aswell.  This is also the case with Border Collies.  There are also obedience, agility and working trial Champions.

If you want to go and watch a show do you have to get tickets?

No but you will probably be asked to pay a nominal entry fee to Ch shows on arrival - not normally asked for at open shows.

Do you just watch or can you walk around?

You can wander round as much as you like :)

What are shows called that just have one breed there?

These are simply called single breed shows.  There are also sub group shows (for all three sizes of poodle, all six types of dachshund, etc), single group shows (all hounds or all toys etc) and all breed shows.

HTH

Debs

Thank you all for your help, Surannon, your break down was especially helpful...I think I have a slightly better understanding of it all now...just one quick question as Iam sat looking at my GR's pedigree..how do you know if a dog is just a show champion or it has the field championship aswell? (I mean when reading a pedigree) Can a dog just get its field championship without the show one? Do many GR's manage to get both, is it quite unusual? (I imagine there are MANY GRs entered into shows)

Thanks again!

Hi Shannon - a show champion will have Sh Ch before it's name.  Head not working but thin Field Champion is F Ch?  if there are both it will just say Ch (I think?)

Yes there are usually a lot of GR's at shows!

Yes you can be a field champion and not a show champion and vice versa!

Don't know regarding GR's gaining both - I think it is quite rare throughout the breeds to get both though?  but not 100% on that one - so ready to be corrected! ;)

Rachel

Show Champion is Sh Ch, Field Trial Champion is FT Ch and if it just says CH for a Golden then it means it has passed its show gundog working certificate to become a FULL Champion. :) A Ch/FT Ch would be a dual Champion and there hasn't been more than a handful of them over many, many years in the breed.

Thanks Goldmali and sorry if Im sounding a bit dim here...what is the difference between a full champion and a dual champion...or is that the same thing?

AND if the entries for goldies is sooo huge does that just mean it is just downright harder to get a title on a golden, or are they split up some how, to make it the same as other less popular breeds?

Sorry, all this stuff I have wondered for ages is all spilling out!!

A full Champion is a show dog that has proved it still has working abilities. A dual Champion is a Champion BOTH in the show ring and in the field. :)

Yes it is EXTREMELY hard to make up a Golden Champion or Sh Ch and normally there are only 10 or so made up each year, which aren't many when you consider that most championship shows have entries of between 300 and 600 Goldens.

close but no cigar hey!  thanks GM for putting me right!

p.s. this may sound silly but I only recently realised how you came about your login name - doh!! rather dim hey! :)

LOL at Rachel. :) I did actually apply to the KC for MALIGOLD as an affix, as the Malinois comes first in this house -it's the only breed we breed and show but we'll always keep a Golden or two as well as pets, and of course the very much accidental crossbreeds we had 4 years ago we nicknamed Maligolds. But alas Maligold was rejected by the KC, as was my second choice of Malingold, so the third choice of Goldmali it was and it seemed logical to use it in other places as well. :)

I think it's a lovely affix and very apt now I know why!!! :) 

all makes sense now! :)

Hi, The dog would have Sh in front of the Ch if it was a Show champion and Ft if it s a Field trial Champion. If it just has Ch then it means that it is a full champion ie it has gained both titles. The dog can just get one or the other but some do get both - a lot of hard work i would imagine ! Every show I've been to has huge GR entries usually though its not my breed so someone else on here could probably answer that better. HTH M

Posted at the same time as Goldmali's better answer:D

If it just has Ch then it means that it is a full champion ie it has gained both titles.

No, see above, a FULL Champion does NOT mean it is both Ch and FT Ch, it just means that certain breeds, notably gundogs and Border Collies (not sure if there are others) must have field trial qualificaions to gain the title of Champion. :)

ditto rachelsetters above, no cigar for me either :-D.  Knew it was something like that though, don't think my gundog will ever get near either - too loopy by far :-D

Just sticking my oar in as usual, what about the ObCh and AgCh - are there many dogs around that have their ShCh as well as one of those? :-)

Only in GSDs in the 1950's( & one BC(didn't get the sheep trialling so was a Sh Ch only)Ob.Ch/Sh.Ch Whenway Mist Of Wizaland there  have been triple champions-Breed, Obedience & Working trials in GSDs

In Goldens the obedience dogs tend to be working bred ones so not same type as the show dogs.

Dog Show Disease

We have identified a new disease, probably caused by a virus among dog owning people. It apparently has been in existence for a considerable time, but only recently has anyone identified this disease, and begun to study it. We call it the Acquired Canine Obsessive Syndrome (ACOS). At first, ACOS was originally considered to be psychological in nature, but after two young researchers here suddenly decided to become show breeders, we realized that we were dealing with an infectious agent. Epidemiologists here have identified three stages of this disease and typical symptoms, and they are:

A. You have the early symptoms (Stage I) if:
1. You think that any show within 300 miles is nearby.
2. You begin to enjoy getting up at 5 a.m. in the morning to walk and feed dogs.
3. It is fun to spend several hours a day grooming dogs.
4. You think you're being frugal if you spend less than £2,000 a year on shows.
5. You can't remember what it was like to have just one dog.

B. You definitely have the disease (Stage II) if:
1. Your most important factor when buying a car is how many crates you can fit in it.
2. When you look for a house, the first thing you think of is how many dogs you can kennel on the property.
3. Your dog food bill is higher than your family's.
4. You spend as much on veterinarians as on doctors.
5. You have no money because of showing dogs.
6. You have to buy more than one vehicle a year, because you keep burning

> out the year or 70,000-mile warranty going to shows.

7. You have more pictures of the dogs than of your family.
8. Your idea of a fun vacation is to hit a show circuit.
9. Most of your conversations revolve around the dogs.

C. You are a terminal case (Stage III) if:
1. You wake up in the morning and find out that you put the kids in the crates and the dogs in the beds last night.
2. You know each dog's name and pedigree, but can't figure out who that stranger in the house is; it turns out to be your husband/wife.
3. Your neighbors keep insisting that those kids running around your house bothering the dogs are yours.
4. You keep telling the kids to "heel" and can't understand why they won't, and why they keep objecting to the choke collar.
5. You cash in the kid's college trust fund to campaign the dogs.
6. You've been on the road showing dogs so long that you can't remember where you live.
7. Your family tells you "It's either the dogs or us"; you choose the dogs.

Do you have this dreaded disease? Well, there is hope. In the course of our research, we have found that most cases seem to stop at Stage II, and remain chronic. We, with great difficulty, managed to acquire several Stage III ACOS patients. They are currently in our isolation wards, where we are studying them to gain a better understanding of this disease. It is a sad sight, seeing these formerly vibrant people as they shuffle around their rooms in endless triangle or L-patterns, making odd hand motions (as if holding a lead and baiting a dog), and making chirping noises.

Merely saying the word "Crufts" can send them into an uncontrollable frenzy.
Unfortunately, there isn't much hope for these cases, but with time and research to further understand this disease, we hope to come up with a cure We are now attempting to isolate the causative agent, and may be able to develop a vaccine in the future.

An interesting sidelight of this disease seems to be that exposure at an early age has an immunizing effect. Several people afflicted with ACOS at Stage II and Stage III have close family members (children, husbands, wives who have absolutely no disease. It is thought by some of our researchers that this may be due to environmental effects, to an aggregated immune function, or to the fact that those at these stages of the disease tend not to associate with their close family members possibly due to the memory deficit induced by the disease - that is, in that they don't remember that they have close family members! What can you do to prevent this disease? Until a cure is found, prevention is the measure.

Avoid kennels advertising "show stock," since it may be that dogs are carriers of the disease. Leave town on those days that the local newspapers inform you of a show in the area. If you inadvertently come into contact with an ACOS-afflicted person, leave as soon as possible (they do tend to cling), and thoroughly shower, preferably with germicidal soap. If you are living with an ACOS-afflicted person, take comfort that, if you haven't succumbed yet, you are probably safe... :-) :-)

Definitely level 2 at present! And thanks for the info about other dual champions, very interesting!