THE DOG SHOW
Very few people realize just what a LARGE dog show is like.
Living in the third-world country like the Philippines is very much different from what it is like let's say from living in North America. Whereas an All Breeds Dog shows in Metro-Manila would have an average of 350 to 400 entries, those down South would only have about 100 to 150. It makes sense to say that there's a difference between dogs finishing their championships in Luzon from the ones finishing in the other regions of the country. It goes with the US too, I suppose.
Consider factors and of course, the variables: the locations, the judge, the quality of entries, the exhibitors and the dog show itself as in who's running the show. Who are the people handling the preparations, the set-up, the awards among other things. While the exhibitors are prepping up their dogs, there are those working behind the scenes and at the same time too, prepping up the dogs. That's how it goes in this country unlike in the US where there are companies that cater solely for that. And to think that a lot of people here think of dog breeding as a business. There are a lot of areas in the dog world to be tapped but certainly not breeding if you want to make a living. But this is a different topic altogether.
Newbies come to dog shows at a lost. "Look at all those dogs!", "What are they doing?", "Why do they keep going around in circles?", "Why did that win instead of this?", "What kind of dog is that?" ... I went across one of the dog message boards once and saw a post about a newbie being requested to keep his dog, a pit bull, away from the premises. And of course, as the story goes, disgruntled and hurt that topic elicited a lot of sympathies. One, the purebred dog show is for the registered purebred. Two, pitbulls are known to be unfriendly to dogs. Three, pitbull fanciers as I was made to believe, breed these dogs for aggression which is contrary to the goals of the purebred fanciers. Duh.
And so, we often hear phrases like "show quality" or "Champion-line" and a whole lot of crap from the ignos or the predators who prey on the ignoramuses. Bragging is the favorite past time of dog people, they brag about their dogs. They talk about their dogs and do't even make a mistake of criticizing one's dog. That's usually the end of friendship between dog people. Not even judges are spared from this. Exhibitors subject their dogs for evaluation and when a judge picks his winner, he either becomes "bobo" and to the owner of the dog he picked, he is the best and most respectable.
So imagine all these in a much larger scale like let's say the Westminster show where some 2500-ALL-CHAMPIONS compete every year at the Madison Square Garden in New York. To be a part of it is a glory in itself, your dog in the ring with all the others. The Westminster is one level higher than the usual. How and why? Well, in a local dog show, as long as your dog is a registered purebred, you can show and finish its championship as long as your dog does not have major disqualifications. That makes your dog of "show quality". If you win the required points, your dog becomes a Champion of Record and so on and so forth. You go one level up maybe and go further in the game. You enter Specialty Shows which of course is not really much in this country. In the Philippines, a Specialty Show would be just like Specialty Shows in any part of the world except for the Specialty Judge and the number of entries. A Specialty Show in American would probably have a minimum of 80 entries of the same breed with a Specialty Judge who really specializes in that breed whereas here, a Specialty Show would most likely have just a total of 20. And when its the Nationals, people from all the states travel with their dogs and imagine the number of entries for just one breed. In the Philippines, take the Boxer National Specialties or the Rottweiler's where the number of entries only equals the regular Specialty Show in the States. So bear these things in mind before your jaws drop with "OOooohhhhhs and Aaahhhhss!"
Just as a dog can finish its Canadian Championship in one week-end or American Championship as well with a well-planned-out show career. Then boom! Advertised in magazines with captions like, "Finished with 3 majors with a bang!"
Another point about the world of dog shows: It was awhile back that I was doing an ad lay-out for a friend's kennel to be published at PCCI's Annual Gazette. Having the ability to take photographs, I took it on my accord to take pictures of his dogs. The subject was the dog so I didn't really much care about anything else but the dog. I know I can play around with the background with imaging softwares so who cares if the people did not have any heads. He then gave me an 8 x 10 picture of his top-winning Chow Chow that came from the states with of course, the Judge holding the ribbon and the handler plus the board that says Best In Show. The Chow was perfectly stacked. I masked the background and replaced it. The ad lay=out I made I thought was cool. It stood out from the rest of the ads in the Gazette. It was different from the rest, not the usual handler judge or the worse part is a dog stacked with rubber slippers of kennel help in the background. I was mighty pleased. Then our Specialty Breed Club, the Chinese Shar-pei Enthusiasts, Inc. was sponsoring its first All Breeds Dog Show. We were lucky to have 2 renowned AKC Judges. And so of course, it comes with the territory, I entertained these judges and along the way while giving them a taste of Manila, of course conversed. Ms. Rigden blah blah blah ... "I heard from breeder so and so that the Chow Chow I gave Best In Show is here in the Philippines. I hope she is entered so I can see how she turned out to check on judging skills." She continued. Then it hit me! It was her, that I erased from the background and I started chuckling away and told her the story. You know what she let me in on? She explained that the reasons for the photographs: Judges would want copies of the win pictures to keep them on track with fine-tuning their skills. For owners, of course the pictures are memories forever treasured. Not only that, the owners get to brag. Some use them to influence other judges' opinion in the ads. Judges are sent free copies of publications. So when so and so gave this dog this and that, it also helps them in a way of checking their judging skills too. Well, yeah ... of course, I apologized for taking her out of the picture. So take this fine example, a local judge who've all through out bred for example a Golden Retriever becomes of course, a Golden Retriever Specialty Judge. He/she then takes the required tests adding one breed to another until he becomes a Group Judge then adds other groups towards the All Breeds Judging License. Or maybe take the Asian Judges who we subject our dogs to for evaluations. Now we all know that there are no such breed in their country and when they come here, they judge that breed. So, how about that?
Or how about this? Most of the purebred except for the German Shepherds, were imported from the United States or Canada. PCCI follows most of the AKC Breed Standards. And who judges at our dog shows? We have Asian judges who have their own set of breed types, Australian Judges with their own set of breed standards, European Judges used to following the FCI tandards of the breed and seldom do we have AKC judges in the line-up while our breeding program follows the AKC Breed Standards.
What this all boils down to is that dog shows, it is a sport. It is a game. Just a game.
Know the rules and play it well.
It is a Gentleman's Sport.
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