Like any sport, it may seem confusing at first to understand what happens at dogs shows and so this post is dedicated to you.
The Official Term
The official term for dogs shows is “conformation” which means, the act of conforming or producing conformity.
The spirit of the first dog shows was to present your pedigree dogs and breeding stock to the Judge for assessment.
Dogs were judged for health, fitness and movement, structure, and how well they conformed to the breed standard. This is because the closer the dog conformed to the standard, the more predictable it would be that their puppies would as well.
Eligibility: Only pedigreed dogs can compete. Mixed and spayed or neutered purebreds are ineligible to complete. The other guidelines include:
- Six months of age or older on the day of the show.
- Recognized breed by the AKC
- Registered with the AKC
- NOT spayed or neutered
- No disqualifying faults, as stated by their breed’s parent organization.
- In sound health and up-to-date on vaccinations.
What Happens In The Ring
Most shows have many different breeds competing. Each breed competes amongst itself and there are different phases to the competition.
- Puppy Class 6-9 months
- Puppy Class 9-12 months
- Dogs (Males)
- Bitch (Females)
- Best of Breed
The puppies start off the competition by competing in their age and sex categories. For example, the male puppies in the 6-9 month age range will compete and then the older puppies will compete against each other in that class.
A winner is chosen as “Winners” for that category and a runner up is chosen as “Select” dog or bitch.
The puppy that wins, gets to progress up to compete with the older Dogs and Bitches which are older than 12 months.
After all the classes compete, the winners can compete with the older dogs in Best of Breed.
At this time, any Boston Terrier that has already won and earned their Championship title can also enter the Best of Breed Competition.
Each dog has two minutes to walk the ring (as per the instructions of the Judge), and place their dog on the table to be judged.
Awards
In the Best of Breed competition, the following awards are made by the judge:
Best of Breed (BOB): the dog judged as the best in its breed or variety. This dog advances to the Group competition.
Best of Opposite Sex (BOS): the best of the dogs that are the opposite sex to the BOB winner.
Select Dog and Select Bitch (SEL): After the judge awards the BOB and BOS winners, the champion dog and champion bitch judged next best are awarded Select Dog and Select Bitch.
Grand Championship Points (GCH): Wins awarded by the breed judge (Best of Breed, Best of Opposite Sex, Select Dog, and Select Bitch) will earn points toward the AKC’s Grand Championship title. For details, see www.akc.org/grandchampionship.
Awards of Merit (AOM): At the discretion of the judge, Awards of Merit may be made to recognize the quality of outstanding entries that are not judged to be either BOB / BOV, BOS or SEL.
The Group Competition is where the winning dogs in each Breed compete within their group. Boston Terriers belong to the Non Sporting Group and would compete against the Bulldogs, Chinese Shar-Pei, Chow Chow, Coton e Tulear, Dalmation, Finnish Spirtz, French Bulldog, Keeshond, Lhaso Apso, Lowchen, Norwegian Lundehund, Poodle, Shipperke, Shiba Inu, Tibetan Spaniel, Tibetan Terrier, and the Xoloitzcuintli.
Winners of this Group would then compete with the winners of the other Groups for Best In Show.
Championship: Points are awarded at the level of Dogs and Bitches (1 point) and then in Best Of Breed.
The American Kennel Club requires a dog to obtain a total of 15 points with two major wins (a major win is worth three points or higher) to become a champion. The majors must be won under different judges and at least one other judge must award some of the remaining points — so you need to win under at least three different judges.
A more detailed explanation of how the points are earned can be found HERE.