Boss's First Show

[adios]

Pictures at the end if you'd like to skip the narrative.

Most of the posts about dogs go into the other other topics forum. However, this one has I believe more content appropriate for this forum.

Boss is my 10 month old bloodhound dog who made his first appearance in the show ring over the Thanksgiving Day weekend in Waco, Texas. The show was a regional bloodhound specialty as part of an all breed show which included a puppy sweepstakes event. I'm a member of the regional bloodhound group that put on the specialty show. I have a 2 year old bloodhound bitch who has earned her AKC conformation championship. I didn't put her in the specialty since she was in season. Also she would go into the best in show class since she's a champion and that class was filled with more mature champions including three of the top twenty bloodhounds nationally. In other words she's not at their level at this point and she really didn't stand a chance of winning.

Conformation Dog Shows

The AKC has many shows and contests for various things like tracking, lure coursing, agility, and obedience. Conformation shows are probably the most popular shows and the competitons that most people associate with the typcial dog shows. The purpose of conformation shows is to evaluate how well dogs entered conform to the breed standard for that particular dog. The idea is that the best representatives of the various breeds are awarded and this leads ultimately to better breeding stock. Pedigree of the dogs is an important factor for many people who seek to own pure bred dogs. When a dog earns a conformation championship this is reflected in their pedigree that the AKC maintains. The term "champion" pre-fixes the official name of the dog from that time forward. If you watch the recent Eukanuba competition you may have noticed the term abbreviation "Ch." in front of the official names of the dogs. This pre-fix indicates that a dog has earned their conformation championship from the AKC.

How does a dog win an AKC conformation championship? The dog has to earn 15 points and also win two major competitions. A dog can win 0,1,2,3,4, or 5 points when it wins a competition. A competition that awards 3, 4, or 5 points is considered to be a major. The number of points that is awarded is based on the number of dogs competing. Dogs first compete at a show against other dogs in their breed. Basically the dogs within the breed are separated by class dogs and champion dogs. The champion dogs compete in the best of breed competition only (technically champion dogs can enter the class competitions but nobody does this that I know of). The class dogs are further separated by gender. The bitches compete against the bitches and the dogs compete against the dogs. There are several puppy classes, a bred by exhibitor class, and an open class for the class dogs and bitches. Ultimately the best dog among the class dogs and the best bitch among the class bitches are chosen. These two winners compete for best of breed among the champion dogs in the best of breed competition. Yes sometimes a class bitch or dog does win the best of breed competition. After the best of breed competition the following awards are given and points are determined appropriately:

1) Best of Breed. Usually a champion wins this competion and thus will only get what's called breed points that are used to determine the national rankings for the breed. These "breed points" are used to determine the dogs from the breeds that get invited to Westminster, Crufts, and Eukanuba. When a class dog wins they're awarded the appropriate number of points for their championship.

2. Best of Opposite Sex. The best dog or bitch among the opposite sex of the best of breed winner.

3. Best of Winners - If one of the class dogs or bitches is not best of breed or best opposite then the best dog among the winners of the class dogs and bitches is awared.

4. Winners Dog or Winners Bitch. If a class dog or bitch hasn't won Best of Breed or Best Opposite, then the appropriate other dog or bitch from the class dogs is given this title and points are awarded.

Whew, that probably seems more complicated than it actually is.

I attended the event with my wife and a friend of ours, Demetrius. Demetrius is an Akita breeder who has a 1 year old Akita that needs two points to earn his championship. So very early on the Friday after Thanksgiving the three of us headed to Waco from Albuquerque with our dogs in my van.

We arrived in Waco late Friday afternoon. I was walking Boss on the grounds and was fortunate enough to meet some other bloodhound owners walking their dogs. One couple had come from Louisianna with a dog and a bitch who would be competing in the classes. Their male dog was a dog they had purchased in France from a famous breeder there. The other woman was the owner of a well recognized kennel and had established her own line of bloodhounds. It was looking like the competition was going to be tough. As an aside, the reason I'm showing my dogs is that I want to start a line of bloodhounds myself and I'm looking to have the pedigree.

One of the things about conformation shows is that you don't know who you're competing against until the day of the show. You know how many you'll be competing against but not who. There would be two shows actually and Boss would have a chance for a major both days. Getting the two major titles is the key to earning a championship. On the day of the show I saw that two of Boss's littermates would be competing as well, a brother and sister. I also noticed that they would be the youngest bloodhounds in the competition. Boss's brother had competed in a few shows prior to this one. BTW a dog can start competing at 6 monts and my bitch started winning when she was 7 months. Boss hadn't competed yet due to a leg injury he suffered while trying to climb out of a dog run. Yep bloodhounds often are climbers.

Saturday was a disaster. Boss was entered in the 9-12 month old puppy class. I use professional handlers, a husband and wife team. The husband showed Boss on Saturday and Boss proceeded to slip the collar when he came into the ring. My handler grabbed him by the tail before he could get out of the ring but it didn't bode well. Boss was nervous and he "paced" during the points where the judges were assessing his movement. He lost to his brother but amazingly beat two other dogs in his class. Anyway end of day for Boss.

On Sunday Boss was handled by the wife of the handler team and she did a beautiful job of handling him. Boss won the 9-12 month old puppy class and this moved him into a position to actually win a major in his second competition. The dog imported from France who was 2 years old won however. He's a little more mature than Boss. I was fine with it but I found out later that there were several knowledgable bloodhound exhibitors who thought Boss should have won. I hate hearing that stuff btw but I'm glad to know that alot of people liked Boss and thought he put on good show. It felt good congratulating him after his fine Sunday performance. Boss will be showing again in January in Glen Rose, Texas and Dallas, Texas.

Now for the pictures.





Boss as younp puppy during his first 16 weeks.





Boss at 10 months old.



My 2 year old bitch Evy.



Ch. Wellington's Miss Evy earning the major title she needed to finish and earn her AKC championship last May.




Evy and Boss in the backyard.





Boss on the grooming table before the show. The thing on his head keeps his ears clean before the show. Not much grooming required for a showing a bloodhound.





Boss enters the show ring. Stacking for the intitial exam by the judge.



From the best of breed competition, this is Scofield. He's one of the top 20 conformation bloodhounds in the U.S.



The gentleman on the right is Boss's breeder and the dog he's got is Boss's daddy. The bloodhound in the middle is one of the top 10 ranked bloodhounds in the U.S.



The bloodhound in the center is one of the top 20 conformation bloodhounds in the U.S.

There's a saying about conformation and dogs that is popular and repeated often, "Form follows Function." Which basically states that a dog that conforms well to the breed standard will perform it's function well. Obviously the function of the bloodhound is to trail. I know that Boss's dad does a little bit of trailing. Boss's uncle, his Dad's littermate, is owned by a K-9 officer for the Fort Bend County police department in Texas. The officer's name is Keith and the dog's name is Bond. I've had the pleasure of meeting Keith and Bond. Bond has given key "testimony" in over 30 murder convictions. One of Keith's older bloodhounds has given "testimony" that has been used in over 70 murder convictions. Keiths dogs will never see the inside of a show ring and probably would never win a conformation event if they did. On the other hand the bloodhounds you see in the show ring do very little trailing. I find this to be somewhat paradoxical. I'm training Evy and Boss to do trailing and they're truly amazing at it.



Bloodhound breed standard illustrated, don't know how readable it is.

Linky to standard.

Bloodhound Standard.

Some pictures of other dogs.







Akitas