The Awards

With your eyes on your dog, glancing up occasionally to see what the judge is doing, be prepared for the judge to call out or point out his placing of the dogs. If he says to you, "first," or "One," or points to you and holds up one finger, go at once to die first-place number marker in the ring. If you are showing a very tiny dog, it would not be amiss to pick him up and carry him to first place. If you have a large dog and the lead has been removed, put it on him quickly and go to first place. If the judge calls to you "Second," "Third," or "Fourth," or points to you or catches your eye and holds up two, three, or four fingers, go at once to the proper marker. Now is the time for you to give your dog a great big pat and/or a tidbit. Let him know he has performed to your satisfaction and you are pleased with him. He'll come to look forward to this moment of glory in the ring and will eventually love the applause. At first it may frighten him a bit, so be prepared.

If the judge does not advise you in some fashion that your dog has been placed in the class, leave the ring. If you want to watch what is going on, do so from the outside of the ring. If you are not placed, you remain in the ring only if the judge specifically asks you to or if you are entered in the next class with the same dog, and then you should go to the side of the ring and wait until the dogs who have been placed in this class leave the ring.

Let us assume, however, that your dog has placed in his class. If the judge has gone to his table to mark his book, or if he has his book in his hands and is writing in it, just be sure that he can see your arm band. The band may have slipped around so that the number is not visible. Make it as easy as you can for the judge to see the number.

Before marking his book, however, if the judge should hesitate or take another look at the dogs, which are now standing in front of the numbers one, two, three, and four, be sure to keep your dog in a show pose. If the judge hesitates, it may mean that he has not completely made up his mind and he may change the placing. Once he writes down his placings in his book, he will not change them, but a class is not considered judged until it has been written down by the judge. If he hesitates and you are standing in front of the Number One spot with your dog in a sloppy or poor position, and the Number Two dog is looking his very best, that dog may catch the judge's eye. He may change his mind, changing you from first place to second and the second-place dog to first. If you were in fourth place and the third dog at this moment looked inferior, the judge might decide that he liked your dog better and move you up to third place before marking his book.

It is a good idea, anyway, to keep your dog looking his very best all the time he is in the ring. The spectators will be watching, and among them may be sitting the judge who will pass on your dog at another show in the near future. Some of these judges have remarkably good memories! Also, among the spectators are other exhibitors and breeders—let them go away with a good picture of your dog in their minds.

If you have placed in your class, wait at your number until the judge hands you the ribbon. I hope he will also hand you a trophy or some prize money! At some shows the ribbon will be in the same envelope containing the prize money, at other shows you may receive the prize money envelope and a ribbon. The printing on the envelope usually states whether or not it contains the ribbon. All prize money and trophies won by your dog should be received by you in the ring. There is only one exception: the judge or steward will tell you the trophies are on display and by presenting your ribbon or a card which they will give you you may pick up your trophy at the display stand.

Regardless of whether your dog was placed first or fourth, say, "Thank you" when the judge hands you the ribbon. Do not linger in the ring; do not ask the judge why he placed your dog where he did; just say, "Thank you," and leave, unless, of course, the judge wants to talk to you about your dog. The judge has other classes to judge and he must complete his task so the show can go on. As you leave the ring, remember the other judges and breeders sitting on the ringside. Let your dog leave the ring looking like a winner!

In the last few paragraphs we talked about what to do if your dog placed in his class. Now let us assume that your dog has won his class. Regardless of which class your dog wins, or if he is alone in it, he will have to return to the ring for the judging of Winners—Winners' Dog if you were showing a male, Winners' Bitch if you were showing a female. If you win the Open Class, do not leave the ring at all. If you win the Puppy, Novice, or Bred by Exhibitor Class at a small show, or if there are only a few entries in your breed, it will be a very short wait before you have to go back, so don't go too far away from the ring, for it will delay the judging if you have to be located. If you have won the Puppy or Novice Class, and there are very large entries in the Bred by Exhibitor, American Bred, or Open Classes, you could put your dog back on the bench, or in his crate, or off in a quiet spot where he can get a little rest while waiting for the Winners' Class to be called; but keep an eye on the ring and be ready.

In the judging of the Winners' Class the judge may go through the same procedure he went through in the judging of the regular class. He may have you circle the ring, pose the dog, individual gaiting, and a second pose; or he may just glance at the dogs to remind him of how well he liked them during the judging of the regular classes. At any rate, he will choose one dog (or bitch) as his Winners and will then choose another dog as his Reserve Winners. Before he judges Reserve Winners he will have another dog brought into the ring.

If your dog wins second in a regular class you should stay fairly close by the ring until after the judging of Winners has been completed, as your dog may be eligible to compete for Reserve Winners. The correct procedure after Winners' Dog has been chosen is for the judge, or the steward or ring runner, to call the dog who placed second in the class from which the Winners' Dog came. This second-place dog is eligible to compete for Reserve Winners, as he has not yet been defeated by the winners of the other regular classes. For instance, if the winner of the American Bred Dog Class goes Winners' Dog, the dog who placed second in the American Bred Dog Class goes into the ring to compete for Reserve Winners against the Winners of the other regular classes.

I purposely used American Bred Dog Class for the above example because so often the novice exhibitor feels the judge will find his Winners Dog in the Open Dog. It is true that often the Open Dog is a bit more mature or a more finished performer; a little older, perhaps; or handled by an experienced handler; and very frequently it does go Winners. However, too often the handler of the dog going second in the American Bred Dog Class thinks he is finished and he disappears. Remember that the winner of any class may be the one the judge chooses for his Winners' Dog. Do not disappear! The judge is supposed to wait only ten minutes for a dog to be located, and if he does not show up, the judging of Reserve Winners will go on without him.

After the judging of Reserve Winners' Bitch, the dog going Winners' Dog and the bitch placing Winners' Bitch come into the ring and compete for Best of Winners. This one animal, the Best of Winners, stays in the ring and competes against the Champions entered in Specials Only for the award of Best of Breed.

Remember, too, that there is an award named "Best of Opposite Sex to Best of Breed." This will concern only the Specials Only entries and the winners of Winners' Dog and Winners' Bitch. Suppose your dog has gone Winners' Dog and the Winners' Bitch beats you for Best of Winners—you may not be finished! If your dog goes Winners' Dog, be ready to go back into the ring after the judge awards Best of Breed under either of the following circumstances:

1. The entries in the Specials Only Class do not include a male entry.

In this case a bitch will automatically get Best of Breed and your dog, the Winners' Dog, will automatically get Best of Opposite Sex to Best of Breed. You will need only to walk into the ring with the dog to pick up the ribbon.

2. A bitch goes Best of Breed.

The Best of Breed bitch may be from the Specials Only Class or she may be the Winners' Bitch who has already beaten your dog for Best of Winners. While your dog was defeated by the Winners' Bitch, he has not been defeated by the Champions entered in Specials Only. You will take your dog, the Winners' Dog, into the ring and compete against the remaining male Champions for Best of Opposite Sex to Best of Breed.

Just remember this, no matter whether a dog or bitch goes Best of Winners: // a bitch goes best of breed the defeated Winners' Dog goes in to compete against the Champions; // a dog goes best of breed, the defeated Winners' Bitch goes in to compete against the Champions.

If your dog should go Best of Breed, he is eligible to compete in the group judging. As a novice you may believe this is something that happens only to the experienced. Nonsense! If you have a good dog in good condition, well trained, well shown, it is quite possible for you to go Best of Breed even though it may be your first show or your dog's first show. Or, as sometimes happens (and no slur is intended), you may have the only dog of your breed entered that day at that show. Yes, if yours is the only one of his breed, and as long as the judge thinks he is representative of the breed, you will get Best of Breed and be eligible to compete in the group. There is no rule saying you must compete in the group, but you are eligible, and it is usually a good idea to compete in the group even though you feel you do not have a chance to win it or place in it. It is good experience for you and for your dog to show in the group, and no harm is done if you are ignored.

Showing in the group is just the same as showing in the breed, except that the ring is usually a great deal larger and you will be competing with other Best of Breed winners instead of dogs of the same breed as yours. The larger ring means that you will have a lot more ground to cover when gaiting your dog around the ring. Frequently in group judging—and I've seen it done many times—the judge will stand in one position and have each dog brought up to him for examination and then he will ask for the individual gait, following path Number One on the drawings. If the judge did not get a good opportunity to see the dogs as they were going around the ring, or if the circling of the ring was dispensed with, when he asks for the individual gait he will probably have each dog gait twice: once he will be standing at the end of the ring watching for soundness, and the other time the dog is gaited the judge will move to the side of the ring and watch the dog's over-all appearance. Just remember to change the lead from one hand to the other, keeping the dog between you and the judge. The alternatives to having the dog brought up to the judge for individual examination and gaiting would be for the judge to go down the line of dogs, examining each one and gaiting each one before he moves on to the next dog for examination; or he might examine all the dogs and then gait all the dogs.

You will be a little more nervous in the group ring, but if it's any consolation to you, so is everyone else in there with you. The same procedure is followed as in the breed classes when the judge places you First, Second, Third, or Fourth.

I do not think I need say that should you win the group you will be eligible to compete for Best in Show. Excited though you may be, you will instinctively know this. However, you may not know that the rule states that the winner of a group must compete for Best in Show.

Here is a picture of me winning my first Best in Show. I was so nervous that my hands shook when I accepted the red, white, and blue rosette from the judge. The trophy was very large, and I didn't know whether to drop the ribbon and take the trophy, or to let go of the dog so I could hold both the ribbon and the trophy. The kind judge saw my predicament and helped me by placing the ribbon inside the trophy. I was so excited I forgot that photographers would want a picture of the big event and William Brown, who got this picture, was ever so patient, waiting until I got myself and my dog back under control. Just as we would get all set, the dog would move and "Brownie," as he is affectionately known, would smile and say, "Take your time, take it easy." He would pick up the sign proclaiming our win and move it to a more advantageous spot; and we'd try again. He eventually got a really nice picture.
I have since found out that when a picture is taken by more or less regular (official) dog photographers, they want a more or less show-posed photograph. However, when the picture is taken by press photographers, you and the dog and the photographers can relax a bit and up comes something like this one of me standing next to my dog, with the rosette pinned to his lead, which was taken by the New York Daily News photographer and used in their newspaper after an important Best of Breed win at an important show.

An informal press photograph of a winning dog and his owner. This is a New York Daily News photograph of the author, Virginia Tuck Nichols, with her English Setter, "Champion Silvermine Messenger."

We have now gone through the technical parts of what I call ring performance. There are so many fine points to be discussed that an entire chapter could be devoted to them. First, however, a list of the various breeds.

Following you will find a list of the breeds and the groups in which they compete. The varieties of the breeds are also given under the correct group headings so instead of having in breeds listed we have 123 breeds and varieties. Some of these breeds are little known around the shows. The Bernese Mountain Dog, for instance. Only one of these dogs was shown in 1954 in the whole of the United States, Hawaii, and Alaska. There were 3 Komondorok shown, 5 Wire-haired Pointing Griffons, 6 Otter Hounds, 7 Mastiffs, 5 Mexican Hairless, 13 Clumber Spaniels, and only 8 each of Curly-coated and Flat-coated Retrievers. Compare these figures with the following ones. These figures are for number of dogs competing in regular classes at American Kennel Club shows only, in the United States, Hawaii, and Alaska in 1954: 3,155 Irish Setters; 3,687 Black Cocker Spaniels, 3,648 ASCOB Cocker Spaniels and 2,649 Particolored Cocker Spaniels; 2,975 Weimaraners; 6,135 Smooth Dachshunds; 11,-367 Boxers; 7,318 Rough-coated Collies; 8,626 German Shepherd Dogs; 2,529 Miniature Schnauzers; 2,555 Scottish Terriers; 3,583 Smooth-coated Chihuahuas; 3,239 Pekingese; 4,008 Boston Terriers; 3,182 Bulldogs; 2,175 Dalmatians, and 1,583 Chow Chows. In Poodles, with three varieties, we have: 1,168 Toy Poodles, 2,996 Miniature Poodles, and 1,974 standard Poodles. These are interesting statistics, showing what breed popularity can mean at shows. The breeds and varieties under the proper group headings can be found in the Appendix.

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