Show Information

Hi everyone, it’s been a while as we haven’t had any real news I’m sorry to say! But today I have some show news to share as our show club, the International All Breed Canine Association (IABCA) opened entries for its Lynden show in January 2021, 9-10th. As we don’t have any puppies on the ground or pregnancies and are not scheduled to be in heat we will be taking two dogs! Xander will be looking for his Honors title and Khali is looking for her Open title. Because I am sole handler this could get interesting, but hoping to have some photos of the event to share in late January.

While having a show to get to is fun news, I also thought it might help to break down the weekend. This is a Conformation event but there are others, such as Agility and Dock Diving, and attending is a step we take to have a 3rd party assess and grade our dogs. If you’re already a familiar with how titles and dog shows work you needn't read on, but if you’re completely new let me help demystify 🤗.

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Shows

Associations typically host a weekend with numbered rings set up and assigned a judge. These judges are typically AKC/Internationally experienced judges. Each ring will run a morning session and an afternoon session, each is called a show. So, over a weekend, you can expect to register for up to 4 shows (Sat am, Sat pm, Sun am, Sun pm).

For each show you enter, you are guaranteed to compete in at least one class. You must win that class to continue in the show (or wait for the next one).

Breed Classes

Each Show schedule lists classes by breed/age. As mentioned above, every dog gets to compete in its breed/age class for each show entered. The format of a class is essentially: dogs are called by their breed then age, they trot altogether in a circle around the judge, then the judge will call each dog up for an individual examination and watch you trot around the ring then away and back. Once the judge has assessed each dog individually he/she calls up a winner and runner ups. The judge also completes a certificate for each dog in the class that meets a certain grade. Ie a dog that doesn’t win can still be awarded a graded certificate attesting to quality. Collecting these certificates from different judges is what earns a dog it’s titles.

Group Classes

If you win your Breed class, you progress up to a Group class. A Group class is simply a collection of similar breeds. So there will be a Toy Group, a Herding Group, a Working Dog Group etc. Breed winners will then compete against other winners within its Group (again according to age. So you have Herding Group- Puppy, Herding Group-Adult etc). Again, you do this for each show entered. (If you don’t win your breed class, you sit and watch the group classes and wait for your next show to try again).

Best in Show Classes

If you win your Breed class, then your Group class, then after you celebrate and give your dog lots of kudos and praise, you compete against all the other winners of Group classes for Best in Show, still in age categories. So there is a Best in Show-Baby, Best in Show-Junior Puppy, Best in Show- Senior Puppy, Best in Show-Adult etc. These classes are after each ring has wrapped up for the session as they are run across multiple rings, and judged by at least 3 ring judges. Each show gives you an opportunity to win a Best in Show.

Grand Sieger

At the end of the weekend, as a final class, you have the Grand Sieger. This is bigger than Best in Shows and represents the best dog across the whole weekend. So every dog that wins a Best in Show- across all age groups- competes in this final weekend class for the ultimate title.

And that is how an IABCA event operates, with a few additional bits like they also have Bred by Owner classes and Rare Breed classes and a 5th optional show for those hoping to be seen by an additional judge for an additional certificate towards titles etc 🤗.

National/International Champion Titles

Winning aside, the goal of an owner is have enough judges agree your dogs conformation is exceptional. So each Breed class you enter is an opportunity to obtain a grading certificate. For puppies, three exceptional grade certificates earn a National title with a 4th earning the International title.

For adults, National Titles are earned from three “V-2” graded certificates, while International Titles are from three “V-1” graded certificates, from at least two non-USA judges.

Once you have earned your Adult titles, you can compete in Champion classes and Honors classes (yep, each show session has those classes to sit through for each breed as well).

The following is the complete list of titles and their abbreviations available for dogs showing with IABCA (each requiring three appropriately graded certificates).

• National Champion - NatCH

• International Champion - IntCH

• Honors Champion - HnrCH

• Honors Champion in Bronze - HnrCH-B

• Honors Champion in Silver - HnrCH-S

• Honors Champion in Gold - HnrCH-G

• World Beauty Champion - WBCH

• World Beauty Champion in Bronze - WBCH-B

• World Beauty Champion in Silver - WBCH-S

• World Beauty Champion in Gold - WBCH-G

• World Cup Champion - WCCH

• World Cup Champion in Bronze - WCCH-B

• World Cup Champion in Silver - WCCH-S

• World Cup Champion in Gold - WCCH-G

• World SuperCup Champion - WSCCH

• World SuperCup Champion in Bronze - WSCCH-B

• World SuperCup Champion in Silver - WSCCH-S

• World SuperCup Champion in Gold – WSCCH-G

• World SuperCup Grand Champion – WSCGCH

• World SuperCup Grand Champion in Bronze – WSCGCH-B

• World SuperCup Grand Champion in Silver – WSCGCH-S

• World SuperCup Grand Champion in Gold – WSCGCH-G
  

Costs

Oh costs... aside from travel, each show costs $30-45. Applying for each title costs from $50. This isn’t much for a single show, but given each of the above require three certificates/shows and the Title on top... I’m not doing the math on earning a WSCGCH-G 😂.

And that’s my very brief overview of showing a dog- probably very unmysterious now but can be super fun and informative as getting input from judges who have such vast experiences looking at dogs of all breeds is invaluable. Maybe next time I’ll blog about how we keep it fun for the dogs as well (Xander is an exceptional show dog and toooootally gets in to it and I think because we always have a format that keeps it fun 🤗). And that concludes this verrry elongated Showing blog!!