Conformation
Conformation competition has been equated to the canine
equivalent of a beauty pageant. It's actually much more than that.
While it is conducted in head to head competition, conformation is actually
measuring the dog against the
breed standard. The breed standard is designed to maintain the
breed's suitability to it's original purpose, in the case of Flat-Coated
Retrievers, that of a gun dog. For instance, is the dogs movement
such that it could reasonably be expected to hunt hard for a day, is it's muzzle
configured such that it could pick up and carry a bird, etc.
The initial conformation competition is to achieve a dog's "championship". A dog that has achieved a championship has the right to prepend Ch to the beginning of their registered name. i.e. Ch High Valley Dusky Enchantress.
Watching a conformation match can be totally baffling to beginners. The competition is diagramed below. Like all dog sports, conformation has a language all it's own. Some of the terms you will commonly hear at a conformation match include;
- Bitch - A female of the breed. (In the context of dogs, this is not a dirty word.)
- Dog - A male of the breed.
- Points - At a show, for each sex for each breed a certain number of points will be assigned based on the number of dogs competing. Points at a show can vary from 0 to 5. Yearly the American Kennel Club analyzes each breed and determines the number of dogs and bitches that must be defeated for a certain number of points.
- Major - A show where 3 or more points are available for a breed.
- Champion - This is a dog (or bitch, in this
discussion dog will be used generically to mean dog or bitch) that has
competed against enough dogs and won enough points to achieve it's championship. To get a
championship a dog must accumulate 15 points. The most points available
at any dog show is 5 so a dog has to win a minimum of 3 shows to become a champion.
In addition, at least 2 wins must be "majors". At each show only 1
dog and 1 bitch of each breed will get points.
- Classes - There are 7 classes for both dogs and bitches. The winner of each class competes for Winners dog or Winners bitch. classes are;
- Puppy 6 to 9 (six months to nine months)
- Puppy 9 to 12
- Puppy 12 to 18
- Novice
- Bred by Exhibitor
- American-Bred
- Open
- Special - A dog that has achieved it's championship and is competing for Best of Breed.
- Winners Dog / Winners Bitch - The winner of each class competes against each other class winners, the winner of that competition is either the Winners Dog or Winners Bitch. Winners dog and Winners bitch are the only dogs which get points.
- Best of Breed (BOB) - Winners dog, and winners bitch compete with dogs and bitches that have already achieved their championship to determine the best representative of the breed. Winners of BOB compete in Group. (see Group below)
- Best of Opposite (BOS) - Best of Opposite sex, whichever sex takes Best of Breed, the best representative of the other sex takes BOS.
- Best of Winners (BOW) - Winners dog and winners bitch compete for best of winners. This is an important competition in that if the point totals for bitches and dogs differ, and the dog with lesser points beats the other dog, they both get the same number of points. For instance if the show was a 1 point show for bitches and a 3 point major for dogs, and winners bitch beats winners dog for best of winners, both the dog and the bitch get 3 points.
- Group - Dog breeds are divided into 7 groups based on the original purpose of the breed. The best of breed for each breed competes against the BOB for the other breeds to determine Group I, Group II, Group III and Group IV, the 4 best examples of their breeds. Group Is compete for best in show. Flat-coats belong to the sporting group, which is made up of 27 breeds of retrievers, setters, pointers, and spaniels.
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