A judge experienced in
breeding, raising and competing with this breed is called upon to
determine which of a group of dogs best represents the
Standard.
First the dogs (or males)
compete, the puppies first then the various classes of adults. Each
class will have a winner. From each of these winners the "Winner's
Dog" is chosen. Then the process is repeated for the bitches
(females).
The final competition is for
the Best of Breed. The Winners Dog and Winners Bitch will compete
against the Specials (dogs who are already champions). The dog who
wins Best of Breed will go on to compete in the Herding Group. The
winner of each Group (there are 7) will then compete for Best In
Show.
This is an extremely
over-simplified explaination of a dog show. But hopefully, it will
help when you watch a show. There are always brochures and pamphlets
available at the shows to assist you in learning the steps. Please
feel free to contact the club for more information.
Conformation is a subjective method of determining how
closely a dog compares to the Breed Standard. Dogs are separated by
sex, then age or category.