Do You Go to Dog Shows?

Millions of people keep a dog as a pet, their much loved companion that curls up in front of the fire, while you read a good book. They may not always be the best-looking or the most obedient pet, but they are part of our families. We love to spend time with them and take care of them.

But for some dog owners, that doesn't go far enough and for these owners, they created dog shows.

Having a show dog is a time consuming hobby, to say the least, but participants are passionate about it, and extremely proud to show off their champion dog.

A winning dog carries a lot of prestige and puppies from breeding can be worth a ton of money!

You may even have a local dog show where you live - even in the smallest of towns. But the two biggest and most prestigious of these annual dog shows are Crufts, which takes place in Great Britain, and of course our own Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show here in the United States.

Crufts takes place every March in the National Exhibition Centre, which is the busiest exhibition center in Europe. Crufts is the largest show of its kind in the world and runs over four days. Started in 1886, the competition is not an open one and dogs are only eligible if they have already had competitive success in other championship shows.

The Best of Show award is the top accolade and dogs have to win their Best of Breed category to be eligible for it. Best of Breed winners are the seven dogs that represent the seven groups. These group winners compete with each other for Best in Show. The groups, as classified in the UK rules for dog shows, are Toys, Gundogs, Utility, Hounds, Working, Pastoral and Terriers.

There is also a Reserve Best in Show and a Best Puppy award. The supreme champion dog in 2007 was a Tibetan Terrier from the US, named 'Willy'.

Here in the US, the American Kennel Club offers the Westminster Dog Show, which runs for just two days at Madison Square Gardens in New York City. The first show was held in 1877, with television coverage beginning in 1948, and still continuing to today.

The show has grown in popularity over the years and the organizers, over time, have since had to limit the number of entries. In fact, since 1992, dogs can only enter if they are already champions of their breed. Even with these strict stipulations, in 2005 there were over 2,500 entries!

Groups in the American dog shows are also divided into seven groups; Terrier, Sporting, Working, Non-Sporting, Toy, Hound and Herding. Terriers have won the show many times more than any other group. And only two dogs have ever won at both Crufts and the Westminster Show - which is a truly amazing feat!