French Bulldogs in Kitchener - May 21 - French Bulldogs by Bullmarket

Pickle and her cousin Lyra make their show ring debut at the KW Dog Show next weekend

The judging schedule has been released for the Kitchener Waterloo dog show, on Saturday, May 21st. If you’d like to come out and see the Frenchies compete, we are in the ring at approximately 10:30 am

There are five French Bulldogs entered on Saturday – 2 class bitches, 2 class dogs, and one bitch special. Reading the judging schedule is second nature to anyone who shows on a regular basis, but it occurred to me that it can be difficult for anyone new to showing to interpret how to read a judging schedule.

Here’s a quick crash course, courtesy of the Central Iowa Kennel Club. I’ve substituted the KW judging schedule for the sample schedule they used.

Judging Schedule KW Dog Show Saturday May 21 2011

One week before a dog show, a judging program (schedule) is available, which is useful for both exhibitors and spectators.

The “Show Superintendent”, who works with the hosting kennel club to put on a show, creates the judging program and you can likely find it available on their website.

…Within the first couple of pages of the program, there will be an index of breeds. This will list all the breeds showing at the show, give their ring number and time.

The subsequent pages of the program provide more details, with a listing by ring number/judge.

Example:
RING FIVE
JUDGE: Mr. John Ross
10:00 AM
3 – Bichon Frise 0-0-3-0
1 – Boston Terrier 0 – 1 – 0 – 0
10- Bulldog 6 – 4 – 0 – 0
5 – French Bulldog 2 – 2 – 0 – 0

In the above example, notice that are multiple breeds, listed at the same time. These breeds will be shown in the listed order, one right after the other. The first block of dogs start showing at 10:00. If any breeds are absent, the judge moves directly on to the next breed listed.

…

Judging for a breed can not start before the listed time.

As a rule of thumb, judging takes approximately two minutes per dog. Meaning, if there are 20 dogs being shown before your breed, you can expect your breed to start approximately 40 minutes after the listed ring time. Keep in mind, there are often absentees, so don’t rely on that rule of thumb as infallible!

What do all those numbers by the breed name mean?

Example: 5 – French Bulldog 2 – 2 – 0 – 0

The first number listed (5, in this case) is the total number entered for that breed. The numbers after the breed are considered the “break down” of the entry.

The first number (2) is the number of “class” (competing towards their AKC championship) dogs (dog = male) entered.

The second number (2) is the number of class bitches (bitch = female).

The next number (0) is the number of Dog Specials. “Special” means that the dog has already earned their AKC championship and they are competing for ranking points. Specials only compete at Best of Breed and above level (Group and Best In Show).

The last number is the number of Bitch Specials (1) being shown.