Since championship points in the US are awarded in a different way than in Europe. Could somebody please explain this to me?
Saskia
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He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion.
OK, let me first say I have only shown dogs a little bit, but I will try to explain it.
In the US, points in an AKC show depend on how many dogs the dog beat. A dog can earn anywhere from 1-5 points in a show. 3, 4 or 5 points are considered a "major". A dog must earn 15 points to become a Champion. Those 15 points must include at least 2 majors won under different judges, and the entire 15 points must be won under at least 3 different judges.
How many points a dog can win in a show is based on the number of dogs being shown and the region the dog lives in. If there are very few registered dogs in the region, or dogs being shown for that breed, then it doesn't take to many dogs to get points. If the breed is very popular, it takes a lot more dogs to make points. For example, there are not very many Malinois being shown in conformation, but there are LOTS of German Shepherds. In my area for Malinois it takes 2 females to make 1 point. IE if there are 2 females entered, the females who wins will earn 1 point. It takes 6 females to make 5 points. For German Shepherds though it takes 3 females to make 1 point, and 33 to make 5 points. The dogs are always show seperately by gender, until the very end of the process when they compete for Best of Breed and Best of Opposite Sex.
The dogs are split into groups initially, but gender and other criteria. The groups are the Puppy Dogs, 12-to-18-Month Dogs, Novice Dogs, Bred-by-Exhibitor Dogs, American-Bred Dogs and Open Dogs. Each group is judged and first to fourth placements are given.
After the judge has judged the groups, the winner of each class comes back to compete against each other. Whoever wins this is either the Winners Dog or Winners Bitch and they get the points. Once the Winners has been chosen, whichever dog was second place in their class is added to the group, and the Reserve Winners Dog/Bitch is chosen. If for any reason the Winners Dog/Bitch is disqualified, the Reserve Dog/Bitch gets the points.
After they pick the Winners, then the Best of Breed is judged. This is the Winners dogs and any finished champions who are entered in the show, both genders. The judge chooses from all those dogs the Best of Breed and the Best Opposite Sex. The Best Opposite Sex is the best dog who is the opposite sex as the Best of Breed dog. They also compare the Winners Bitch and Winners Dog and select a "Best of Winners". If the dog who wins "Best of Winners" didn't earn as many points in the show as the dog they beat, then they earn the higher number of points. For example, if the female earned 3 points by going Winners Bitch but the male only earned 2, then the male earned Best of Winners, he would also get 3 points for the show.
I hope that wasn't to confusing LOL I still have to rely on friends when I do show my dogs to tell me when to get in and out of the ring, because I generally have no idea. AKC has a description on the process on their website at
The political process here is also a big factor. Who is showing your dog is more important than what your dog actually is. It is very dirty here, with payoffs and sexual favors being fiarly normal in the bigger venues.
Probably why so many working people are so rabid when it comes to show vs working.
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