At the first Championship Show (Newtownards & District) of the year held in the North of Ireland, our import groenendael puppy XANOVA MAGIQUE NOIR AVEC REVLOCH, at her very first show at just six months won the Bitch Green Star (CC), Best of Breed and then competed in the adult Pastoral Group where she won Group 2. Voodoo, bred in the UK by Babs Robsinson and Tommy Goode, is by SR Jason de la Douce Plaine and is a granddaughter of FR CH Rival de la Fureur du Crepuscule. Our homebred year old Tervueren bitch Revloch Unique also won the Green Star and BOB and was shortlisted in the group.
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The Green Star system is a little bit complicated to understand at first, here goes......
To become an Irish Champion, a dog must have won 40 Green Star points including 4 five point major Green Stars (under four different judges). Every breed recognised by the Irish Kennel Club is given a Green Star index which is based on the average number of dogs entered in a breed the previous year (each variety of BSD is shown separately) and this index decides how many dogs and bitches must be entered and shown in order for a 'Major' Green Star to be awarded. The amount of Belgians needed for a 'Major' is at least five dogs and five bitches where two Green Stars are on offer. However, if there was a 'Major' in bitches (i.e. five or more bitches entered) and say only two dogs entered, but the dog beats the bitch for Best of Breed then he is allowed to take the 'Major' (the bitch stills retains the 'Major' also). When there are not enough dogs shown for a 'Major' then the Green Star value equals the number of dogs present, i.e. two dogs shown = 2 point Green Star.
If a dog goes on to win a Group then he takes the points of the highest Green Star value of the breeds in that Group, i.e. Say a Belgian wins a Group and the Rough Collie entry that day was a 9 point Green Star then the Belgian takes those points which includes a 'Major' as it is worth more than 5 points. For the Championship a dog is allowed to include one Group win in it's total points.
Hope that doesn't sound too complicated, it's easy enough after a while. It can be difficult to make up a champion if the dogs are not shown. It's a good system, but one flaw is that in the past dogs have been pulled to keep a 'winning' dog from getting a Major. The Irish Kennel Club Show held in March always has a guaranteed Major on offer and occasionally the other shows will offer one.
The other Title that a dog can win is Annual Champion which is awarded to the dog with the most Green Star points (must have won at least 30) in the calander year. This is quite an achievement for a dog especially if there are not many dogs being shown through the year. So if a dog becomes Annual Champion it would have the words "Annual Ch. 2000" after its name.
Sometimes it can take years to make up a dog, other times it can be done within the year, it just depends as the number of dogs being shown rises and falls. There are not many litters born in a year as there are only a handfull of breeders over here. We really only breed to keep the lines going and are fortunate that there is not the problem of dogs coming into rescue due to over breeding.
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