Grand Championship Program

By Amy Fernandez

When AKC unveiled its Grand Championship program in May 2010 reactions within the fancy ranged from skeptical to hostile. AKC regularly debuts schemes to jumpstart the flagging morale and dwindling participation of owner/handlers. They are not uniformly successful, but you must give them credit for recognizing the severity of this problem within the sport and trying to fix the leak before it sinks the boat.

The purported goals of the Grand Championship program were impressive. It would encourage exhibitors to bring out retired champions and hopefully keep dogs in the ring beyond their 15th point. It would boost entries that have dropped like Facebook stock and generate income. Most of all, it was hoped that Grand Championships would provide another way to reward quality.

Overall, the program’s target group of owner/handlers took a wait and see attitude. The dog press was all over it, and most editorializing consisted of blatantly negative predictions that it would further cheapen the AKC championship. Judges called it pointless and overly complicated. Handlers complained that it would unnecessarily slow judging.

This welcoming committee got a big surprise. Within weeks, it was obvious that people liked it. A few points towards a GC became an incentive to go for the title. And the momentum built. Exhibitors really did get inspired to spruce up retired winners and haul them off the couch. Even professional handlers began advertising their dogs’ GC titles.

Within a year, over 5800 dogs had earned GCs, and that didn’t happen unless somebody was interested. AKC then announced the addition of bronze, silver, gold, and platinum GC titles. The news that Grand Champions could continue accumulating points towards higher levels of the title met with a rerun of previous year’s grumbling. However, by the end of 2011, this had translated into 40 thousand BOB entries. Keep in mind that owner/handlers have virtually abandoned the BOV/BOB class in some breeds. And that is never good news for a breed’s future.

AKC also launched a Top 100 All-Breed Grand Champions list with online updates to showcase dogs in the running for GC levels. The world can click on the site to see your dog’s current ranking and achievements.

Anyone who stays in the dog game more than five minutes knows the drill- Work hard, keep trying, and don’t get discouraged. Very true, but this only works up to a point. Any behaviorist will confirm that lab rats and humans will try long and hard to achieve a desired goal. But constant effort without some positive reward will eventually – and very successfully – extinguish the behavior pattern. Even if you are only gunning for the plain old GC, do the math. Entries average $30 per show. Factor in the associated costs, time, and work. Call it a cheap championship, but even if you won every time, it aint all that cheap!

America is full of talented owner/handlers who love their breed, understand this sport, and consistently present knockout quality dogs. Maybe immediate gratification has become a banned phrase in this sport, but recognition and reward is the bottom line of any competitive game.

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Posted by admin on Aug 25 2012. Filed under Current Articles, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.