Open Shows, Open Doors – A Judge’s Perspective

BY GREGG G. KANTAK

For most of us, it has been decades since our initial pure bred breed was recognized by the AKC and introduced to the Fancy. Imagine, for a moment, you were one of the pioneers in your initial breed working diligently to organize, creating your breed’s parent club, drafting its standard and, ultimately, having your breed recorded in AKC’s Stud Book. This Herculean task is occurring now for almost eighty breeds.

The AKC Foundation Stock Service allows purebred breeds – currently 11 Miscellaneous and 67 Foundation Stock (FSS) – to develop while providing those breed pioneers with the tools to maintain their records. Foundation Stock and Miscellaneous breeds may be found in AKC companion events including Obedience, Rally, and Agility. While FSS breeds are not eligible for AKC registration, most of these breeds are approved to compete in Open Shows. Open Shows are informal AKC sanctioned events allowing exhibitors of FSS and Miscellaneous Class breeds an opportunity to gain the experience of a conformation dog show in a more relaxed environment. Although no “breed points” may be earned towards a Championship, Certificate of Merit points may be earned (see AKC.com>Sports & Events>FSS Open Show).

Over the course of the last several years, I have had the distinct honor of judging Open Shows. For judges, this means you follow conformation breed ring procedure and you will have five separate judge’s books (e.g., FSS, FSS Group, Miscellaneous, Miscellaneous Group, and Best Open Show). For FSS and Miscellaneous breeders/exhibitors, the Open Show means a great deal more. The Open Show represents a series of “doors” that, when opened, will enable their breed to be recognized by AKC. The first door allows FSS and Miscellaneous breeds to enter an Open Show and, potentially, be awarded Certificate of Merit points. The second door wel- comes these unique and rare breeds to their assigned AKC Group. As a judge, in some cases, you hold the key to all of these doors.

As we take a closer look at judging an Open Show, know that you will not need a wicket, weight, oral exam chart, or the need to disqualify (there are no disqualifications in an Open Show, but more on this later). This makes your job somewhat more relaxed, yet, nonetheless vital to a breed crossing a door’s threshold. During an Open Show, you will generally examine, first, the Miscellaneous breed classes, then the FSS breed classes, then Best in Open Show, where the FSS Group winner and the Miscellaneous Group winner compete against each other. (Note: Miscellaneous breeds may also compete in the all-breed Miscellaneous classes) Accordingly, essential to the success of an Open Show is your knowledge of how the Open Show runs, the breeds entered, their conformation, hallmarks, faults, breed-specific examination, and respect for the exhibitors/breeders.

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Posted by Alex on Nov 19 2018. 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.