Points for RBIS?

By Thomas Grabe

The decision by AKC to add the Reserve Best In Show award to all conformation shows in 2012 was met with mixed reviews from exhibitors and owners. While some loved the idea, others hated it, while others didn’t really care. The reasons for these opinions were as varied as those who opined.

One of the more popular reasons for disliking the RBIS award is there are no points awarded. “What’s the point, you don’t get anything for it other than a ribbon,” said one exhibitor. “It doesn’t make any sense. When there was only a Best in Show award, the other six dogs thought they might have won had it not been for the BIS winner. That mystery is gone,” said another.

I do agree with the assertion that there is not much value to RBIS since the winner doesn’t get any points. Over the past 20 months, we have had suggestions from those within the fancy that we include points for RBIS in our all breed rankings. There are a few reasons we decided against this idea.

First, I think if points are to be awarded for Reserve Best In Show, the second place dog from the group of the BIS winner should be allowed to enter the ring and compete for Best In Show. This procedure is no different from Reserve Winners Dog or Bitch. Why not apply the same procedure to RBIS? Who’s to say the second-best dog that day wasn’t also second in the BIS winner’s group?

Second, the entire purpose of Best In Show was to crown one dog that was not defeated at that day’s show. This is the same reason that all breed points are not awarded to any dog except the Best of Breed winner and, until recently, championship points could not be won by the Reserve Winners Dog or Bitch.

Finally, AKC has chosen not to award points for Reserve Best In Show. Our choice is to take their lead on this matter. Should AKC develop a points system that includes RBIS points and makes sense, we would probably follow suit.

The real issue, should any entity decide to award points for Reserve Best In Show, is how many points does the dog receive for the win? I have heard suggestions of giving the RBIS winner all of the points available minus the points from the group of the BIS winner. I think this idea is flawed. The BIS award should be sufficiently weighted so the award has significance. Imagine if at a 2,400 dog show the Terrier won BIS. One recent show that had an entry this size featured a Terrier group with 238 dogs. That means the BIS winner would received 2,400 points while the RBIS winner would receive 2,162 points; hardly the reward that should come with a hard-fought BIS win.

Conceivably, a dog could win Reserve Best In Show at enough shows, especially large shows, to be the Number 1 Dog without winning a Best In Show. Imagine the uproar within the fancy if that ever happened.

I do believe there should be consideration by AKC to award points for RBIS, but some thought should be given to the issues just mentioned before anyone considers moving forward with this idea.

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Posted by admin on Apr 17 2014. 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.