This year on November 13th and 14th the 2010 Hills Kennel Club Championship Show will be held. Around 800 dogs will vie  to be recognised by the eastern states judges, in dozens of show categories – including the coveted Best in Show prize. And we are very pleased to be a part of it all as a major sponsor, providing fantastic studio prizes for the Best in Show and Runner Up Best in Show winners! Yay!!

The event will run from the Canine Association grounds (Dogs West), corner Warton & Ranford Road in Southern River, WA from 9am until around 3pm both days. Spectators are absolutely welcome, as are their dogs (they just have to be on leads and under control – the dogs that is!).   We will be in the Houndstooth Studio marquee both days, located on the veranda! So if you are looking for a fun day out with your pooch, in lovely pre-summer weather, come along and support the event! There are some puppy categories which sound absolutely adorable, as well as lots of other interesting dogs to see in the ring!

Here’s the low down on how the All Breeds Shows work:

Dogs West (the Canine Association of WA) is the controlling body for WA.  There is one of these in each state and then there is the ANKC (Australian National Kennel Council) who oversees all of the states.

There are a 7 All Breeds Dogs clubs, with the Hills Kennel Club being one of them!  Each club has to be affiliated with the Canine Association.  There are lots of other breed or group specific clubs too, but the The All Breed Clubs are the biggest.

There are 7 groups in an All Breeds Dog Show:

Group 1                Toys
Group 2                Terriers
Group 3                Gundogs
Group 4                Hounds
Group 5                Working dogs
Group 6                Utility
Group 7                Non Sporting Dogs

The first step is to for dogs of the same breed to compete against each other. The winner at this level is deemed Best of Breed, so the judge picks the best Boxer there on the day, for example, and they do this for every breed.  

Once this has happened for all the breeds within that specific group, the Best of Breed winners compete again each other to win Best in Group.  

There are also age classes that then compete in categories like Best Baby in Group (can’t wait for these ones!!) and there are 8 Classes in Group to be won.  

If you win Best in Group you then have to go into the General Specials which is all the Best in Group winners competing for Best in Show.  Then all the Class in Group winners go in to complete for Class in Show. Simple, haha!

Here’s a pic of Charli who will be competing in the Boxer breed!