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Sunflower Kennel Club |
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Conformation is the dog sport activity most people associate with kennel clubs. In conformation, purebred dogs are judged against their individual breed standard. Standards are developed by the breed parent club as a description of that breed's perfect representation. The standard details the ideal through descriptions of color patterns, hair length, texture, overall height and weight, proportion, physical structure, body movement and even temperament. Judges evaluate each dog against its breed standard. Whereas in one breed large prick ears may be the ideal, while in another, soft floppy ears and loose skin are desirable physical traits. The standards developed reflect the breeds' original purpose, whether that purpose was hunting, swimming, guarding or being a loyal companion. As an example, the Australian Cattle Dog is a breed well known for its stamina and working-dog history, having been developed to work cattle herds in Australia in the 1800s. And as a result, the standard specifically states that the dog's gait must be "true, free, supple and tireless and the movement of the shoulders and forelegs is in unison with the powerful thrust of the hindquarters" (Australian Cattle Dog Club of America, www.acdca.org/standard.html). In the conformation ring, dogs are handled by their owner or a professional handler. The handler presents the dog to the judge and tries to display the dog's attributes through stance and trotting, which ideally should match to the standard. Each time a dog wins a competition, it earns points toward a title. Now that you know what it's all about, jump over to our Brags page and see the results of training, discipline, hard work and a lot of fun.
If you're ready to get hooked, let's go see what's happening in our Training department. Agility v Brags v Conformation v Herding v Obedience v Rally v Training v Tracking Site problems or newsletter question - let us know. |
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