Carbon Pawprints?
Conformation Showing from a Scottish Perspective
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CARBON PAWPRINTS? CONFORMATION DOG SHOWING FROM A SCOTTISH PERSPECTIVE
Information prepared by Vivienne Peterson – © September 2007
Background Data
The Kennel Club based in London allocate Challenge Certificates and decide at which Championship Show these awards can be competed for in Conformation Dog Showing. Presently, Pomeranians are allocated 25 sets of CCs – one for each gender at 25 different Championship Shows. A dog requires 3 CCs awarded by three different judges to become a British Champion.
Additionally you can only qualify a dog for Crufts at a Champ Show unless the dog is in the Stud Book in which case re-qualifying annually is not necessary. Stud Book entry can only be achieved by wins at Championship Shows. Pomeranians are in Stud Band C – which means that a 1 st or 2 nd place in the Open class or a 1 st place in the Limit class will result in a Stud Book number. Challenge Certificate, Reserve Challenge Certificate winners and Junior Warrant winners also are entered in the Stud Book. Junior Warrant points can be won at both Championship and regional Open Shows for dogs between the ages of 6-18 months – there must be a minimum of 3 dogs present in the class. At Ch Shows in qualifying classes 3 points can be gained for each win and at Open shows 1 point. Further info visit - The Kennel Club
Championship Show Locations
Unfortunately for Pomeranians in Scotland the CC allocation varies from 2 to 3 shows per year due to a CC rotation between regional Pomeranian Clubs. In 2006 CCs were only available at the May and August Scottish Kennel Club shows at Ingleston, Edinburgh. In 2007, 2008 and 2009 there will be an additional Ch Show hosted by The Scottish Pomeranian Club.
This means that in some years it would be impossible to make up a Champion without travelling south of the border. It also means that one must be prepared to travel to qualify a puppy or adult dog for Crufts or to realistically attempt to gain a Junior Warrant, Stud Book number and so forth.
Where are the other Shows?
Currently 2 Shows are in N Ireland, 3 in Wales and 17 in England.
Thirteen of the seventeen championship shows in England are south of Stafford (other than the three held in Stafford). Using Birmingham as a hub with a 200 mile radius this would encompass all the shows in England /Wales and for most English or Welsh exhibitors this would be about the maximum journey.
Scottish Situation
Campaigning a Pom from Scotland involves numerous trips up and down the British road systems. The nearest show outwith Scotland is Blackpool – 200 miles each way from the Edinburgh region. For those in the North of Scotland add another 160 miles or so each way. Many of shows are clustered in the Birmingham region so mileage is between 280 to 450 miles each way depending on the Scottish location. In fact Paris, France is closer to Birmingham mileage wise than Inverness!!
The Kennel Club’s allocation of championship show status is possibly linked with anticipated entries and by selecting a geographical centre near Birmingham instead of the actual geographical centre of mainland Britain – by Dunsop Bridge 30 miles north of Manchester this undoubtedly has encouraged English and Welsh exhibitors.
Journey time for most of the shows will be between 4 to 10 hours each way from Scotland plus an allowance of at least an hour must be made for setting up and preparing you dog upon arrival. The Paignton show is 465 miles away from the Edinburgh area and the two shows in Belfast involve a Ferry over the Irish Sea.
An additional expense is the necessity to often stay overnight. As an example to attend Crufts a 3am departure is required to travel and set up for a 9am Show start from the central belt of Scotland. Once there exhibitors are not allowed to leave Crufts before 4pm regardless of how far they have to travel. Negotiating the Birmingham motorway system between 4.30 – 5.30 pm invariably results in about 10 miles progress in an hour. Often Scottish competitors do not get home until 11pm or later. The exit time also puts additional stress on an already congested highway system. This is an exceedingly long day and in my view unacceptable from a road safety aspect and also can be stressful for some dogs.
It was noted by the Breed correspondent for Dog World that the entry at the August SKC was possibly lower than usual due to high fuel costs for competitors. This is a good point, it would seem that English and Welsh exhibitors do not relish the thought of a long trek north plus high expenses whereas the Scottish competitor must accept this factor for the majority of shows they attend.
The Good News!
Regardless of the odds being against Scottish exhibitors, Pomeranians based in Scotland do remarkably well. Typically Scottish exhibitors account for 21 to 23% of those who compete at Crufts and Scottish Poms have been awarded 8 of the top 16 CC and RCC positions between 2003 and 2007 at Crufts. Last year the top Pomeranian Sire and the top Pomeranian Breeder were from Scotland and the Crufts DCC, BCC and DRCC were all domiciled in Scotland. The overall results in 2007 reflected numerous places being awarded to Scottish domiciled Poms.
CC Allocations
According to The Kennel Club Gazette 2005 this is how CC allocation is calculated.
“ In order to ensure consistency, the 2006 Stud Bands have been calculated with the same calculation used for the granting of Challenge Certificates. This calculation is based on the number of dogs entered at shows and does not take account of absentees.”
The entries for the two previous years are averaged as part of this calculation.
Pom entries seem to have improved in recent times and registrations have increased and yet there are still some breeds with lower entries and lower registrations that have more CCs.
Don’t forget that CC allocation effects a range of other issues as stated earlier in the Background data.
Something to be considered
There are Championship shows at Darlington and Kelso (Border Union) but neither show offers CC status for Pomeranians. At one time they both did. In light of this sentiment published in the Kennel Gazette one wonders if it is time to re-evaluate.
“ It is also considered inappropriate to continually remove CCs from those shows in the “ far reaches “ of the country”.
I believe a case could be put forward to the Kennel Club regarding “far reaches” as our average distance to attend a show exceeds those of most British exhibitors. Additionally to actively participate in the numerous shows held in England conflicts with government policies to reduce road congestion and tackle climate change. The threat of punitive road tax on larger vehicles has resulted in the down scaling of car size. Car pooling in economy sized vehicles restricts exhibitors to a maximum of two adults and approximately 4 dogs plus all the related crates, trolleys, grooming gear and overnight kit – and quite frankly is pretty hard going!
Some 29 years ago our KC Chairman Ronnie Irving wrote about the evolution of dog shows and pondered whether rising entry fees partially due to the cost of benching and the start of mid-week show dates would change the face of dog-showing. ‘Eventually only the rich would be able to afford the prices charged ‘ and ‘only the better off or retired people would be able to attend’. It is my view that proposed toll roads, rising fuel charges and threatened road tax increases on SUV’s combined with mid-week shows and high entry fees will indeed result in the scenario he speculated upon.
Hypothetically – if 17 of the Champ Shows were in Scotland and only 2 or 3 in the Midlands region of England per year – would the English exhibitor feel this was fair?
A new central exhibition centre in the Midlands and the creation of the first new Champ show in 30 years at Boston offer no benefit at all to the Scottish exhibitor.
For those of us who wish to enjoy our hobby but remain environmentally friendly and adhere to the national policy for energy conservation the only solution is to cut back showing!
Is it time for the Kennel Club who afterall are supposed to represent ALL British exhibitors to re-consider the distribution of their CC and Champ Show allocations?
Meanwhile could it be said that show enthusiasts leave a trail of ‘CARBON PAWPRINTS’ ?
This is the third year running that this data has been updated and I shall live in hope that the Scottish Chairman of the Kennel Club will look kindly on those of us in the 'far reaches'.
