Dog Showing Guide: What is the Conformation ring?

Many American Kennel club dog shows are both “all breed” and
“obedience”. They also can be “specialty Shows” (shows put on
specifically with just one breed). An “all-breed” show hosts
regular conformation classes, and “obedience” classes are
exactly that…Obedience classes. Specialty clubs also host both
conformation and obedience classes and also they often host
other types of working classes, such as field trials or working
trials..This article will describe to you what “conformation” is
about.

Conformation, to put it quite simply, was originally developed
to determine and select the best breeding stock. For this
reason, the dogs are judged accordiing to the standard of their
own breed, with an examination of the dog’s conformation by a
individual judge. It is the subjective determination of the
Judge on that day, with that particular group of dogs, that
determines the winners of the classes at a conformation show.

To make his determination, the judge will do a “hands-on”
inspection of the dog, noting such charactieristics as broadness
of skull, number of teeth, depth of muzzle or lack therof, depth
and breadth of chest, length of loins,conditioning and
musculature, length of tail and correcctness of the “tail set”,
straightness (or angulation) of legs, and presence or absence of
correct testicles in the case of a male. The judge will also do
an inspection of the movement of the dog, commonly called
“gaiting”.

All of the characteristics will be based upon the standard of
the breed as written by the “parent club” of the breed, which
has been fully approved by the American Kennel Club. The “parent
club” is usually a National breed club such as for example the
National Newfoundland club of America, or the national Brittany
club, etc.

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articles on exactly what are the classes at a dogshow, the group
ring, and the best in show classes)