On February 27, and 28 Alice and I attended another UKC show. Our results were rather disappointing to say the least. The show was hosted by the American Bully Club of Arizona. It took place in Claremont California once again. An AKC show was also being held in southern California, so there were fewer people at this show.
Alice finished second on the first show in golden retrievers. The last three shows she had no competition so of course she finished Best of Breed. However, under UKC rules it doesn’t count towards a win for a championship. We needed to place ahead of someone in the group competition for gun dogs. Each time Alice finished fourth in her group. Each time she placed after a labrador retriever who is 3 inches shorter than standard which is a automatic disqualification. The poodles who went first and second have great conformation so I have no complaint there.
At first I was just a bit irritated, because I thought the labrador who finished ahead of Alice was a puppy. I thought maybe they were awarding her a better finish because they thought she was going to grow into her size once she was of age. However, she was 5 years old and full grown. I know her approximate height because Alice is 21 1/2″ to the withers. This labrador was 3 inches smaller. So she is roughly 19″. The standard for labradors at minimum is 21 1/2″. Anything less than 21″ and smaller than Alice is an automatic disqualification and really is considered a dwarf.
The only reason Alice would finish fourth is because they dislike her light color. She is very white. More gold is preferred, however white is not a disqualification it is just less desirable in conformation. So if two identical goldens entered, with an exception that one is closer to cream, the dog with more gold would win.
Anyway, this was my rant for the day and probably the first on this blog. However, I feel Alice should have completed another championship this weekend. Unfortunately the judges who are judging don’t know every standard correctly. It was very interesting because so many people love Alice and think she is the best dog ever. It’s often embarrassing how much attention she gets. She is very marketable. One judge today literally kissed her in the ring and I didn’t see him do that to any other dog. However that didn’t help much.
I will probably only try and show her a few more times. The problem with UKC shows is that they start about an hour and half late. So after waiting to sign in for an hour, another 2 1/2 hours of wait time for the show to start, and then we are the next to last or second to last breed to show, we can be there from anywhere of 6-10 hours. That’s exhausting to Alice, and she looses all her energy by the time she gets to go. The judges maybe judging her temperament and indeed she appears tired. However, I would think they would give some leeway after waiting so long.
Leave a Reply