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Originally Posted by boopster  I'm new to the Yorkie world - getting my first next month. Her parents are both champions -- but I don't think I really know exactly what that means. I reasoned that a puppy from parents of this quality would have a better chance of coming from healthy and well-cared for animals but the truth is I just fell in love as soon as I saw her and at that point it wouldn't really have mattered what her background was.
I've been doing a lot of web surfing and still have not come up with an understanding of exactly what being a champion means. I would sure appreciate it if someone could point me in the right direction.
Also -- I'd like to attend some shows and learn more about these things. My own dog will not be a show dog but I'm very interested in the whole business. How do you find out about events in your area (Southern California for me)? |
Go to
www.akc.org. This is the website for the American Kennel club. Look up events, select your state, and you can get all the show information for the next year in CA.
Also there are great articles there for folks who are new to the show world. AKC is probably the largest registry in North America, where purebred dogs are registered.
If your puppies parents were registered with the AKC and earned their championship from this registry, then you can even look up how each parent did in all the shows there were entered in.
AKC is not the only registry, but generally speaking is the most respected in the States. There are other registries such as UKC, the United Kennel Club, CKC - in the states is Continental Kennel Club, APRI, NAKC, etc.
A champion is a dog, that has competed in conformation shows, and earned 15 points. You only earn points when you beat or win your class competition. Male dogs compete by age group against one another to finally one winner is selected. That is called winners dog, then the females compete until one winner is selected and that is called winners bitch. Then all champions of record entered in the show that day for that breed, compete along with wd and wb, and the best of breed is selected.
A dog show is like a pyramid, you start out with hundreds of dogs entered, and by the end of the day, you have the Best in Show competition, when one dog is selected as the overall winner for the show that day.
The purpose of conformation shows is to have your breeding stock evaluated. They your dogs should be good representatives of the breed, in looks, in conformation, and in temperament.
Having a CH on a dog is a good start, from the purchasers perspective; how-ever it is just a start. You would look to see what this breeder has done in terms of health tests, what kinds of health problems have cropped up in their lines, what kind of health guarantee they offer, what kind of support you can expect over time from your breeder.
WELCOME to YT. If you goto the YT library there are many articles ; called stickies about the Yorkshire terrier that you may find and interesting read.