Types of Show?

There are four main types of shows, Companion, Limit, Open, and Championship.

Companion Shows: Are the place to start. Suitable for anyone with varying degrees of experience. These tend to be small with a wide variety of dog breeds hosted in a local school or community hall. These are ideal to boost confidence and to get a taste of showing in a ring. These shows are mainly run as charity events, local fundraisers or alongside agricultural shows. Run under Kennel Club Rules the Companion Show is open to all registered and unregistered dogs, including show dogs and crossbreeds.

Limit shows: Are smaller, less competitive shows, which are good to attend to gain experience and knowledge before competing in the larger shows. They are generally run by individual dog clubs, and are restricted to the members of that club. These shows are probably the best place to start your showing career as you will be given a lot of help and advice without the pressures of the larger, more competitive shows.

Open shows: Are usually inexpensive and local, probably the next best place to go after gaining confidence at the smaller Limit shows. These shows have a broader range of classes and tend to be more competitive. In some classes you will be up against dogs of other breeds. Open Shows can also be purely for one specific breed. The top prize at this is The Best in Show, which is judged from the Best of Breed. The Best in Breed is the best dog and bitch of that one breed.

Premier Shows: Are slightly larger than an Open show. Currently only a few Breed Societies have the license to host a Premier show.

Championship shows: Are large, can be expensive and are usually situated in large cities. Not really suited to a beginner to dog showing. These shows can be breed specific, group specific, for example gundogs, working etc, or for all breeds. These shows offer the widest range of classes and winning at these can gain the ultimate award of qualifying for Crufts, the most prestigious dog show in Britain. The dogs that win each class compete for Challenge Certificates (C.C.'s), dogs and bitches separately.