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When someone says their class dog beat a special to win Best of Breed, I'm guessing that is a big deal. Is it typical for a specials dog to take BOB in general? Or does it all come down to a variety of (I'm assuming quite numerous) factors?

And is a "specials" dog a dog that is being campaigned or is it just a dog that is an excellent example of the breed and is difficult to beat (or both?)

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Last edited by Super Uber Kennels on 8/16/2015 12:47:00 AM

Normally it's a big deal for a class dog to go breed over a champion or 'special'.

Specials can be many different things. When talking about what class a dog is entered in people refer to ANY CHAMPION as a special.

Some specials are just shown for fun, some are being campaigned to be ranked in their breed or allbreed. But with people building their own majors sometimes not all Champion specials are actually of good quality. I'll give 3 examples of my dogs

My minipoodle he is almost finished and would be considered a special after he finished. BUT he was only winning over the same couple of crap dogs. if he were to go against any other mature dog he would look like garbage. So even though he may be a Champion,he never really beat nice dogs to show his worth

My Keeshond (Jammer) is a special. Finished at an early age, 3 5point majors at specialties. He is nice don't get me wrong but he isn't. A campaign special. He is nice enough to win breed over class dogs and some specials but not nice enough to spend tons of money going all over the country to try to get ranked. Because of this I show in Owner Handler because he is fantastic quality for an Owner Handler special. But he goes up against top 5 dogs in our breed every weekend and has only beat them once or twice.

My mentors Keeshond (Happy) he is a true SPECIAL. He is out with a professional handler in hopes to become ranked. The handler focuses his business around that dog and Happy takes priority in any ring or situation. He constantly gets Group placements and Beat in Shows because he is that kind of dog. He is a true 'special'

That was kind of confusing but hope it helped!

Beach Dunes, I thought your explanation was spot-on, fwiw

Wonderful explanation! It's exciting to be in the general vicinity of the correct answer, in my head.

So did I, although I must add that money helps a lot in campaigning a Specials dog - a professional handler campaigning a dog, boarding, feeding, preparing, entering, travelling, plus a top notch advertising campaign with top quality photographs all costs big big bucks.

There are dogs worthy of being ranked breed or all-breed that don't achieve it because the owners don't have the money to afford pro handlers.

Thanks Beach Dunes for taking the time to explain that! I had no clue that any champion is generally considered a special.

So with a big show like Westminster, it would be a really big deal for an owner handled dog to make it to best in show judging then, I'd presume (there have been some of those, I think?)

Thanks for taking the time explain this. I love learning about the conformation stuff, even though I don't know if I'll ever venture in that direction (currently just participate in performance stuff.)

Yes, a "special" refers to any dog with it's championship. However "specialing" refers to campaigning a champion to top rankings for the year via showing most weekends, hiring professional handlers, and/or lots of advertising in breed and show magazines...etc.

I agree with Mournebrake. Money plays a big factor. There are many nice Owner-Handler dogs out there that could kick a 'specials' butt any day but judges wont put them up because they aren't advertised.

For Westminster it's a HUGE deal to even win Breed Owner-Handler. It has been done. You also have the "Owner Handlers" who happen to be professionals as well. There are many big winning dogs right now that are bred and owned by professionals. Some that dont even advertise, that win. However many people are starting to use Social Media as a free way to advertise their dogs since so many judges are friends with handlers on Facebook.

But when it comes down to 2 nice dogs, and OH and one professionally handled, a judge will more than likely pick the advertised one... why? Because they know if they give them a placement in groups or BIS, THEIR face will be in a magazine, which will attract more people to show under them. Its like picking judge son here, eventually you notice who will never put up an owner-handler and who will. I even myself have a list of judges I never show under for that exact reason.

I mean look at the Old English Sheepdog "Swagger". His handler, Colton, was BREEDER/OWNER/HANDLER. He was one of the most winning dogs of all time. MutiBIS, RBIS @ Westminster, anything you could think of. He was shown by Colton and traveled with his family. He did advertising because he had a backer, but he was still an "owner handler".

Our Keeshonden do VERY well. ( In the Allbreed rankings we have the #2, #3, #4, #6, #15, and #18 ) . Only one of those dogs are on a true "professional handler". All of the others are on the Owner/Breeder, or on one of her friends or old-assistants. So it can be done.

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Last edited by Beach Dunes on 8/16/2015 10:33:58 PM

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posted by Beach Dunes
I mean look at the Old English Sheepdog "Swagger". His handler, Colton, was BREEDER/OWNER/HANDLER. He was one of the most winning dogs of all time. MutiBIS, RBIS @ Westminster, anything you could think of. He was shown by Colton and traveled with his family. He did advertising because he had a backer, but he was still an "owner handler".


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Last edited by Beach Dunes on 8/16/2015 10:33:58 PM

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I hate these types of comparisons - Colton and Heather Johnson (who are amazing people, btw) are full time professional handlers. They are WELL KNOWN and consistently handle top ranked dogs. Saying that any owner handler can do it because Colton and Swagger did it is VERY misleading. That entire family is practically a "brand name" (if we had them) in the dog show world, Coltons parents are extremely well known long time top breeders as well. Comparing them to the average B/O/H is apples to carrots.

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posted by Beach Dunes
For Westminster it's a HUGE deal to even win Breed Owner-Handler. It has been done. You also have the "Owner Handlers" who happen to be professionals as well. There are many big winning dogs right now that are bred and owned by professionals.

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I think the post about Swagger was an example of Beach Dunes comment here. I don't think they are implying that anyone can do it if Colton and Swagger could. Correct me if I'm wrong, however.

In the UK (smaller country, less shows) I would guess 97% of all winning dogs are owner handled. I could name on less than both hands the number of handlers who might be considered 'professionals' and would be paid to handle other peoples dogs. Very often handlers are employed in breeds like German Shepherds (so the owners can 'distract' from outside the ring whilst the handler runs the dog, but many of these will be friends who don't receive payment.
I think our professionals handling for others go to the shows to primarily show their own dogs.
Also many owner handlers progress to be judges and all the professionals (I use the term loosely in the UK in relation to the USA) will be Championship level judges too.

The swagger example was my example for many professionals who own the dogs that win big....

And if you want a 'legitimate ' successful Owner handler story. The #1 owner handler dog all breed does very well in the regular ring and as win best in show and reserve best in shows. Same with a lot of the other top owner handler dogs


it's all about the judge you show under. Simple as that

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Last edited by Beach Dunes on 8/21/2015 3:17:45 PM