.com Forum · Real Show Dogs

So, I'm just curious...

In real life, are dogs that go on to become bronze, silver, and gold grand champions pretty much being campaigned? Based on the way it works in the game, I imagine (in real life) that you are showing the dog A LOT (i.e. every weekend) to achieve this.

Yes, I've seen Bronze GCH dogs on a light campaign, but with a max of 5 GCH points per show, you figure thats a minimum of 20 shows to achieve, likely more.

Are there different sorts of champions in the USA then??
Over here we just have champions, some dogs get retired once they are a champion, some don't, it is pretty hard to become a champion though!

It is often remarked upon that the hardest country to finish a dog in is the UK. To be cynical all you need to finish a dog in the UK is three friends who award CC's.
In practice it's very hard to win a CC over the top winning dog in a breed, and many dogs worthy of Champion titles are held back, winning reserve after reserve, but never gaining that final qualifying ticket.

Over here, with the AKC, there are two Champion statuses for conformation.
To become a Champion, a dog must get 15 points, 2 wins must be 'major's of 3 or more points at one time. Like on SD, you get CH points by going Winners Dog/Bitch and can get more points by going Best of Breed or Best of Opposite Sex - the points are calculated by the breed and region and the number of dogs beat. You can also get CH points by winning a Group One - you'd win the highest number of points in the classes in any breed in that group on that day.
After becoming a Champion, you can compete for a Grand Champion. You only get GCH points by winning Best of Breed, Best of Opposite Sex, or Select Dog/Bitch (Selects are not part of SD right now). You can not get any additional points by winning the group. To become a Grand Champion, you need 25 points, including 3 majors, and must defeat another champion 3 times (maybe 2, but I think 3).

There are multiple levels of GCH depending on the number of grand points achieved.

Hmmmm, seems to me that the maths is trickier in the USA champions wise!
I never could work out what a grand champion was!