Marshfield Area Kennel Club Dog Show Returns to Fairgrounds
The Marshfield Area Kennel Club (MAKC) will host their annual All Breed Dog Show, Obedience Trial, and Rally Trial at the Marshfield Fairgrounds on August 19th and 20th, 2017.
The MAKC is governed by the American Kennel Club which currently recognizes 190 breeds of dogs. Show organizers expect to see around 500 dogs entered each day. Pure bred dogs alone can enter the dog show while mixed breed or All American dogs are allowed to participate in the Obedience and Rally competitions.
Show chair, Dale Meyer, said the majority of the entered dogs will be in the Conformation competition.
“That part of the show is for dogs that are judged against their breed standard,” he said. “The standard is a written description of every breed, what you want to see and what you don’t want to see in that breed. The conformation part of the competition is really a beauty contest on structure or conformation of the dog.”
During this part, the judge will get an overall look of the exhibit, examine its mouth, color of eye, nose and ears, bone structure and more. He will watch the dog move around the ring and in about 2-1/2 minutes per dog will determine its placement in the class. Points are given to the winner of the best male and best female as long as they had competition in their breed. A Best of Breed will be selected, who then goes onto the Group competition. There are seven different Groups of dogs and the winners of the Groups goes onto Best in Show.
In the Obedience and Rally competition, various tasks need to be passed to earn a “leg”.
Said Meyer, “In Obedience, dogs are either on or off leash depending on the difficulty and are given commands, sit, stay, heel, walk slow, walk fast, turn, figure eights etc. Some might be jumping or finding one item in a pile that has its owner’s scent on it.”
“In Rally the judge sets up a course with signs on it that tell the handler what the dog is suppose to do,” he explained. “The handler needs to walk the course, read the sign and have the dog accomplish the task. It is a different order every time.”
Dogs need to receive three legs in most cases to earn titles while some are more challenging and require ten.
Meyer added that two special events will be held this year. One is a Veteran dog competition, where older dogs can compete. The second is for 4 – 6 month old puppies to show off their new skills.
People travel from all over the world to attend AKC Events, although Meyer said that many are within a 250 mile radius of Marshfield. Everyone likes something different which is why there are different breeds.
“About a week before the show, you can go to Onofrio.com look for upcoming shows find the Marshfield Area Kennel Club click on it and look for the judging program,” he said. “Download the judging program and you can see what breeds are entered and when they will be shown.”
Events begin at 9:00 am on Saturday, the 19th and 8:00 am on Sunday, the 20th. There is a fee of $5.00 per car to attend.
Meyer invites people to check out the MAKC website, www.makc.org to find out more information on the club, how to join, and how to promote the pure-bred dog.