Tails l Show Results
The Finish Schnauzer Pinscher club had their specialty in Helsinki Saturday the 10th of June, the day before the European Winner show, and the entry was as follows:
Salt and pepper: dogs (26), bitches (37)
Black and silver: dogs (32), bitches (37)
Black: dogs (25), bitches (31)
White: dogs (11), bitches (12)
The show was held outdoors and the weather was perfect: sunny but not too hot. Every breed was being judged in a separate ring.
Black miniature schnauzer being judged
All the color varieties are considered separate breeds, and in most european countries it is forbidden to breed one color to another (it is allowed in Sweden).
The judge has told the class to move around the ring, and she pulls her class winners into the center of the ring while the other contestants keep moving
Sparring is not practiced. However you need to be in decent shape because most of the judges will require the dogs to be moved for long times at the time. Some judges will tell the whole class to start moving around and around the ring, and everyone has to keep going until the judge stops them.
White miniature schnauzer being judged. The white miniature schnauzer is a recognized breed by the FCI.
Every dog gets a written critique dictated by the judge. It systematically talks about the dog's features from head to tail and states what the judge likes and dislikes about it. Most judges also comment on how well the dog is presented.
The lady in the tent on the left is writing down what the judge dictates about the dog on the table.
Every dog is compared to the breed standard and given an "Excellent" (pink ribbon), "Very good"(red ribbon), "Good"(blue ribbon), "Satisfactory"(yellow ribbon), "Disqualified"(gray ribbon), or "Cannot be judged"(brown ribbon) - depending on the quality of the dog. Then all dogs with "Excellent" or "Good" is called back in the ring and the four best ones are placed.
There is no Best of Breed class, but there is a Champion class for each sex. The winner of each class comes back into the ring and competes for the certificate and best dog/bitch. All the dogs including champions are judged first, and then all the bitches. Finally the best dog and the best bitch is called back into the ring to compete for Best of Breed.
3 certificates are needed to get the championship, and at least one certificate has to be won after the age of 2. Theoretically a dog can become a champion without ever having to beat another dog, because there is no point calculations towards the championship.
Once a champion, you cannot win any more certificates in the country where you have your championship.
After each show the exhibitors tend to compare critiques to figure out why the judging went the way it did.
The small tents in the background belongs to the exhibitors, they bring them to outdoor shows and use them to prepare the dogs for the ring.
Exhibitors relaxing outside of their tent before they start showing
The atmosphere is very relaxed and most of the exhibitors have given their dog a bath in the morning at home before leaving, so there is no noise from generators at the show grounds.
There are practically no professional handlers in Europe, so all the dogs are either owner-handled or breeder-handled. Everyone is dressed casually and usually they will bring chairs and food and make it kind of a combined dog show and picnic event.
I didn't see any grooming arms at the show!
Hardly anyone uses grooming arms. Chalk, color, hair spray or any kind of ‘foreign substances’ are strictly forbidden. If an exhibitor files a claim against another contestant, 3 hair samples will be taken from the questioned dog and sent to a laboratory for analysis. If any die or other foreign substances are found, the owner can be excluded from showing for years.
Two contestants waiting for their turn...
Miniature schnauzer with russian hairdo.
Yes, this is a white miniature schnauzer!
