December 27, 2012 • 41 mins
You know those shows where people wearing sensible shoes jog dogs around in circles? They actually represent the pinnacle of a long and complex path to glory for dogs and their owners. Join Chuck and Josh as they peek inside the American dog show.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Stuff you Should Know from House Stuff Works
dot Com. I think that it in't it d D
D D. Hey hey this is unusual, but um, I
feel like we plug other people's stuff so often. Let's
take some time and plug our TV show, our television show.
(00:23):
People like again, yeah we know. Yeah, Well, then by
now you know that it's gonna premiere at ten pm
Eastern Standard Time on Science Channel at ten pm, Episode
one at ten thirty pm. Episode two falls right behind it.
Two back to back episodes of Stuff you Should Know,
the TV show where we play ourselves ourselves. That's right,
(00:45):
and it is premiering after the season three premiere, or
if you're from England, series three premiere of Idie Abroad
with Carl Pilkington Wicket your base and uh, it's a
great lead and we're really happy because it's an awesome show.
And if you don't have TV or cable, you can
actually purchase our show now on iTunes after the premier date.
(01:07):
That's right. Every every time a new episode comes out
the next day, it'll be up for sale on iTunes
for buck ninety nine. And Science Channel is so cool
they're making the first available show for free the premiere
not for none money, and we think you're gonna like it.
If you don't, let us know. If you do, let
us know. But we had a good time making it.
We got the whole first season done and we're rolling
(01:29):
them out starting January night. That's right. We appreciate your support. Okay,
on with it, roup, Hey, and welcome to the podcast.
I'm Josh Clark. With me is always as Charles W.
Chuck Bryant, and that makes this step. You should have
the podcast. Indeed, about dogs my favorite topic. Yeah, that's
(01:52):
one of them. What else? I don't know? Dogs. I'm
one of those people that like dogs more than many humans. Sure, so,
as you know, and so you know all the dog shows.
I'm not real big on I love watching dog shows, yeah,
I just I've never gotten into them. I know there's criticism,
there's controversy, but I don't care about that. I just
(02:14):
I'm kind of bard watching them. I never get bored.
It's almost like um watching fractal screensaver something. It sucks
me into that level of like just zoned altitude? Is
it point? Is it appointment television for you? Like? Do
you make a point every February something? I think I
(02:34):
think last year it was Valentine's Day. Yeah, okay, it's
early February. Yeah. Last year when a little Pekinese one
name Maliki, I think I remember seeing that dog. Look
at that dog, it's basis beyond cute. Look at that hair.
So apparently, UM, if you want to blow up the
(02:56):
Twitter verse with angry tweets, you can um talk politics,
you can talk religion, or you can hold the Westminster
Dog Show and selective best in show. People get pretty upset. Man,
people went crazy last year. So like, um, what like
you commenting or just in the Twitter universe people on Twitter. Yeah, no,
(03:17):
I'm just a fan. I don't I don't show no,
no no. UM. I live tweet very infrequently. It's it's
tough on the thumbs. Um. But so MALICKI this little
cute four year old Pekinese um one best in show
and um people were really mad. They called it a
mop becausin it Haraldo Riverez mustache a wookie snooky for
(03:44):
some reason, maybe just because it rhymes with wookie and
that's what they were going for. And they had just
been watching Jersey Shore. Who knows, Um, But Maliki is
no slouch. Um they had one a hundred and fourteen
Best in Show Awards. Wow, only four years old, so
this thing's been mopping up the competition. Oh man, I
(04:05):
just made myself shiver. But people are crazy, they they
One guy said he was a fan of the m Dalmatian.
He said, I'm done with these dog shows, and I
think that happens every year show exactly. There's a lot
of people who feel very passionately about dog shows. There's
plenty of people like me who love to just zone
out and watch them. Um. And then you know, there's
(04:26):
people who just don't know anything about them. And that's
what we're here for today, to explain everything there is
to know about how dog shows work. That's right, and
this will either be really interesting to you or you
made just zone out like Josh does watching the Westminster Show.
You know though, UM, I don't think we've ever released
an uninteresting episode. Maybe they have uninteresting titles, but you
(04:48):
go on and you listen to it, it will interest you.
I defy you right now. Step you should know listeners
who haven't listened to every single episode, So we'll call
you the twenty percent um to go out and find
an episode that sound boring in the title that you've
not heard and listened to it, and I guarantee you
you will find it interesting. It's the it's just the
(05:09):
thing one comes to mind. College football rankings interesting to me.
But boy, our listeners are not into college football. But
was it for the most part boring? Was it really
not interesting? There's nothing interesting in there. I think if
you're not into sports at all, then it was probably
really boring. But um, well we'll avoid that one or
(05:30):
the guarantee is void. But hey, if you're into sports,
you'll love it. No. I think on the other end,
if you're into sports, it was like, will you guys
mess this up? Or you forgot this? Yeah? Oh and hey,
by the way, congratulations we are now an award winning podcast.
We got a stitchy. Is that what they're called? That's
what I made up. Mark Marin had to call our names.
(05:51):
He hosted these Stitcher awards last night. Yeah, he won
one himself for the best Episode. Yeah, we were nominated
for that too, for we were one that I didn't
think was ten Accidental Intervention. I mean, that was okay,
but I would have picked a different best episode. I
think it was the sacrament bit that really led us
into that on the toast. Yeah, um, okay, So anyway,
(06:13):
dog shows, Yeah, um, conformation shows, not firmation c O
n f O R are what we're gonna talk about
for most of the show, and that is pure bred
dogs competing against other pure bred dogs almost exclusively based
on physical attributes. Yeah, that's the Westminster Dog Show that
(06:36):
you see every year at Madison Square Garden. Yes. Um,
it's just yeah, what the dog looks like, and um,
basically it's appearance, its body structure, and then to a
lesser extent um, it's dude. Yeah, it's attitude, it's a
character because that also what they're trying to do here.
If you've ever watched a part of this and I
(06:58):
love that this Uh who wrote this one? Jay McGrath,
oh old Jane, I remember her? Uh she wrote that,
have you ever been channel surfing and come across one?
I feel like a lot of people that is their
entrance into the dog show world is they're flipping it
around in February. They go, oh, yeah, that thing where
the Christopher Guest movie mocked. I'll watch a few minutes
(07:22):
of that and I've done that, and I've always been
like I don't get it. How are they judging these
other dogs against each other? It's a very good question,
and we're here to tell you how. Yeah, because you
know you this little Pekinese went up against things like
Great Danes and Dalmatians and Doberman's and all that, and
it's still beat them all. And the way it did
that is how they judge any kind of confirmation show.
(07:44):
They judge the dog by the standards of its breed,
and then the dog that most closely fits those idealized
standards wins these very specific registered I'm gonna say registered standards. Yeah,
it's so. Let me give you an example. I was
looking this up. There's a the in the a k
C has developed these standards from information taken from breeders
(08:08):
and um they for example, the Lakeland Terrier. UM. One
of the standards is its attitude right, and it has
the Lakeland Terrier has quote a bowl gay and friendly
with the confident cock of the walk attitude. So this
this is the kind of thing that the a k C. Yeah,
basically I love that. Uh. In England they have different standards.
(08:33):
That's the American Kennel Club and they have a different
show called Crufts c c R you f T s
UM and there's just a little bit different, but we'll
get to that later. Yeah, we'll talk about that in
a little bit. For the most part, we're focused on
Westminster in the a k c. So, in addition to attitude,
character traits UM, there's all those physical traits that the
(08:55):
a k c UM has maintained on each breed. So
for example, allans and not how well the dog stands up,
although the gate is important. If you're talking like falls over,
that's probably a bad sign. But yeah, it's yeah, it's
not gonna win this year. Um. Balance is what we
would call symmetry for humans. It's you know, the overall
(09:16):
proportions of its shape and size. Yeah, like that Scottish
terrier is really pretty, except boy, look at those ears.
The size of its butt. Yeah you're out, sorry, Scotty.
Uh wait size eyes and again eyes is size and
shape and color. If you've got that one, wonky, I
forget about it unless you're an Australian shepherd. Yeah they are.
(09:37):
They supposed to have one. I think they're supposed to
have a blue and a brown and blue and a brown.
Everyone I've seen has But what does the a case say,
I don't know, they don't care what she loves like
you When I think the head shape, of course, ears, muzzle, whiskers,
thickness of whiskers is an important one. Really, Yeah, I
(09:58):
would think they'd be an indicator of of poor health.
What that bad whiskers? Thin whiskers, riddle whiskers. I think
you you want nice stout whiskers like uh, it's centimeter
thick each. Okay, that's probably the standard for any breed.
This is the j K c uh teeth. You always
(10:19):
see what them checking out the teeth. Um. You don't
want any kind of weird scissor bite or ah. I
guess certain breeds have the underbyte. Yeah, a lot of
them do the breaky old CARDI yeah, our own Jerry's dog, Charlie,
I recently learned as a bit of a little underbite,
and sometimes the lip will get hung and the little
(10:42):
bottom teeth are just kind of jetted out there. It's
it's very cute. You want to go over and like
adjust the lip, so here you go. Yeah. I like
dogs that have like teeth sticking like cheese us. Yeah,
boxers too, write boxers, um pugs, Pekinese. Oh, did one. Yeah,
they all have that. It's it's like brachial cardi. It's
(11:04):
like anything with a smushed face usually has an underbyte
as well. Uh teeth, all right, we just had teeth tail,
I mean, um, shoulders, and these these dudes are feeling.
These judges are feeling these dogs as well, like muscle
and bone, like they're trying to get under the fur
to judge these things. So one of the big things
(11:25):
your dog has to learn very early on is to
let strangers feel him up. Yeah, in all sorts of
uncomfortable places. Yeah, you don't want your dogs snapping at
this guy when he fondles your dog. And if your
dog snaps at the judge and then falls over, just
just go home. It's all over. What did they say
invest in show when the dog broke his gate? The
one guy, So he might as well just taken a
(11:47):
dump right there on the floor. So yeah, Michael McKeen
said that he's awesome. Um. And then of course there's
coat lengthen texture and color, and very much like thoroughbred horses,
there's accepted colors for each breeze. You the dog that's
blue and it's supposed to be a golden retriever, you
got problems. Yeah, if you got a blue retriever, you
have many problems. Although you could probably make some money
(12:08):
taking it around the country taking an old timey circus.
Where you can't make money is by winning the Westminster
Dog Show. Yeah, that's a good point. You would think
that these these things offer like big cash prizes, but
they don't. It is really about prestige and being one
of those dog show people like you know, wearing that
ribbon and getting that trophy, wearing sensible shoes and you know,
(12:33):
learning to walk very fast. That's right, because your gate
matters is a human, you know. So you put all
this together, right, and these these judges know the standards
for the breeds, and when they're looking at this these dogs,
they're saying, they're matching it up to their uh mental
catalogs they have um and then the ones that most
(12:54):
closely match the idealized version of their breed, like we said, wins.
And that's how you get the the little you know,
loss of ops or the Pekinese that can beat out
like a Great Dane or a German shepherd or something
like that. That's how they compare them. Yeah, and that's
only been going on since I say only since nineteen
o seven, um, previous to that, And this has been
(13:14):
going on at Madison Square Garden uh In in in New
York City since eighteen seventy seven. Time, they didn't have
a best in show at all until nineteen o seven
because they said, you know, how do we codify this right?
And they did. They figured it out and it's really
Jane says, it sounds confusing, but once I spell it out,
(13:35):
it's simple. But it's still a little confusing. Yeah, it
took me a couple of times to to figure this out.
There's just a lot of stuffs. She does a great
job of explaining, and it's just there's a lot to it.
So you wanna you wanna explain this to the Westminster
Dog Show. We should say is the pinnacle, the peak
in the United States for any dog, But there's a
long road ahead of it, like we said, now, like, hey,
(13:56):
the winner of two thousand twelve show had a hundred
teen best in shows under its belt. Yeah, and Jane
called it the super Bowl. I would say it's more
like an All Star Game if the All Star Game
counted for something, you know, because it's all these all
stars from the different breeds, from all these shows making
this final It's like the Little League World Series for dogs. Great,
(14:22):
it's like the Chess. It's like Bobby what's his face?
Fisher almost said Bobby Riggs and liked story. Who Bobby Riggs?
Bobby Fisher? Oh yeah, did you ever see Searching for
Bobby Fisher? It did? It was great movie. Here's back. Uh.
And then you know, of course, um that song One
(14:43):
Night in Bangkok. Yeah, it's from a Broadway show and
I can't remember what the Broadway show is, but it
was based on Bobby Fisher in his life and now
he moved to Asian and just evolved in the manus.
That song is about Bobby Fisher, and that was from
a Broadway show as far as I know. Yes, And
then the pop vision was just re recorded by whoever
that was, possibly by the original composers, but for the radio.
(15:07):
I thought One Night in Bangkok was about you would
think never mind, I was gonna bring up all you
had to do? Is this in there? Yeah? Who was
Gary Glitter? That's what I was thinking. Yeah, I don't
think so. I think he got in trouble in Bangkok.
If you know what I mean he did, and he
recently got in trouble with the whole Jimmy Saville. He
(15:29):
was part of that too, apparently, gross Man. What a
sidetrack that was? So? Um Okay, to be a champion, right,
this is what a dog games for is to be
a champion. That's right, Because if you're a champion, you
um get to add c H as a prefix to
your name. Yeah, like I would be c H. Then
(15:49):
Chuck if I were a champion dog, yeah, you'd beat you, Chuck, Chuck.
All right, So let's walk everyone through this, right, all right.
To be a champion, you gotta get compile a certain
number of points, uh. And you earn these points at
different dog show competitions around the country that are not
the Westminster show. Yeah, and from different judges. Right, you
(16:11):
gotta get at least fifteen points from three different judges
or at least two major wins from separate judges. And
a major win, uh is one where you can earn three,
four or five points, And that's when you can get
the right as a champion just for that little show though, right,
or no, for the compilation of those shows. Right. So um,
(16:32):
when you get this, uh, when you get to become
a champion. Um when you have I think it's fifteen
points and two major wins from separate judges. Yes, you're right, Um,
you you get to this point. Also, like you said,
it's not Westminster, it's these little specialty shows. And I
don't mean little to diminish and I'm just saying compared
to Westminster, they're much smaller. It's not on ESPN and
(16:53):
there's specialty shows. Well, it's on the Oh Chow, I'll
bet um it's the specialty shows are based on UM
specific breeds, so you'll go to like the Chuhaha Show
or um the Lakeland Terrier Show. Uh. And the dogs
are separated between male and female and we can say
(17:15):
the B word in this one because that's what it's called.
That's my new band name, by the way, what winner's bitch? Okay?
Um and Uh they're the males and the females. Are
then separated into six different classes. You've got the puppy class,
the twelve eighteen month old class novice, so those are
(17:36):
dogs that are UM six months or older that haven't
won any point yet, haven't won any first place prizes,
so they can be a little older. But there's still
rookies as far as the competition stage goes, right, and
six months is the minimum age to compete in an
A k C show. Yeah, below that, you're just there's
no way. Yeah, they're too dumb to unpredictable. Um. Bread
(17:57):
by exhibitor is a class of dogs where the person
showing the dog is also the breeder. The breeder, by
the way, is the owner of the dog's mother. Right. Um,
there's American bread, which is any dog born in the
US USA. UM. And then there's open the open classes
open to any dog. And this is the only class
that any dog that's already become a champion can compete in.
(18:20):
In the specialty show, oh they are Yeah, that's the
only class open to that. Because they could just mop
up all the other classes. They have to face any
takers in the open class, it's a good way to
put it. So they divide it up by male and female.
The males go first, and they, you know, inspect all
the males as they do it any of the shows.
You know what that means. Finally, you give them the
(18:42):
award ribbons first through fourth place, and you don't get
any points at this point though. The first place. Winners
of the male class have to compete for the winner's dog.
The female's class compete for winners bitch. You want to
say it, I've said it twice now I don't want
to say I find it difficult to say. Really, it's
just the connotations are sure. You know, I've never used
(19:03):
that word, uh in like anger about someone that's it's
a it's a very rough it's yeah, And I don't don't.
I don't think that makes me a good person or anything.
But there's just a couple of things that like I
wouldn't call my worst enemy, and that's one of them. Gotcha,
I don't have any enemies. What am I talking about?
So you've got the winner's dog in the winner's bitch,
(19:27):
um and uh this is this is the point where
they start um winning awards point points. I mean, I'm sorry. Um,
So this is all all these different dogs have been
weeded out by the different classes and then there there
you've got the out of all these six classes of
the male cad male version, in the female version, you
have winners, right, and then there's uh so this is
(19:49):
where the points start being awarded. Then there's chances for
more points in the same show. Um, any champion can
come along and take the winners on for um best
in show or best in breed. Yes, and you can,
and you compile extra points depending on how many dogs
they beat out. So if you beat out a bunch
of more dogs, you can turn up to five points. Right,
(20:10):
five is the most. And remember a major wins three
or four or five points in a win. Yes, okay, Um,
so you can win some by being the winner's dog
or the winner's bitch. You can, Um, the champions can
take those guys on in the best of breed and
then um, between those two, the winner's bitch and the winner, um,
winner's dog, there's another walk off I guess, and um
(20:34):
they can win point to ever be two. And then
there's the best of opposite sex. Yeah, that was the
best of winners, and then the best of opposite sex,
which it says the best dog of the opposite sex
of the best of breed. Yes, So whichever dog, whether
it's the winner's dog, the winner's bitch, or any champion
that took him on, and one the best of breed,
say that's a male that wins. Then there's another category
(20:57):
for the winners. That's females or vice versa, the opposite
best of opposite. Basically, it's like, we got all these
points sitting around, let's let's get rid of some good point.
Or or it's like, did you ever go to camp
and like run a race but ran terribly, but you
still got a ribbon that just said participant. Maybe it's
(21:18):
like that. That's like every race I ever rand the
same here. Basically I had a trophy once that just
it was a sad face. Really Yeah, there's a baseball
bat was kind of sitting at the foot of the
kid with his head hung down frowning. Yeah. I played
church sports, so we didn't. Uh, they didn't do a
lot of trophies, even in church leagues. Like the ultimate
(21:38):
victor of the church we got a trophy, but they
weren't big on like ribbons and trophies. The ultimate victor
of the church league, I would imagine, is salvation. Yea,
we all won, Okay, so then you've got your best
of breed winner and then that dog can then advance
to a group show where all these best of breed
winners compete a K A or a K see Westminster. Right.
(22:02):
So um, to make that point when you are at
a specialty show and you're aiming for Westminster, which I
imagine every dog there is. You want to win best
of Breed. You can win points and become a champion
through winning other stuff like best of Opposite Sex, best
of Winners, winners, dog winners, bitch right, But to move
(22:22):
on to the next level, you have to win best
of Breed of that show, and you have to win
a bunch. I imagine that's right. And at this point
half of our listeners are delighted in half their eyes
are rolling back into their head. Man, we just explain
the heck out of that. Um. So we're at Best
in Show, the movie that's such a good movie. If
(22:45):
you've not seen Best in Show, that Christopher Guest film, uh,
just go out and see it right now. Just stop.
I think it's streaming right now. I'm sure it is. Yeah,
it's really good. It's hard to pick out a favorite
part of that movie. But the scene that always pops
up to me when Parker Pozzy is trying to get
her replacement was it a b A little stuffed animal?
(23:11):
She can't find it, and the guys trying to help her.
He's like, well this is yellow and black and it
was like a parrot or something. I can't remember at all.
But she's just like my hero and that's great. She's
very good. Alright. So, um, a little bit on the
a k C. There are several hundred dog breeds in
the world, but the a k C only recognizes a
little over one, that's it. And they separate those into groups.
(23:37):
And yeah, the AKC loves categorizing, breaking putting dogs into
categories and breaking them down and then putting them into
new categories. Yeah, and that's what they do here. And
the poor dogs just like what you can have to treat,
can get a bacon strip or squirrel. Um. Okay, sporting
dogs this one, um, obviously these are dogs that are
good for hunting, pointers, retrievers, setters, and s annials. Yeah,
(24:01):
that's a good dogs. Great dogs. Um hounds, beagles, bloodhounds,
docks ands. I like hounds except for the baying, the howling,
the how oh my god, yeah a beagle of you
never heard like a beagle? No, I never had a
bag that much. They are loud and insistent, really super
cute puppies though, possibly the cutest puppies of any breed
(24:21):
I think. Yeah, those and Oh man, what's the one
I'm thinking of? A little puff balls? It's a it's
an Asian dog, the little puff balls Maltese. No, like,
is it a little dog in the end? Yeah, but
like the puppies are little puff balls and they stay
a little stay stay puff balls like Pomeranian. Yes, yeah,
(24:41):
those are pretty cute puppies. They don't even look real.
It looks like they don't squeeze them. It should make
a little noise they do, they do. Yeah, you don't
want to do that, okay. Um, working dogs, we're talking
Great Dame's Rottweiler St. Bernard's dogs who are hardy and
they even you know, are used as working dogs like
searching rescue stuff like that. Um. And then there's terriers
(25:03):
that chase rats. Did they maybe even fight? Um? Um
cobra or two? Uh? Those are um little Schnauzers Scottish
Terriers also known as Scottie's bull Terriers, which you would
recognize as spuds mackenzie. Yeah, man, those things are weird looking.
My buddy Clay just got a giant Schnauzer big Well.
(25:26):
This thing is like six months old and he's already
as big as my biggest dog. He's like, just wait
till you see his name is Bro. He's like, what
do you see Bro? At the end of this, he's
going to be enormous. How how big is he expected
to get? Wait wise, I don't know, but really big.
He's awesome, very very fun dog. Just like for a
dog to be that young and that big, they don't
(25:46):
have control of their limbs yet. So Bro would just
go running downstairs and just like face plant and then
get up and you know with the happiest expression behind
his little eyes that you can see that there. Um
what else? Toy dogs? Yeah, johuahua's, poodles, pugs and how
you pronounced it? I always said shitsu was it? She's
she's she's non sporting dogs. I guess these are the intellects.
(26:10):
This is a catch all breed um when you don't
have unifying characteristics, which is kind of sad. The one
unifying characteristic is these dogs don't play. They don't play bulldogs,
Dalmatians and the American Eskimo dog, which I've never heard of. Yeah,
it's basically like, we don't know what to do with
you guys, so we're gonna put you in the non
sporting dog, and then two more hurting dogs like Australian
(26:32):
shepherds and uh miscellaneous. So remember we said that the
AKC likes to classify dogs, and there's more breeds than
it recognizes. This is a group that they you can't
win points, you can't win any major awards, I believe.
But if there's a breed that's starting to get more attention,
there's more people breeding it. It's like part of the
(26:54):
process of becoming recognized. You you start out in the
miscellaneous group, so that's pre recognition almost cheeze. Yeah, hey man,
these people are keeping track of like the dog's cock
shured nous. I mean, they're there. They pay attention to details, alright,
So the best of breeds in each of the group
(27:15):
are gonna compete in the group show and then if
you win that group show, then you compete in the
Ultimate I think we skipped that part, which is the
All Breed Show, and that's the All Star Game, the
super Bowl, that's Westminster, the chess match, the Bobby Riggs
versus uh Billy gene King. That's when a that's when
a judge goes through each of these groups and picks
(27:39):
out the best, right, Um, seven groups because the eight
can't win. And UM, they basically go through and say
you're number one, you're number two, you're number three, and
number four, and all of a sudden that number one
is the best in show, and the controversy erupts, Twitter
goes crazy. I'm gonna have to pay attention this year.
(28:00):
It's yeah, it's fun to watch. Yeah, I've never watched
it where I was like tense, but you know, I've
been like, oh, that's great, or oh really that's that's
that's nothing. I'm sure you find yourself rooting for certain
dogs though. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, there's always a dog. There's
always at least one if they capture where you're just like,
I like that dog. Uh. All right, let's talk about
(28:22):
the criticism of dog shows, because there's definitely plenty. Yeah there,
it's out there. Um. One of the problems that certain
groups have is that when you're talking pure bred dogs,
you're talking about breeding, and UM, myself and many others
are against dog breeding because there's plenty of dogs out
there for the taking, but they they're mutts, that's the
(28:47):
look of um. So breeders basically breed these dogs to
acquire these or to at least hold onto these attributes,
and that means in breeding sometimes and that means shorter lives,
fans and disease and defects, birth effects like Dalmatians tend
to suffer from blindness and German shepherds suffer from hip dysplasia,
(29:09):
and these these traits have become associated with the breed,
these standards of the breed that the AKC maintains. And
it's kind of like, well, yeah, but if you if
you want to have a dog that meets all these
other criteria, it's also gonna get displasia when it's sticks.
And it's just part of in breeding. It's narrowing of
the gene pool. And I've definitely noticed and this isn't
(29:29):
of course, but all the dogs and people have known
who had dogs throughout the years, I've noticed more pure
bred dogs dying younger than the MUDs. Well, supposedly they
have a weaker immune system. Like remember I don't remember
what episode it was, but we were talking about that
experiment that UM people sent. People use scents to detect
(29:53):
an immune system different from yours. Because when you put
together your immune system and somebody else's immune system for reproduction,
the kids should have a doubly great immune system. That
was a long time ago. I remember that, Yeah, it was.
I don't remember what episode it was, maybe so yeah. Um,
so remember a few minutes ago we were talking about
(30:15):
the miscellaneous category can eventually earn you status as an
officially recognized breed UM. The American Border Collie Association the
a b C a I really didn't want their dog
to become recognized by the a k C because they
thought that meant well, once it's an official breed, then
that means breeding will become more intense and these dogs,
(30:38):
you know, will suffer from all these things that we
just told you about. Yeah, they specifically petition with the
case don't recognize, don't recognize us, and a case said,
we're going to recognize. I don't think it was maliciously,
but they're like, this is what we do, and we're
going to recognize this dogg it's a breed. Now. They
were like, had you not asked, we wouldn't know, but
you did so. Uh. And pets also file um an
(31:00):
official objection um against tail docking, which is when they
amputate you know, the tails, so you have a little nub.
It's such as tails, ears cropping. Yeah. Um, there's a
lot of breeds that have these unnatural attributes that you
have to perform surgery on to get, which is counterintuitive
(31:20):
because you're talking about the idealized version of a breed.
Why would you have to take some sort of technological
step to to reach that ideal version? Like if it
doesn't happen naturally, it seems really awful. Yeah it does
to me too, But I mean I don't even declaude
my cats, so the way to go, that's the way
I But I've got crap all over my house. It's
(31:40):
cat scratched. But yeah, but the time, you know, Holly
Fry of pop Stuff, she was talking about how, um
she lets her cats play on their iPad really and
I was like, you must have a serious scratch card
because there's like cat playing apps on iPad um And
she's like, well, I don't think we have a scratch card. Well,
(32:01):
when cats play around like that, they usually don't have
the claws out. They're usually just pawing around, you would hope.
But yeah, I wouldn't put one on my bed, no way. Um.
I put on the little sticky things they have, like
clear tap pets that you put on like your couch arm,
and those are unsightly in collect hair and dust and
just one of the things. If you're an animal owner
(32:22):
with five animals in your house, it's hard to not
live with some hair. Do you have a rumba? Yeah,
you should probably get a rumba. It might change your life. Yeah.
I'm in love with my vacuum cleaner, so I feel
like that would be cheating on LuxI nice. Yeah, okay,
(32:44):
so what else was there? Oh? Joanah Goldberg had some
words about breeding, especially with the A k C. He
compares it to eugenics. Yeah. In fact, he thought it
spurred the eugenics movement. Yeah, and we're like, oh wow,
we have really great dog and um uh, we should
do this with humans. I'm tired of people with epilepsy.
(33:06):
Let's just get rid of them. And of course you
can go back and read or listen to um is
it Legal to Sterilized Addicts? Basically was all about eugenics. Um.
He also contends, and not really contends, it's pretty obvious
that it's a beauty pageant. They're focusing on these physical
attributes and um, only the aesthetic matters. In his opinion,
(33:30):
and that's not something he says. You know what, if
you want to judge a hunting dog, take it out hunting,
right and see how it does there. Because these jogs
that these jogs, these dogs have jobs. You know, most
dogs do have a job of some sort and let's
see how they do in their job. Yeah, like that's
how you would truly appreciate a breed, not just its looks.
And um, you mentioned u K's crufts. The England England's
(33:56):
Kennel Club runs crufts, um, and they do have it
of agility and stuff like that. Apparently they're criticized for
going too far the other way that they need to
bring back more confirmation conformation. Um. But yeah, if you
if you go to England and you're into dogs, you're
gonna be very surprised because they're they're big show doesn't
look anything like ours. Yeah, those are the well we'll
(34:20):
get into agility trials. But is that what they have
in there where you're running between the you're bobbing and
weaving and going through the tunnels and obedient stuff too.
And the a k C has these things that's just
not part of the big one, the Westminster show right, Um,
but Chuck. You would also probably appreciate England's Kennel Club,
maybe more than the a k C, because they have
(34:41):
something called Scruffs. Yeah. I want to see this televised.
It's it's basically the Crufts for crossberry dogs, non pure
bred dogs, and it's just adorable that they have this
and they welcome anything pretty much. Yeah. I mean, obviously
you have to have your dog trained. You can't just
walk up off the street, but as far a breeds go,
you can enter your dog. The criteria are pretty wide open,
(35:05):
and they just look for good temperament, good health, and
good character, which I like. Yeah. So um, we talked
about agility trials. These are sometimes separate competitions altogether, and then,
like you said, in England incorporated into the best in Show.
And that's whether they're basically doing like a little obstacle course,
(35:26):
which is adorable off leash. I mean, did you see
this picture. That's the cutest picture ever in this article
how dog shows work. Yeah, it's it's just a little
terrier jumping over like a little post and he's got
this look in his face like I'm gonna do it.
He is gonna do it. He's got his tail up man.
That's a cute picture. And then obedience trials are basically
(35:48):
taking commands from the handler, like you know, you've got
to be listening some of the commands or just uh
vocal some of them. You can't speak at all, and
you're just using hand gestures and they're just seeing how
well trained your dog is. Right, Um, yeah, that the
dog can become the champion, which is the national obedience Champion,
(36:10):
which has got to be kind of a dubious honor
among dogs, like you're the most obedient dog in all
the land. It's kind of like, um, Kurt Russell when
he was like the star of Disney movies. It's like, yeah,
you're a movie star, but you're also like this, you know,
clean cut teen. But even he distanced himself later he's like, no,
I'm badder than this. I'm snay. Probably forgot about those
(36:34):
early movies. Those were awesome. That was a big fan
of us. What was it the the kid with two
white shoes or something like that. They were really like vanilla. Yeah,
they were pretty vanilla. Um. So over the years, Uh,
we have a few little stats. The breed that has
won the most the Fox Terrier thirteen times, not bad um.
(36:57):
The dog that has won the most was Champion Warren Remedy.
It was a fox terrier who won three times in
a row in the early nineteen hundreds, so that's pretty good.
My favorites. The oldest dog to win the eight year
old Papillon who won Champion Low Ticky Supernatural Being, and
(37:22):
the youngest ever was a rough Collige named Longed Loyalty
of belle Haven and one on its ninth nine month birthday.
It's pretty young. Makes Bro look like an idiot. Bro
is an idiot. He's level though. I guess it's about
it right. Yeah, I'm gonna watch this year. I'm gonna
(37:43):
It's appointment TV for for me. Now good, that is good.
I think you'll like it. And then you go on
to Twitter and register your anger or your happiness at
the winner. I will do so. Maybe all live tweet.
Your tones are gonna hurt. I gotta get her Twitter
log in. I don't even know it. Well, you're the
Twitter or master. I just leave that to you. I will,
I will. I'll email it to you. Okay. And by
(38:05):
the way, our Twitter handle is s y s K podcast. Okay,
So Chuck. If anybody wants to learn more about best
in Show and dog shows. Um, and to see this
adorable picture of this terrier jumping in mid air. Man,
it's a cute picture. You can type in dog shows
in the search bar at how stuff works dot com.
And since I said search bar in there, I imagine
(38:27):
it's time for listener mail. But first, Chuck, I feel
like we should wish everybody a happy new year. Yeah.
I hope you had a great two thousand twelve. And
if it wasn't great, here's the better days. I had,
very nice, very nice, Chuck, um, and I want to
wish a very very happy birthday to my sweet and
wonderful wife. You me. Happy birthday, baby, Happy birthday nights.
It's very sweet. Okay listener mail, huh okay, all right, Josh,
(38:53):
I'm gonna call this crying during music. Um, and this
is from Angela and Columbus, Ohio. There just ta coup buck, guys,
My family, my family would who's blue? Oh ho ho?
Talk words? All right, guys. Listening to Chuck talk about
(39:14):
his experience at Carnegie Hall made me want to share
this story. I heard a story one day about a
new musical based on a book Wicked, and I know
we all know this musical now about the Wizard of
oz Um. I had a soundtrack for about a year
before I saw it, and I found out there was
a Broadway Across America tour coming to Columbis, Ohio. My
husband and I bought tickets, went with a group of friends.
(39:36):
I have been listening to the soundtrack for about a year.
As I said, so I was really excited. So I'm
watching the show, really enjoying it, getting swept up in
the stage production and the acting. The music was better
than I even thought it could be. And when they
hit the main song, Defying Gravity, sung by Adina Menzel
on the soundtrack, that's when had happened. I had a
chuck moment, broke down, sobbing like a little baby. If
(39:59):
I call it, I love it. I mean, I'm sensitive,
but that's a pretty hilarious. I'm all right, I'm leaping. Uh.
The song itself is incredibly moving overall. There's a point
in the middle where there's a break from the action.
Before she hits the third verse, she says a few lines,
turns the last line into this incredibly cathartic note, and
takes off in flight. Sitting here, remember it, I'm actually
(40:19):
choking up. Uh. And that's where I could no longer
control myself all through the third verse, sobbing, uncontrollably loud,
gasping sobs. Both my husband and my brother in law
offered me comfort, but I could not control myself. I
cried at the end of the song and the house
lights were coming up for an intermission. Uh. My husband
gave me a hug, not really knowing why I was
so moved, and I still can't say why. I was
(40:42):
a mess and incredibly embarrassed. But it was a beautiful
moment for this touching character speaks to me. PS, and
that's from Angela and Columbus. PS. I feel a sense
of strengthen. Catharsis also currently while listening to Shake it
Out by Lawence in the machine. Huh. Well those scific email. Yeah,
thanks for sharing your story. What was that person's name? Angela?
(41:04):
Thanks a lot, Angela. We appreciate that. That's pretty cool. Um,
so what do you want to say? I don't know
dog show stories? What do you what do you think? Yeah? Sure,
dog show stories it is. Uh. If you wanna get
in touch with us about your dog show story, you
can tweet to us. Remember it's s y SK podcast,
(41:26):
and of course we're on Facebook, Facebook dot com, slash
stuff you should know, and you can send us a
good old fashion email. Uh to Stuff Podcast at Discovery
dot com for more on this and thousands of other topics.
Is it how Stuff Works dot com
Welcome to Stuff you Should Know from House Stuff Works
dot Com. I think that it in't it d D
D D. Hey hey this is unusual, but um, I
feel like we plug other people's stuff so often. Let's
take some time and plug our TV show, our television show.
(00:23):
People like again, yeah we know. Yeah, Well, then by
now you know that it's gonna premiere at ten pm
Eastern Standard Time on Science Channel at ten pm, Episode
one at ten thirty pm. Episode two falls right behind it.
Two back to back episodes of Stuff you Should Know,
the TV show where we play ourselves ourselves. That's right,
(00:45):
and it is premiering after the season three premiere, or
if you're from England, series three premiere of Idie Abroad
with Carl Pilkington Wicket your base and uh, it's a
great lead and we're really happy because it's an awesome show.
And if you don't have TV or cable, you can
actually purchase our show now on iTunes after the premier date.
(01:07):
That's right. Every every time a new episode comes out
the next day, it'll be up for sale on iTunes
for buck ninety nine. And Science Channel is so cool
they're making the first available show for free the premiere
not for none money, and we think you're gonna like it.
If you don't, let us know. If you do, let
us know. But we had a good time making it.
We got the whole first season done and we're rolling
(01:29):
them out starting January night. That's right. We appreciate your support. Okay,
on with it, roup, Hey, and welcome to the podcast.
I'm Josh Clark. With me is always as Charles W.
Chuck Bryant, and that makes this step. You should have
the podcast. Indeed, about dogs my favorite topic. Yeah, that's
(01:52):
one of them. What else? I don't know? Dogs. I'm
one of those people that like dogs more than many humans. Sure, so,
as you know, and so you know all the dog shows.
I'm not real big on I love watching dog shows, yeah,
I just I've never gotten into them. I know there's criticism,
there's controversy, but I don't care about that. I just
(02:14):
I'm kind of bard watching them. I never get bored.
It's almost like um watching fractal screensaver something. It sucks
me into that level of like just zoned altitude? Is
it point? Is it appointment television for you? Like? Do
you make a point every February something? I think I
(02:34):
think last year it was Valentine's Day. Yeah, okay, it's
early February. Yeah. Last year when a little Pekinese one
name Maliki, I think I remember seeing that dog. Look
at that dog, it's basis beyond cute. Look at that hair.
So apparently, UM, if you want to blow up the
(02:56):
Twitter verse with angry tweets, you can um talk politics,
you can talk religion, or you can hold the Westminster
Dog Show and selective best in show. People get pretty upset. Man,
people went crazy last year. So like, um, what like
you commenting or just in the Twitter universe people on Twitter. Yeah, no,
(03:17):
I'm just a fan. I don't I don't show no,
no no. UM. I live tweet very infrequently. It's it's
tough on the thumbs. Um. But so MALICKI this little
cute four year old Pekinese um one best in show
and um people were really mad. They called it a
mop becausin it Haraldo Riverez mustache a wookie snooky for
(03:44):
some reason, maybe just because it rhymes with wookie and
that's what they were going for. And they had just
been watching Jersey Shore. Who knows, Um, But Maliki is
no slouch. Um they had one a hundred and fourteen
Best in Show Awards. Wow, only four years old, so
this thing's been mopping up the competition. Oh man, I
(04:05):
just made myself shiver. But people are crazy, they they
One guy said he was a fan of the m Dalmatian.
He said, I'm done with these dog shows, and I
think that happens every year show exactly. There's a lot
of people who feel very passionately about dog shows. There's
plenty of people like me who love to just zone
out and watch them. Um. And then you know, there's
(04:26):
people who just don't know anything about them. And that's
what we're here for today, to explain everything there is
to know about how dog shows work. That's right, and
this will either be really interesting to you or you
made just zone out like Josh does watching the Westminster Show.
You know though, UM, I don't think we've ever released
an uninteresting episode. Maybe they have uninteresting titles, but you
(04:48):
go on and you listen to it, it will interest you.
I defy you right now. Step you should know listeners
who haven't listened to every single episode, So we'll call
you the twenty percent um to go out and find
an episode that sound boring in the title that you've
not heard and listened to it, and I guarantee you
you will find it interesting. It's the it's just the
(05:09):
thing one comes to mind. College football rankings interesting to me.
But boy, our listeners are not into college football. But
was it for the most part boring? Was it really
not interesting? There's nothing interesting in there. I think if
you're not into sports at all, then it was probably
really boring. But um, well we'll avoid that one or
(05:30):
the guarantee is void. But hey, if you're into sports,
you'll love it. No. I think on the other end,
if you're into sports, it was like, will you guys
mess this up? Or you forgot this? Yeah? Oh and hey,
by the way, congratulations we are now an award winning podcast.
We got a stitchy. Is that what they're called? That's
what I made up. Mark Marin had to call our names.
(05:51):
He hosted these Stitcher awards last night. Yeah, he won
one himself for the best Episode. Yeah, we were nominated
for that too, for we were one that I didn't
think was ten Accidental Intervention. I mean, that was okay,
but I would have picked a different best episode. I
think it was the sacrament bit that really led us
into that on the toast. Yeah, um, okay, So anyway,
(06:13):
dog shows, Yeah, um, conformation shows, not firmation c O
n f O R are what we're gonna talk about
for most of the show, and that is pure bred
dogs competing against other pure bred dogs almost exclusively based
on physical attributes. Yeah, that's the Westminster Dog Show that
(06:36):
you see every year at Madison Square Garden. Yes. Um,
it's just yeah, what the dog looks like, and um,
basically it's appearance, its body structure, and then to a
lesser extent um, it's dude. Yeah, it's attitude, it's a
character because that also what they're trying to do here.
If you've ever watched a part of this and I
(06:58):
love that this Uh who wrote this one? Jay McGrath,
oh old Jane, I remember her? Uh she wrote that,
have you ever been channel surfing and come across one?
I feel like a lot of people that is their
entrance into the dog show world is they're flipping it
around in February. They go, oh, yeah, that thing where
the Christopher Guest movie mocked. I'll watch a few minutes
(07:22):
of that and I've done that, and I've always been
like I don't get it. How are they judging these
other dogs against each other? It's a very good question,
and we're here to tell you how. Yeah, because you
know you this little Pekinese went up against things like
Great Danes and Dalmatians and Doberman's and all that, and
it's still beat them all. And the way it did
that is how they judge any kind of confirmation show.
(07:44):
They judge the dog by the standards of its breed,
and then the dog that most closely fits those idealized
standards wins these very specific registered I'm gonna say registered standards. Yeah,
it's so. Let me give you an example. I was
looking this up. There's a the in the a k
C has developed these standards from information taken from breeders
(08:08):
and um they for example, the Lakeland Terrier. UM. One
of the standards is its attitude right, and it has
the Lakeland Terrier has quote a bowl gay and friendly
with the confident cock of the walk attitude. So this
this is the kind of thing that the a k C. Yeah,
basically I love that. Uh. In England they have different standards.
(08:33):
That's the American Kennel Club and they have a different
show called Crufts c c R you f T s
UM and there's just a little bit different, but we'll
get to that later. Yeah, we'll talk about that in
a little bit. For the most part, we're focused on
Westminster in the a k c. So, in addition to attitude,
character traits UM, there's all those physical traits that the
(08:55):
a k c UM has maintained on each breed. So
for example, allans and not how well the dog stands up,
although the gate is important. If you're talking like falls over,
that's probably a bad sign. But yeah, it's yeah, it's
not gonna win this year. Um. Balance is what we
would call symmetry for humans. It's you know, the overall
(09:16):
proportions of its shape and size. Yeah, like that Scottish
terrier is really pretty, except boy, look at those ears.
The size of its butt. Yeah you're out, sorry, Scotty.
Uh wait size eyes and again eyes is size and
shape and color. If you've got that one, wonky, I
forget about it unless you're an Australian shepherd. Yeah they are.
(09:37):
They supposed to have one. I think they're supposed to
have a blue and a brown and blue and a brown.
Everyone I've seen has But what does the a case say,
I don't know, they don't care what she loves like
you When I think the head shape, of course, ears, muzzle, whiskers,
thickness of whiskers is an important one. Really, Yeah, I
(09:58):
would think they'd be an indicator of of poor health.
What that bad whiskers? Thin whiskers, riddle whiskers. I think
you you want nice stout whiskers like uh, it's centimeter
thick each. Okay, that's probably the standard for any breed.
This is the j K c uh teeth. You always
(10:19):
see what them checking out the teeth. Um. You don't
want any kind of weird scissor bite or ah. I
guess certain breeds have the underbyte. Yeah, a lot of
them do the breaky old CARDI yeah, our own Jerry's dog, Charlie,
I recently learned as a bit of a little underbite,
and sometimes the lip will get hung and the little
(10:42):
bottom teeth are just kind of jetted out there. It's
it's very cute. You want to go over and like
adjust the lip, so here you go. Yeah. I like
dogs that have like teeth sticking like cheese us. Yeah,
boxers too, write boxers, um pugs, Pekinese. Oh, did one. Yeah,
they all have that. It's it's like brachial cardi. It's
(11:04):
like anything with a smushed face usually has an underbyte
as well. Uh teeth, all right, we just had teeth tail,
I mean, um, shoulders, and these these dudes are feeling.
These judges are feeling these dogs as well, like muscle
and bone, like they're trying to get under the fur
to judge these things. So one of the big things
(11:25):
your dog has to learn very early on is to
let strangers feel him up. Yeah, in all sorts of
uncomfortable places. Yeah, you don't want your dogs snapping at
this guy when he fondles your dog. And if your
dog snaps at the judge and then falls over, just
just go home. It's all over. What did they say
invest in show when the dog broke his gate? The
one guy, So he might as well just taken a
(11:47):
dump right there on the floor. So yeah, Michael McKeen
said that he's awesome. Um. And then of course there's
coat lengthen texture and color, and very much like thoroughbred horses,
there's accepted colors for each breeze. You the dog that's
blue and it's supposed to be a golden retriever, you
got problems. Yeah, if you got a blue retriever, you
have many problems. Although you could probably make some money
(12:08):
taking it around the country taking an old timey circus.
Where you can't make money is by winning the Westminster
Dog Show. Yeah, that's a good point. You would think
that these these things offer like big cash prizes, but
they don't. It is really about prestige and being one
of those dog show people like you know, wearing that
ribbon and getting that trophy, wearing sensible shoes and you know,
(12:33):
learning to walk very fast. That's right, because your gate
matters is a human, you know. So you put all
this together, right, and these these judges know the standards
for the breeds, and when they're looking at this these dogs,
they're saying, they're matching it up to their uh mental
catalogs they have um and then the ones that most
(12:54):
closely match the idealized version of their breed, like we said, wins.
And that's how you get the the little you know,
loss of ops or the Pekinese that can beat out
like a Great Dane or a German shepherd or something
like that. That's how they compare them. Yeah, and that's
only been going on since I say only since nineteen
o seven, um, previous to that, And this has been
(13:14):
going on at Madison Square Garden uh In in in New
York City since eighteen seventy seven. Time, they didn't have
a best in show at all until nineteen o seven
because they said, you know, how do we codify this right?
And they did. They figured it out and it's really
Jane says, it sounds confusing, but once I spell it out,
(13:35):
it's simple. But it's still a little confusing. Yeah, it
took me a couple of times to to figure this out.
There's just a lot of stuffs. She does a great
job of explaining, and it's just there's a lot to it.
So you wanna you wanna explain this to the Westminster
Dog Show. We should say is the pinnacle, the peak
in the United States for any dog, But there's a
long road ahead of it, like we said, now, like, hey,
(13:56):
the winner of two thousand twelve show had a hundred
teen best in shows under its belt. Yeah, and Jane
called it the super Bowl. I would say it's more
like an All Star Game if the All Star Game
counted for something, you know, because it's all these all
stars from the different breeds, from all these shows making
this final It's like the Little League World Series for dogs. Great,
(14:22):
it's like the Chess. It's like Bobby what's his face?
Fisher almost said Bobby Riggs and liked story. Who Bobby Riggs?
Bobby Fisher? Oh yeah, did you ever see Searching for
Bobby Fisher? It did? It was great movie. Here's back. Uh.
And then you know, of course, um that song One
(14:43):
Night in Bangkok. Yeah, it's from a Broadway show and
I can't remember what the Broadway show is, but it
was based on Bobby Fisher in his life and now
he moved to Asian and just evolved in the manus.
That song is about Bobby Fisher, and that was from
a Broadway show as far as I know. Yes, And
then the pop vision was just re recorded by whoever
that was, possibly by the original composers, but for the radio.
(15:07):
I thought One Night in Bangkok was about you would
think never mind, I was gonna bring up all you
had to do? Is this in there? Yeah? Who was
Gary Glitter? That's what I was thinking. Yeah, I don't
think so. I think he got in trouble in Bangkok.
If you know what I mean he did, and he
recently got in trouble with the whole Jimmy Saville. He
(15:29):
was part of that too, apparently, gross Man. What a
sidetrack that was? So? Um Okay, to be a champion, right,
this is what a dog games for is to be
a champion. That's right, Because if you're a champion, you
um get to add c H as a prefix to
your name. Yeah, like I would be c H. Then
(15:49):
Chuck if I were a champion dog, yeah, you'd beat you, Chuck, Chuck.
All right, So let's walk everyone through this, right, all right.
To be a champion, you gotta get compile a certain
number of points, uh. And you earn these points at
different dog show competitions around the country that are not
the Westminster show. Yeah, and from different judges. Right, you
(16:11):
gotta get at least fifteen points from three different judges
or at least two major wins from separate judges. And
a major win, uh is one where you can earn three,
four or five points, And that's when you can get
the right as a champion just for that little show though, right,
or no, for the compilation of those shows. Right. So um,
(16:32):
when you get this, uh, when you get to become
a champion. Um when you have I think it's fifteen
points and two major wins from separate judges. Yes, you're right, Um,
you you get to this point. Also, like you said,
it's not Westminster, it's these little specialty shows. And I
don't mean little to diminish and I'm just saying compared
to Westminster, they're much smaller. It's not on ESPN and
(16:53):
there's specialty shows. Well, it's on the Oh Chow, I'll
bet um it's the specialty shows are based on UM
specific breeds, so you'll go to like the Chuhaha Show
or um the Lakeland Terrier Show. Uh. And the dogs
are separated between male and female and we can say
(17:15):
the B word in this one because that's what it's called.
That's my new band name, by the way, what winner's bitch? Okay?
Um and Uh they're the males and the females. Are
then separated into six different classes. You've got the puppy class,
the twelve eighteen month old class novice, so those are
(17:36):
dogs that are UM six months or older that haven't
won any point yet, haven't won any first place prizes,
so they can be a little older. But there's still
rookies as far as the competition stage goes, right, and
six months is the minimum age to compete in an
A k C show. Yeah, below that, you're just there's
no way. Yeah, they're too dumb to unpredictable. Um. Bread
(17:57):
by exhibitor is a class of dogs where the person
showing the dog is also the breeder. The breeder, by
the way, is the owner of the dog's mother. Right. Um,
there's American bread, which is any dog born in the
US USA. UM. And then there's open the open classes
open to any dog. And this is the only class
that any dog that's already become a champion can compete in.
(18:20):
In the specialty show, oh they are Yeah, that's the
only class open to that. Because they could just mop
up all the other classes. They have to face any
takers in the open class, it's a good way to
put it. So they divide it up by male and female.
The males go first, and they, you know, inspect all
the males as they do it any of the shows.
You know what that means. Finally, you give them the
(18:42):
award ribbons first through fourth place, and you don't get
any points at this point though. The first place. Winners
of the male class have to compete for the winner's dog.
The female's class compete for winners bitch. You want to
say it, I've said it twice now I don't want
to say I find it difficult to say. Really, it's
just the connotations are sure. You know, I've never used
(19:03):
that word, uh in like anger about someone that's it's
a it's a very rough it's yeah, And I don't don't.
I don't think that makes me a good person or anything.
But there's just a couple of things that like I
wouldn't call my worst enemy, and that's one of them. Gotcha,
I don't have any enemies. What am I talking about?
So you've got the winner's dog in the winner's bitch,
(19:27):
um and uh this is this is the point where
they start um winning awards point points. I mean, I'm sorry. Um,
So this is all all these different dogs have been
weeded out by the different classes and then there there
you've got the out of all these six classes of
the male cad male version, in the female version, you
have winners, right, and then there's uh so this is
(19:49):
where the points start being awarded. Then there's chances for
more points in the same show. Um, any champion can
come along and take the winners on for um best
in show or best in breed. Yes, and you can,
and you compile extra points depending on how many dogs
they beat out. So if you beat out a bunch
of more dogs, you can turn up to five points. Right,
(20:10):
five is the most. And remember a major wins three
or four or five points in a win. Yes, okay, Um,
so you can win some by being the winner's dog
or the winner's bitch. You can, Um, the champions can
take those guys on in the best of breed and
then um, between those two, the winner's bitch and the winner, um,
winner's dog, there's another walk off I guess, and um
(20:34):
they can win point to ever be two. And then
there's the best of opposite sex. Yeah, that was the
best of winners, and then the best of opposite sex,
which it says the best dog of the opposite sex
of the best of breed. Yes, So whichever dog, whether
it's the winner's dog, the winner's bitch, or any champion
that took him on, and one the best of breed,
say that's a male that wins. Then there's another category
(20:57):
for the winners. That's females or vice versa, the opposite
best of opposite. Basically, it's like, we got all these
points sitting around, let's let's get rid of some good point.
Or or it's like, did you ever go to camp
and like run a race but ran terribly, but you
still got a ribbon that just said participant. Maybe it's
(21:18):
like that. That's like every race I ever rand the
same here. Basically I had a trophy once that just
it was a sad face. Really Yeah, there's a baseball
bat was kind of sitting at the foot of the
kid with his head hung down frowning. Yeah. I played
church sports, so we didn't. Uh, they didn't do a
lot of trophies, even in church leagues. Like the ultimate
(21:38):
victor of the church we got a trophy, but they
weren't big on like ribbons and trophies. The ultimate victor
of the church league, I would imagine, is salvation. Yea,
we all won, Okay, so then you've got your best
of breed winner and then that dog can then advance
to a group show where all these best of breed
winners compete a K A or a K see Westminster. Right.
(22:02):
So um, to make that point when you are at
a specialty show and you're aiming for Westminster, which I
imagine every dog there is. You want to win best
of Breed. You can win points and become a champion
through winning other stuff like best of Opposite Sex, best
of Winners, winners, dog winners, bitch right, But to move
(22:22):
on to the next level, you have to win best
of Breed of that show, and you have to win
a bunch. I imagine that's right. And at this point
half of our listeners are delighted in half their eyes
are rolling back into their head. Man, we just explain
the heck out of that. Um. So we're at Best
in Show, the movie that's such a good movie. If
(22:45):
you've not seen Best in Show, that Christopher Guest film, uh,
just go out and see it right now. Just stop.
I think it's streaming right now. I'm sure it is. Yeah,
it's really good. It's hard to pick out a favorite
part of that movie. But the scene that always pops
up to me when Parker Pozzy is trying to get
her replacement was it a b A little stuffed animal?
(23:11):
She can't find it, and the guys trying to help her.
He's like, well this is yellow and black and it
was like a parrot or something. I can't remember at all.
But she's just like my hero and that's great. She's
very good. Alright. So, um, a little bit on the
a k C. There are several hundred dog breeds in
the world, but the a k C only recognizes a
little over one, that's it. And they separate those into groups.
(23:37):
And yeah, the AKC loves categorizing, breaking putting dogs into
categories and breaking them down and then putting them into
new categories. Yeah, and that's what they do here. And
the poor dogs just like what you can have to treat,
can get a bacon strip or squirrel. Um. Okay, sporting
dogs this one, um, obviously these are dogs that are
good for hunting, pointers, retrievers, setters, and s annials. Yeah,
(24:01):
that's a good dogs. Great dogs. Um hounds, beagles, bloodhounds,
docks ands. I like hounds except for the baying, the howling,
the how oh my god, yeah a beagle of you
never heard like a beagle? No, I never had a
bag that much. They are loud and insistent, really super
cute puppies though, possibly the cutest puppies of any breed
(24:21):
I think. Yeah, those and Oh man, what's the one
I'm thinking of? A little puff balls? It's a it's
an Asian dog, the little puff balls Maltese. No, like,
is it a little dog in the end? Yeah, but
like the puppies are little puff balls and they stay
a little stay stay puff balls like Pomeranian. Yes, yeah,
(24:41):
those are pretty cute puppies. They don't even look real.
It looks like they don't squeeze them. It should make
a little noise they do, they do. Yeah, you don't
want to do that, okay. Um, working dogs, we're talking
Great Dame's Rottweiler St. Bernard's dogs who are hardy and
they even you know, are used as working dogs like
searching rescue stuff like that. Um. And then there's terriers
(25:03):
that chase rats. Did they maybe even fight? Um? Um
cobra or two? Uh? Those are um little Schnauzers Scottish
Terriers also known as Scottie's bull Terriers, which you would
recognize as spuds mackenzie. Yeah, man, those things are weird looking.
My buddy Clay just got a giant Schnauzer big Well.
(25:26):
This thing is like six months old and he's already
as big as my biggest dog. He's like, just wait
till you see his name is Bro. He's like, what
do you see Bro? At the end of this, he's
going to be enormous. How how big is he expected
to get? Wait wise, I don't know, but really big.
He's awesome, very very fun dog. Just like for a
dog to be that young and that big, they don't
(25:46):
have control of their limbs yet. So Bro would just
go running downstairs and just like face plant and then
get up and you know with the happiest expression behind
his little eyes that you can see that there. Um
what else? Toy dogs? Yeah, johuahua's, poodles, pugs and how
you pronounced it? I always said shitsu was it? She's
she's she's non sporting dogs. I guess these are the intellects.
(26:10):
This is a catch all breed um when you don't
have unifying characteristics, which is kind of sad. The one
unifying characteristic is these dogs don't play. They don't play bulldogs,
Dalmatians and the American Eskimo dog, which I've never heard of. Yeah,
it's basically like, we don't know what to do with
you guys, so we're gonna put you in the non
sporting dog, and then two more hurting dogs like Australian
(26:32):
shepherds and uh miscellaneous. So remember we said that the
AKC likes to classify dogs, and there's more breeds than
it recognizes. This is a group that they you can't
win points, you can't win any major awards, I believe.
But if there's a breed that's starting to get more attention,
there's more people breeding it. It's like part of the
(26:54):
process of becoming recognized. You you start out in the
miscellaneous group, so that's pre recognition almost cheeze. Yeah, hey man,
these people are keeping track of like the dog's cock
shured nous. I mean, they're there. They pay attention to details, alright,
So the best of breeds in each of the group
(27:15):
are gonna compete in the group show and then if
you win that group show, then you compete in the
Ultimate I think we skipped that part, which is the
All Breed Show, and that's the All Star Game, the
super Bowl, that's Westminster, the chess match, the Bobby Riggs
versus uh Billy gene King. That's when a that's when
a judge goes through each of these groups and picks
(27:39):
out the best, right, Um, seven groups because the eight
can't win. And UM, they basically go through and say
you're number one, you're number two, you're number three, and
number four, and all of a sudden that number one
is the best in show, and the controversy erupts, Twitter
goes crazy. I'm gonna have to pay attention this year.
(28:00):
It's yeah, it's fun to watch. Yeah, I've never watched
it where I was like tense, but you know, I've
been like, oh, that's great, or oh really that's that's
that's nothing. I'm sure you find yourself rooting for certain
dogs though. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, there's always a dog. There's
always at least one if they capture where you're just like,
I like that dog. Uh. All right, let's talk about
(28:22):
the criticism of dog shows, because there's definitely plenty. Yeah there,
it's out there. Um. One of the problems that certain
groups have is that when you're talking pure bred dogs,
you're talking about breeding, and UM, myself and many others
are against dog breeding because there's plenty of dogs out
there for the taking, but they they're mutts, that's the
(28:47):
look of um. So breeders basically breed these dogs to
acquire these or to at least hold onto these attributes,
and that means in breeding sometimes and that means shorter lives,
fans and disease and defects, birth effects like Dalmatians tend
to suffer from blindness and German shepherds suffer from hip dysplasia,
(29:09):
and these these traits have become associated with the breed,
these standards of the breed that the AKC maintains. And
it's kind of like, well, yeah, but if you if
you want to have a dog that meets all these
other criteria, it's also gonna get displasia when it's sticks.
And it's just part of in breeding. It's narrowing of
the gene pool. And I've definitely noticed and this isn't
(29:29):
of course, but all the dogs and people have known
who had dogs throughout the years, I've noticed more pure
bred dogs dying younger than the MUDs. Well, supposedly they
have a weaker immune system. Like remember I don't remember
what episode it was, but we were talking about that
experiment that UM people sent. People use scents to detect
(29:53):
an immune system different from yours. Because when you put
together your immune system and somebody else's immune system for reproduction,
the kids should have a doubly great immune system. That
was a long time ago. I remember that, Yeah, it was.
I don't remember what episode it was, maybe so yeah. Um,
so remember a few minutes ago we were talking about
(30:15):
the miscellaneous category can eventually earn you status as an
officially recognized breed UM. The American Border Collie Association the
a b C a I really didn't want their dog
to become recognized by the a k C because they
thought that meant well, once it's an official breed, then
that means breeding will become more intense and these dogs,
(30:38):
you know, will suffer from all these things that we
just told you about. Yeah, they specifically petition with the
case don't recognize, don't recognize us, and a case said,
we're going to recognize. I don't think it was maliciously,
but they're like, this is what we do, and we're
going to recognize this dogg it's a breed. Now. They
were like, had you not asked, we wouldn't know, but
you did so. Uh. And pets also file um an
(31:00):
official objection um against tail docking, which is when they
amputate you know, the tails, so you have a little nub.
It's such as tails, ears cropping. Yeah. Um, there's a
lot of breeds that have these unnatural attributes that you
have to perform surgery on to get, which is counterintuitive
(31:20):
because you're talking about the idealized version of a breed.
Why would you have to take some sort of technological
step to to reach that ideal version? Like if it
doesn't happen naturally, it seems really awful. Yeah it does
to me too, But I mean I don't even declaude
my cats, so the way to go, that's the way
I But I've got crap all over my house. It's
(31:40):
cat scratched. But yeah, but the time, you know, Holly
Fry of pop Stuff, she was talking about how, um
she lets her cats play on their iPad really and
I was like, you must have a serious scratch card
because there's like cat playing apps on iPad um And
she's like, well, I don't think we have a scratch card. Well,
(32:01):
when cats play around like that, they usually don't have
the claws out. They're usually just pawing around, you would hope.
But yeah, I wouldn't put one on my bed, no way. Um.
I put on the little sticky things they have, like
clear tap pets that you put on like your couch arm,
and those are unsightly in collect hair and dust and
just one of the things. If you're an animal owner
(32:22):
with five animals in your house, it's hard to not
live with some hair. Do you have a rumba? Yeah,
you should probably get a rumba. It might change your life. Yeah.
I'm in love with my vacuum cleaner, so I feel
like that would be cheating on LuxI nice. Yeah, okay,
(32:44):
so what else was there? Oh? Joanah Goldberg had some
words about breeding, especially with the A k C. He
compares it to eugenics. Yeah. In fact, he thought it
spurred the eugenics movement. Yeah, and we're like, oh wow,
we have really great dog and um uh, we should
do this with humans. I'm tired of people with epilepsy.
(33:06):
Let's just get rid of them. And of course you
can go back and read or listen to um is
it Legal to Sterilized Addicts? Basically was all about eugenics. Um.
He also contends, and not really contends, it's pretty obvious
that it's a beauty pageant. They're focusing on these physical
attributes and um, only the aesthetic matters. In his opinion,
(33:30):
and that's not something he says. You know what, if
you want to judge a hunting dog, take it out hunting,
right and see how it does there. Because these jogs
that these jogs, these dogs have jobs. You know, most
dogs do have a job of some sort and let's
see how they do in their job. Yeah, like that's
how you would truly appreciate a breed, not just its looks.
And um, you mentioned u K's crufts. The England England's
(33:56):
Kennel Club runs crufts, um, and they do have it
of agility and stuff like that. Apparently they're criticized for
going too far the other way that they need to
bring back more confirmation conformation. Um. But yeah, if you
if you go to England and you're into dogs, you're
gonna be very surprised because they're they're big show doesn't
look anything like ours. Yeah, those are the well we'll
(34:20):
get into agility trials. But is that what they have
in there where you're running between the you're bobbing and
weaving and going through the tunnels and obedient stuff too.
And the a k C has these things that's just
not part of the big one, the Westminster show right, Um,
but Chuck. You would also probably appreciate England's Kennel Club,
maybe more than the a k C, because they have
(34:41):
something called Scruffs. Yeah. I want to see this televised.
It's it's basically the Crufts for crossberry dogs, non pure
bred dogs, and it's just adorable that they have this
and they welcome anything pretty much. Yeah. I mean, obviously
you have to have your dog trained. You can't just
walk up off the street, but as far a breeds go,
you can enter your dog. The criteria are pretty wide open,
(35:05):
and they just look for good temperament, good health, and
good character, which I like. Yeah. So um, we talked
about agility trials. These are sometimes separate competitions altogether, and then,
like you said, in England incorporated into the best in Show.
And that's whether they're basically doing like a little obstacle course,
(35:26):
which is adorable off leash. I mean, did you see
this picture. That's the cutest picture ever in this article
how dog shows work. Yeah, it's it's just a little
terrier jumping over like a little post and he's got
this look in his face like I'm gonna do it.
He is gonna do it. He's got his tail up man.
That's a cute picture. And then obedience trials are basically
(35:48):
taking commands from the handler, like you know, you've got
to be listening some of the commands or just uh
vocal some of them. You can't speak at all, and
you're just using hand gestures and they're just seeing how
well trained your dog is. Right, Um, yeah, that the
dog can become the champion, which is the national obedience Champion,
(36:10):
which has got to be kind of a dubious honor
among dogs, like you're the most obedient dog in all
the land. It's kind of like, um, Kurt Russell when
he was like the star of Disney movies. It's like, yeah,
you're a movie star, but you're also like this, you know,
clean cut teen. But even he distanced himself later he's like, no,
I'm badder than this. I'm snay. Probably forgot about those
(36:34):
early movies. Those were awesome. That was a big fan
of us. What was it the the kid with two
white shoes or something like that. They were really like vanilla. Yeah,
they were pretty vanilla. Um. So over the years, Uh,
we have a few little stats. The breed that has
won the most the Fox Terrier thirteen times, not bad um.
(36:57):
The dog that has won the most was Champion Warren Remedy.
It was a fox terrier who won three times in
a row in the early nineteen hundreds, so that's pretty good.
My favorites. The oldest dog to win the eight year
old Papillon who won Champion Low Ticky Supernatural Being, and
(37:22):
the youngest ever was a rough Collige named Longed Loyalty
of belle Haven and one on its ninth nine month birthday.
It's pretty young. Makes Bro look like an idiot. Bro
is an idiot. He's level though. I guess it's about
it right. Yeah, I'm gonna watch this year. I'm gonna
(37:43):
It's appointment TV for for me. Now good, that is good.
I think you'll like it. And then you go on
to Twitter and register your anger or your happiness at
the winner. I will do so. Maybe all live tweet.
Your tones are gonna hurt. I gotta get her Twitter
log in. I don't even know it. Well, you're the
Twitter or master. I just leave that to you. I will,
I will. I'll email it to you. Okay. And by
(38:05):
the way, our Twitter handle is s y s K podcast. Okay,
So Chuck. If anybody wants to learn more about best
in Show and dog shows. Um, and to see this
adorable picture of this terrier jumping in mid air. Man,
it's a cute picture. You can type in dog shows
in the search bar at how stuff works dot com.
And since I said search bar in there, I imagine
(38:27):
it's time for listener mail. But first, Chuck, I feel
like we should wish everybody a happy new year. Yeah.
I hope you had a great two thousand twelve. And
if it wasn't great, here's the better days. I had,
very nice, very nice, Chuck, um, and I want to
wish a very very happy birthday to my sweet and
wonderful wife. You me. Happy birthday, baby, Happy birthday nights.
It's very sweet. Okay listener mail, huh okay, all right, Josh,
(38:53):
I'm gonna call this crying during music. Um, and this
is from Angela and Columbus, Ohio. There just ta coup buck, guys,
My family, my family would who's blue? Oh ho ho?
Talk words? All right, guys. Listening to Chuck talk about
(39:14):
his experience at Carnegie Hall made me want to share
this story. I heard a story one day about a
new musical based on a book Wicked, and I know
we all know this musical now about the Wizard of
oz Um. I had a soundtrack for about a year
before I saw it, and I found out there was
a Broadway Across America tour coming to Columbis, Ohio. My
husband and I bought tickets, went with a group of friends.
(39:36):
I have been listening to the soundtrack for about a year.
As I said, so I was really excited. So I'm
watching the show, really enjoying it, getting swept up in
the stage production and the acting. The music was better
than I even thought it could be. And when they
hit the main song, Defying Gravity, sung by Adina Menzel
on the soundtrack, that's when had happened. I had a
chuck moment, broke down, sobbing like a little baby. If
(39:59):
I call it, I love it. I mean, I'm sensitive,
but that's a pretty hilarious. I'm all right, I'm leaping. Uh.
The song itself is incredibly moving overall. There's a point
in the middle where there's a break from the action.
Before she hits the third verse, she says a few lines,
turns the last line into this incredibly cathartic note, and
takes off in flight. Sitting here, remember it, I'm actually
(40:19):
choking up. Uh. And that's where I could no longer
control myself all through the third verse, sobbing, uncontrollably loud,
gasping sobs. Both my husband and my brother in law
offered me comfort, but I could not control myself. I
cried at the end of the song and the house
lights were coming up for an intermission. Uh. My husband
gave me a hug, not really knowing why I was
so moved, and I still can't say why. I was
(40:42):
a mess and incredibly embarrassed. But it was a beautiful
moment for this touching character speaks to me. PS, and
that's from Angela and Columbus. PS. I feel a sense
of strengthen. Catharsis also currently while listening to Shake it
Out by Lawence in the machine. Huh. Well those scific email. Yeah,
thanks for sharing your story. What was that person's name? Angela?
(41:04):
Thanks a lot, Angela. We appreciate that. That's pretty cool. Um,
so what do you want to say? I don't know
dog show stories? What do you what do you think? Yeah? Sure,
dog show stories it is. Uh. If you wanna get
in touch with us about your dog show story, you
can tweet to us. Remember it's s y SK podcast,
(41:26):
and of course we're on Facebook, Facebook dot com, slash
stuff you should know, and you can send us a
good old fashion email. Uh to Stuff Podcast at Discovery
dot com for more on this and thousands of other topics.
Is it how Stuff Works dot com
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