Dane Showing in the UK

By: Kris Kingsley

Dainoak Great Danes

Dog showing in the UK is a popular pastime, with thousands of exhibitors getting up at the crack of dawn every weekend to drive miles through traffic jams and countryside, heat waves or torrential rain, in the vain hopes that they may return home tired but victorious.

The Great Dane is numerically quite a popular breed, and indeed there are nine Great Dane Clubs in the UK which are mainly geographical, and amongst other things, hold shows regularly.

In the UK, all of the colours of Dane compete against each other. Fawn is by far the most popular and prolific colour of Great Dane. In recent years we have had several harlequin Champions, but far less common are Champions in brindle, black and blue. The reason for the brindle colour having less Champions is a mystery to me, as genetics and lines will often be the same breeding as their fawn counterparts. Harlequins, blacks and blues have become very popular in the last few years, and many more of these are seen at shows all over the country now than in previous years. In particular, blue seems to be a most popular colour amongst pet owners.

There is one show run by the Midland & West of England Great Dane Club per annum, which is known as "Colour Format". It is the only show per annum which is Judged on the Continental system, i.e. per colour. The Best Dog & Bitch per colour then compete at the end for Best In Show, and as it is such a novelty in the UK, it is always well attended!

There is no ear cropping in the UK, and foreign visitors are often surprised to see our Danes with a natural ear carriage.

The "Dog Press" is basically two newspapers, which are published weekly and have all sorts of useful and interesting news and articles, plus weekly columns for topical discussion. In addition to this, both have "Breed Notes" which are collated by a breed correspondent with all sorts of information specific to that breed. It is within these newspapers that all of the shows are advertised with details of how to obtain schedules should you want to enter, and also results and critiques from shows that have been judged previously. Certainly in my household there is always a rush to see the show reports and what each Judge has printed about my Danes wins. Most Judges only do a "write up" (critique) for the first and second placings in each class, and will mention the name of the dog that was placed third. No other details are printed of the other dogs who had competed in the class.

There are four main types of show in the UK, starting with the Exemption show, which is open to everybody with a Pedigree dog (except CC winners) and Mongrels or crossbreeds, and entries are taken on the day. These are often for charity, and are a fun day out for the family and involve classes for pedigree dogs, and also Novelty classes, Obedience and often Agility too. These prove an invaluable training ground for puppies, or young dogs who may have developed a problem in the show ring, or even bitches who may be coming back into the ring after having had a litter. These are the only shows where cross breeds or even pure bred dogs without registration papers may compete. There are typically only two Judges for an Exemption show, one for all of the Pedigree and/or handling classes, and one for the Novelty classes, which will often take place in a separate ring.

Limited shows are limited to the membership of a specific Club. The Clubs might be for all breeds within a geographic area, all breeds within one Group or simply one Breed. The nine Great Dane Clubs are each permitted to hold one Limited, one Open and one Championship show per annum. Dogs will be judged in separate classes to bitches, and all class winners, unbeaten in any other competition, can go forward to challenge for Best Dog or Bitch respectively. There will also be a reserve per sex. The Best Dog then challenges the Best Bitch for Best In Show. A Reserve BIS, and a Best Puppy In Show will also be awarded in the same format. The recent Midland & West of England Great Dane Club Limited show had an entry of 112 Great Danes, which gives some idea of their popularity and level of competition.

Open shows are the next level up, and can fall into different categories. They too can be limited to a breed, or to a group of breeds or simply offer classes to several breeds. There are typically several rings, which will have one breed at a time scheduled and may have as many as five or six different breeds in it during the entirety of the day. Often one Judge will go over several breeds, and may in fact stay in one ring all day. Open shows tend to have much smaller entries of dogs per breed than the Championship shows, but are great fun and are held in local venues which makes them readily accessible for all to attend or spectate. Each breed will have a Best of Breed selected from all unbeaten dogs, and a Best Puppy In Breed. Sometimes there are also awards for Best Opposite Sex and Reserve Best Of Breed in addition. The Best In show can either be judged on the Group system, or by all Best of Breeds competing against each other at the end of the day - which obviously means that two dogs from the same Group can potentially go BIS and RBIS. There are Open shows every single weekend of the year in the UK, including over Christmas, and can also be held on weekdays (especially during school holidays).

The main competition is to be found at the Championship shows. The entries for Great Danes at a general Championship show in the UK is typically about 200. If an entry is expected for over 250 dogs, the Kennel Club rules stipulate that there must be two Judges, one for dogs and the other for bitches. Breed Championship shows will always have a separate Judge for dogs and bitches, as the entries for these is far higher numerically. The general Championship shows which have classes for most breeds of dog in each Group, are typically held over four days, with certain Groups scheduled on each day.

There are two sets of Challenge Certificates (or "tickets") on offer, one for the dog and bitch respectively, with a Reserve Challenge Certificate per sex too. The Reserve Challenge Certificate basically states that in the Judges opinion the winner of the RCC is worthy of the title Champion, and if the CC winner should be disqualified for any reason, the RCC winner would be awarded the CC.

A dog has to win three CC's under three different judges to become a Champion, which is not easy, as many Champions go on being exhibited for many years after receiving their title. There are currently several Champions on show week in and week out whose CC's run well into double figures. The vast majority of Champions in the UK are fawn.

Championship shows also frequented by many exhibitors in order to qualify their dog for Crufts. Placings within certain classes qualify a dog for Crufts, and many exhibitors who have a nice dog but not perhaps of Champion quality, take great pride in qualifying for and attending Crufts, which is reputed to be the worlds most prestigious Dog Show.

In terms of sheer size and number of entries, I believe that Crufts is by far the largest dog show in the world. It is held over four consecutive days each year at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, and is a train stop away from Birmingham International Airport (with a train station inside the NEC itself). It is visited by thousands of spectators from the UK, and abroad. If you ever get the opportunity to go to Crufts, it's worth remembering that it will take you at least a day to get round the vast amount of trade stands - so it's worth going one day to shop and one day to exhibit or watch the Great Danes!

It is rumoured that there are about 1,500 Great Danes in the UK which are exhibited on a regular basis, with an average of 200 going to each Championship show. Unlike the United States, people drive to shows and would not consider flying their dog to a show if it was a few hundred miles away. Another major difference is that the vast majority of Danes are handled by their owners, with very few professional handlers. Syndicates of people who own and campaign Great Danes simply don't exist in the UK, and the nearest to that is whereby a breeder will sometimes own a dog in partnership with the people it lives with.

In addition to all of the above South Western GDC run "Leagues", which are Judged on each dogs wins over the entire year. The top 12 dogs and bitches in two separate Leagues are invited to compete, and the judge will be an allrounder who is not announced until the day. The "colours" (black, blue and harlequin) are also represented by the top dog and bitch per colour, who are awarded their title (i.e. top harlequin 2001) and momento during this event. Last year I was delighted to have been awarded Top harlequin bitch with Dainoak Amor Vincit Omnia, and R-up top harlequin with her sire Ch Dainoak Veni Vidi Vici, who had also qualified for the Super League.

Although there are breeders who own kennels and exhibit Danes in the UK, probably most exhibitors are best described as "hobby breeders". In terms of sheer numbers, probably 90% of exhibitors and breeders own Danes as family pets and have them sharing their homes and lives.

Copyright 2001 Dainoak Great Danes. kris@Dainoak.co.uk All rights reserved. However, you are encouraged to copy and distribute this article for non-commercial use with the following restrictions: You may not modify the article in any way. You must include the entire article including the copyright notice. You may not charge any fee for use, copying, nor distribution of the product with the following exceptions: Non-profit organizations may charge a nominal fee (not to exceed $5.00) until and unless notified by the author this is not the case.

Note: The above appears in a Camino book that Kris was asked to submit an article. My thanks for sharing it.

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