Today our Samoyed Club is hosting a Samoyed specialty show in conjunction with the International Kennel Club down at McCormick Place in Chicago. A specialty show is a dog show in which only dogs of a single breed (in our case, Samoyeds) compete. A number of other local breed clubs are carrying on specialties at the same time.
The IKC is a big deal in the dog world—one of only a half dozen benched shows in the country. A benched show is one in which the competitors i.e. the dogs must remain in the benching area during the active hours of the show. This provides a wonderful opportunity for people who aren’t participating in the show but are just interested in dogs to take a look at dogs of practically every one of the 140 some-odd AKC-recognized breeds. It’s also a great opportunity to make connections with some of the top breeders in the country if you’re thinking about a puppy some time in the future.
This show is a big deal for us, too. Will and Nola will be competing in their first show. Quite an experience for them.
I don’t really expect them to do much. They’re more grown-up looking than a lot of the pups in the 6-12 month class. They don’t really have that “cutesy-puppy” look and I think that their time will be in a year or so when they’ve reached their full adult growth.
Still, I think they’re beautiful, magnificent dogs and I’m eager to see how they stack up against their contemporaries.
We rose at O-dark-thirty this morning and I took my wife and the pups down to McCormick Place and helped her take the pups and equipment in and get them settled (my wife had gone down last night and done some setting up). I’ll go back around 11:00 in time for the beginning of the judging. Hopefully, I’ll have pictures later in the day.
