Kennel Club show regulations are to be relaxed to allow those judges not on the B list to judge up to four classes of a breed at open shows, with the proviso that one of these classes is a puppy class, and the corresponding increase of up to six classes for Stud Book band E breeds. This also applies to non-CC breeds at general championship shows and will come into effect on 1st January 2017.
The changes were announced by Keith Young, in his report on the work of the Dog Show Promotion Working Party, at a Special General Meeting of the Kennel Club held last week. The proposal was supported by both the Show Executive Committee and the Judges Committee, and its principle was also supported by the Kennel Club Shows Liaison Council.
Mr Young said: “The working party believes these changes will encourage open shows to schedule puppy classes and give exhibitors with new puppies the option to start at local open shows.
“This will also provide open shows with an opportunity to tailor their classifications to target both new puppies and new exhibitors while at the same time increasing entries and offering exhibitors more opportunities to show their puppies.”
Open show organisers are reminded that they can disregard puppy classes when calculating class averages should the entry be detrimental to the overall average.
Show societies which have already printed their schedules for 2017 will not be allowed to reprint them in order to schedule extra puppy classes, which the Kennel Club acknowledges will cause disappointment in some cases. However, societies in a position to increase the number of classes are required to notify the Kennel Club but do not need to apply for a revised licence. For further details please email us.
The relevant changes to the show regulations will be published in the next available issue of the Kennel Club Journal.