Its holiday time and what could be more delightful for a dog lover than to be watching hundreds of impeccably groomed pedigreed pooches in the same ground? Ooty, with its pleasant climes is a perfect place ‘to let the dogs out’ in summer, one does concede. Conducted annually by the South of India Kennel Club (SIKC), the 124th and 125th championship show that starts today has over 435 exhibitors in 44 breeds registered for the main show.There will also be stalls with dog products, food stalls and paid kennels within the ground. Indian breeds such as Rajapalayam, Chippiparai and Mudhol will participate along with other exotic breeds such as Husky, Afghan Hound and Retriever but the Borzoi (Russian wolfhound), making its first appearance in India will surely be the star of the show.
Each day, the show will bring over 250 dogs on the rings and over 20,000 to watch the furry participants do their thing – it could be skills or just stand and look pretty. “Because of the quality and fair judging that we maintain, nobody would want to miss this show and the dogs across India are brought here first by its owners in order to rate their performance,” says Nagina Reddy, the Honorary secretary of SIKC. The first day of the show has obedience tests and over 54 dogs in breeds such as Great Dane, Labrador, Dobermann and Pug will be showed from across India. The panel being lead by CR Patnayik from Orissa, the dogs will be judged on their ability to respond best to a series of obedience exercises including retrieving tests, temperament test, scent discrimination and such.
The obedience test is followed by the specialty shows of Golden Retriever, Great Dane and Daschund organised by the respective clubs of each breed. The specialty shows featuring over 80 Golden Retrievers, 37 Daschunds and 47 Great Danes are judged by Alistair M. Scott (UK), MD Krishnamurthy (Coimbatore) and CV Sudarshan (Chennai) respectively. “People find participating in specialty shows more beneficial because the judges of the show will be experts in the particular breed and will talk to each of the exhibitors about their dogs health, performance while giving suggestions on handling them better,” says Radhika Chandrashekar, secretary of the Golden Retriever Club of India.
Apart from the two main shows held on the next two days, there will be a third show, Gopinath Memorial Asia Pacific Asian Dog (APAC) show and each of them are headed by international judges - Luis Catalan from Portugal, Nicola Imbibo from Italy and Fabio Amorim from Brazil. All 435 exhibitors will be judged by the three judges and the best of each breed (BOB) are picked. Followed by the next level that is group judging, the dogs will compete with others who belong to the same group (work dog, hound dog etc) as theirs. Eighteen group winners will be selected for the line-up - the final judging at the end of which there will be ten champions including eight group winners, the best puppy and the best Indian breed