Judging, titles and Best in Show
Everything a judge decides enters DogShow from one place: the tablet in the ring. This chapter follows that tablet from the first dog of the morning to the Supreme Best in Show, because the order matters — each stage only opens when the one before it is finished.
It is written for whoever holds the tablet. The judge judges; the tablet records.
The ring screen
Across the top: the ring, whether it is the one for best in show, how far the ring has got — breed 2/6, match 7/14 — the count of judged dogs, and the state.
The grey box in the middle names what is in the ring now: the time and how far behind it is running, the judge, the breed, the class and the sex. The arrows on either side move between matches, one at a time or several.
The dogs are listed underneath, each with its catalog number, pedigree and microchip. The screen fills from the bottom up, and it is worth understanding why: a dog first gets a quality level, then those good enough get a placement, and only then do the awards appear. Each row of buttons is a stage.
Quality levels and critiques
The bottom row is the quality level, one press per dog:
| Button | Meaning |
|---|---|
| EXC | Excellent |
| VG | Very good |
| G | Good |
| S | Sufficient |
| I | Insufficient |
| NJ | Not judged |
| D | Disqualified |
| A | Absent |
In the baby and puppy classes the scale is the one for young dogs instead — VP and P, very promising and promising.
Mark the absent dogs as you call them. An absence recorded straight away keeps the count of judged dogs honest, which is what the desk uses to work out the delay.
The clipboard icon next to each dog opens the critics box: the written critique for that dog, typed as the judge dictates it.
How many written critiques are expected is not decided here — it is the two limits set on the organization and adjusted on each judge. This is only where they are typed.
Placements
Once the dogs of a match have their level, the numbered buttons appear: 1, 2, 3 and, where the class allows it, 4. Press the position on the dog that took it.
The middle screen by the ring fills in as you go, which is how the exhibitors outside follow the placings without crowding the rail.
CAC and the other awards
Above the placements, the awards appear for the dogs entitled to them: CAC and RESERVE CAC, and CACIB where the event type allows it.
The markers beside each dog — EXC 1 M, EXC 2 M — are the shorthand for what it has already been given: excellent, first place, male. They are what makes the choice between two candidates readable at a glance.
If an event type awards no certificates, none of this appears. That was decided when the event type was chosen, and nothing at the ring can change it — the chapter on base records explains why.
Best of Breed and Best of Opposite Sex
When every class of a breed has been judged, the breed moves to its final stage: BEST OF BREED.
Four titles sit at the top of the box, empty: BOB, BOS, BOJ, BOV — best of breed, best of opposite sex, and the two age bests, junior and veteran. Underneath, the dogs entitled to compete for them, gathered from every class of the breed.
Press BOB on the winner. The title fills in, and the screen moves on to the next one: the candidates for BOS are the dogs of the opposite sex.
ASSIGNED closes the stage. The breed is marked BREED JUDGED and the ring moves to the next one.
Best in Show
When a ring has finished all its breeds it shows COMPLETED, and the trophy appears with GO TO BEST IN SHOW.
The pre-rings
The finals are not judged straight from a list. The dogs are gathered first in the pre-ring, where their presence is confirmed one by one.
That is what the two pre-ring fields on the event were for. It solves a real problem: a best of breed winner who has gone home is a dog the ring would otherwise wait for, in front of an audience.
The finals
The best in show ring works through its stages in order — Best Baby, Best Puppy, and so on up to Best Veteran — with a counter showing which one you are on and a line naming what is next.
get presence from pre-ring brings across the dogs confirmed in the staging area, so the ring starts with the list already checked. Then the placements are recorded as in any other match.
Supreme Best in Show
When every event of the show has finished its best in show, one last stage opens: the SUPREME BEST IN SHOW, between the winners of the individual events.
Press the button on the dog. That is the last thing anybody types into DogShow that day.