Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff you Should Know from House Stuff Works
Speaker 1: dot Com. I think that it in't it d D
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Speaker 1: on with it, roup, Hey, and welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 1: I'm Josh Clark. With me is always as Charles W.
Speaker 1: Chuck Bryant, and that makes this step. You should have
Speaker 1: the podcast. Indeed, about dogs my favorite topic. Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: one of them. What else? I don't know? Dogs. I'm
Speaker 1: one of those people that like dogs more than many humans. Sure, so,
Speaker 1: as you know, and so you know all the dog shows.
Speaker 1: I'm not real big on I love watching dog shows, yeah,
Speaker 1: I just I've never gotten into them. I know there's criticism,
Speaker 1: there's controversy, but I don't care about that. I just
Speaker 1: I'm kind of bard watching them. I never get bored.
Speaker 1: It's almost like um watching fractal screensaver something. It sucks
Speaker 1: me into that level of like just zoned altitude? Is
Speaker 1: it point? Is it appointment television for you? Like? Do
Speaker 1: you make a point every February something? I think I
Speaker 1: think last year it was Valentine's Day. Yeah, okay, it's
Speaker 1: early February. Yeah. Last year when a little Pekinese one
Speaker 1: name Maliki, I think I remember seeing that dog. Look
Speaker 1: at that dog, it's basis beyond cute. Look at that hair.
Speaker 1: So apparently, UM, if you want to blow up the
Speaker 1: Twitter verse with angry tweets, you can um talk politics,
Speaker 1: you can talk religion, or you can hold the Westminster
Speaker 1: Dog Show and selective best in show. People get pretty upset. Man,
Speaker 1: people went crazy last year. So like, um, what like
Speaker 1: you commenting or just in the Twitter universe people on Twitter. Yeah, no,
Speaker 1: I'm just a fan. I don't I don't show no,
Speaker 1: no no. UM. I live tweet very infrequently. It's it's
Speaker 1: tough on the thumbs. Um. But so MALICKI this little
Speaker 1: cute four year old Pekinese um one best in show
Speaker 1: and um people were really mad. They called it a
Speaker 1: mop becausin it Haraldo Riverez mustache a wookie snooky for
Speaker 1: some reason, maybe just because it rhymes with wookie and
Speaker 1: that's what they were going for. And they had just
Speaker 1: been watching Jersey Shore. Who knows, Um, But Maliki is
Speaker 1: no slouch. Um they had one a hundred and fourteen
Speaker 1: Best in Show Awards. Wow, only four years old, so
Speaker 1: this thing's been mopping up the competition. Oh man, I
Speaker 1: just made myself shiver. But people are crazy, they they
Speaker 1: One guy said he was a fan of the m Dalmatian.
Speaker 1: He said, I'm done with these dog shows, and I
Speaker 1: think that happens every year show exactly. There's a lot
Speaker 1: of people who feel very passionately about dog shows. There's
Speaker 1: plenty of people like me who love to just zone
Speaker 1: out and watch them. Um. And then you know, there's
Speaker 1: people who just don't know anything about them. And that's
Speaker 1: what we're here for today, to explain everything there is
Speaker 1: to know about how dog shows work. That's right, and
Speaker 1: this will either be really interesting to you or you
Speaker 1: made just zone out like Josh does watching the Westminster Show.
Speaker 1: You know though, UM, I don't think we've ever released
Speaker 1: an uninteresting episode. Maybe they have uninteresting titles, but you
Speaker 1: go on and you listen to it, it will interest you.
Speaker 1: I defy you right now. Step you should know listeners
Speaker 1: who haven't listened to every single episode, So we'll call
Speaker 1: you the twenty percent um to go out and find
Speaker 1: an episode that sound boring in the title that you've
Speaker 1: not heard and listened to it, and I guarantee you
Speaker 1: you will find it interesting. It's the it's just the
Speaker 1: thing one comes to mind. College football rankings interesting to me.
Speaker 1: But boy, our listeners are not into college football. But
Speaker 1: was it for the most part boring? Was it really
Speaker 1: not interesting? There's nothing interesting in there. I think if
Speaker 1: you're not into sports at all, then it was probably
Speaker 1: really boring. But um, well we'll avoid that one or
Speaker 1: the guarantee is void. But hey, if you're into sports,
Speaker 1: you'll love it. No. I think on the other end,
Speaker 1: if you're into sports, it was like, will you guys
Speaker 1: mess this up? Or you forgot this? Yeah? Oh and hey,
Speaker 1: by the way, congratulations we are now an award winning podcast.
Speaker 1: We got a stitchy. Is that what they're called? That's
Speaker 1: what I made up. Mark Marin had to call our names.
Speaker 1: He hosted these Stitcher awards last night. Yeah, he won
Speaker 1: one himself for the best Episode. Yeah, we were nominated
Speaker 1: for that too, for we were one that I didn't
Speaker 1: think was ten Accidental Intervention. I mean, that was okay,
Speaker 1: but I would have picked a different best episode. I
Speaker 1: think it was the sacrament bit that really led us
Speaker 1: into that on the toast. Yeah, um, okay, So anyway,
Speaker 1: dog shows, Yeah, um, conformation shows, not firmation c O
Speaker 1: n f O R are what we're gonna talk about
Speaker 1: for most of the show, and that is pure bred
Speaker 1: dogs competing against other pure bred dogs almost exclusively based
Speaker 1: on physical attributes. Yeah, that's the Westminster Dog Show that
Speaker 1: you see every year at Madison Square Garden. Yes. Um,
Speaker 1: it's just yeah, what the dog looks like, and um,
Speaker 1: basically it's appearance, its body structure, and then to a
Speaker 1: lesser extent um, it's dude. Yeah, it's attitude, it's a
Speaker 1: character because that also what they're trying to do here.
Speaker 1: If you've ever watched a part of this and I
Speaker 1: love that this Uh who wrote this one? Jay McGrath,
Speaker 1: oh old Jane, I remember her? Uh she wrote that,
Speaker 1: have you ever been channel surfing and come across one?
Speaker 1: I feel like a lot of people that is their
Speaker 1: entrance into the dog show world is they're flipping it
Speaker 1: around in February. They go, oh, yeah, that thing where
Speaker 1: the Christopher Guest movie mocked. I'll watch a few minutes
Speaker 1: of that and I've done that, and I've always been
Speaker 1: like I don't get it. How are they judging these
Speaker 1: other dogs against each other? It's a very good question,
Speaker 1: and we're here to tell you how. Yeah, because you
Speaker 1: know you this little Pekinese went up against things like
Speaker 1: Great Danes and Dalmatians and Doberman's and all that, and
Speaker 1: it's still beat them all. And the way it did
Speaker 1: that is how they judge any kind of confirmation show.
Speaker 1: They judge the dog by the standards of its breed,
Speaker 1: and then the dog that most closely fits those idealized
Speaker 1: standards wins these very specific registered I'm gonna say registered standards. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's so. Let me give you an example. I was
Speaker 1: looking this up. There's a the in the a k
Speaker 1: C has developed these standards from information taken from breeders
Speaker 1: and um they for example, the Lakeland Terrier. UM. One
Speaker 1: of the standards is its attitude right, and it has
Speaker 1: the Lakeland Terrier has quote a bowl gay and friendly
Speaker 1: with the confident cock of the walk attitude. So this
Speaker 1: this is the kind of thing that the a k C. Yeah,
Speaker 1: basically I love that. Uh. In England they have different standards.
Speaker 1: That's the American Kennel Club and they have a different
Speaker 1: show called Crufts c c R you f T s
Speaker 1: UM and there's just a little bit different, but we'll
Speaker 1: get to that later. Yeah, we'll talk about that in
Speaker 1: a little bit. For the most part, we're focused on
Speaker 1: Westminster in the a k c. So, in addition to attitude,
Speaker 1: character traits UM, there's all those physical traits that the
Speaker 1: a k c UM has maintained on each breed. So
Speaker 1: for example, allans and not how well the dog stands up,
Speaker 1: although the gate is important. If you're talking like falls over,
Speaker 1: that's probably a bad sign. But yeah, it's yeah, it's
Speaker 1: not gonna win this year. Um. Balance is what we
Speaker 1: would call symmetry for humans. It's you know, the overall
Speaker 1: proportions of its shape and size. Yeah, like that Scottish
Speaker 1: terrier is really pretty, except boy, look at those ears.
Speaker 1: The size of its butt. Yeah you're out, sorry, Scotty.
Speaker 1: Uh wait size eyes and again eyes is size and
Speaker 1: shape and color. If you've got that one, wonky, I
Speaker 1: forget about it unless you're an Australian shepherd. Yeah they are.
Speaker 1: They supposed to have one. I think they're supposed to
Speaker 1: have a blue and a brown and blue and a brown.
Speaker 1: Everyone I've seen has But what does the a case say,
Speaker 1: I don't know, they don't care what she loves like
Speaker 1: you When I think the head shape, of course, ears, muzzle, whiskers,
Speaker 1: thickness of whiskers is an important one. Really, Yeah, I
Speaker 1: would think they'd be an indicator of of poor health.
Speaker 1: What that bad whiskers? Thin whiskers, riddle whiskers. I think
Speaker 1: you you want nice stout whiskers like uh, it's centimeter
Speaker 1: thick each. Okay, that's probably the standard for any breed.
Speaker 1: This is the j K c uh teeth. You always
Speaker 1: see what them checking out the teeth. Um. You don't
Speaker 1: want any kind of weird scissor bite or ah. I
Speaker 1: guess certain breeds have the underbyte. Yeah, a lot of
Speaker 1: them do the breaky old CARDI yeah, our own Jerry's dog, Charlie,
Speaker 1: I recently learned as a bit of a little underbite,
Speaker 1: and sometimes the lip will get hung and the little
Speaker 1: bottom teeth are just kind of jetted out there. It's
Speaker 1: it's very cute. You want to go over and like
Speaker 1: adjust the lip, so here you go. Yeah. I like
Speaker 1: dogs that have like teeth sticking like cheese us. Yeah,
Speaker 1: boxers too, write boxers, um pugs, Pekinese. Oh, did one. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they all have that. It's it's like brachial cardi. It's
Speaker 1: like anything with a smushed face usually has an underbyte
Speaker 1: as well. Uh teeth, all right, we just had teeth tail,
Speaker 1: I mean, um, shoulders, and these these dudes are feeling.
Speaker 1: These judges are feeling these dogs as well, like muscle
Speaker 1: and bone, like they're trying to get under the fur
Speaker 1: to judge these things. So one of the big things
Speaker 1: your dog has to learn very early on is to
Speaker 1: let strangers feel him up. Yeah, in all sorts of
Speaker 1: uncomfortable places. Yeah, you don't want your dogs snapping at
Speaker 1: this guy when he fondles your dog. And if your
Speaker 1: dog snaps at the judge and then falls over, just
Speaker 1: just go home. It's all over. What did they say
Speaker 1: invest in show when the dog broke his gate? The
Speaker 1: one guy, So he might as well just taken a
Speaker 1: dump right there on the floor. So yeah, Michael McKeen
Speaker 1: said that he's awesome. Um. And then of course there's
Speaker 1: coat lengthen texture and color, and very much like thoroughbred horses,
Speaker 1: there's accepted colors for each breeze. You the dog that's
Speaker 1: blue and it's supposed to be a golden retriever, you
Speaker 1: got problems. Yeah, if you got a blue retriever, you
Speaker 1: have many problems. Although you could probably make some money
Speaker 1: taking it around the country taking an old timey circus.
Speaker 1: Where you can't make money is by winning the Westminster
Speaker 1: Dog Show. Yeah, that's a good point. You would think
Speaker 1: that these these things offer like big cash prizes, but
Speaker 1: they don't. It is really about prestige and being one
Speaker 1: of those dog show people like you know, wearing that
Speaker 1: ribbon and getting that trophy, wearing sensible shoes and you know,
Speaker 1: learning to walk very fast. That's right, because your gate
Speaker 1: matters is a human, you know. So you put all
Speaker 1: this together, right, and these these judges know the standards
Speaker 1: for the breeds, and when they're looking at this these dogs,
Speaker 1: they're saying, they're matching it up to their uh mental
Speaker 1: catalogs they have um and then the ones that most
Speaker 1: closely match the idealized version of their breed, like we said, wins.
Speaker 1: And that's how you get the the little you know,
Speaker 1: loss of ops or the Pekinese that can beat out
Speaker 1: like a Great Dane or a German shepherd or something
Speaker 1: like that. That's how they compare them. Yeah, and that's
Speaker 1: only been going on since I say only since nineteen
Speaker 1: o seven, um, previous to that, And this has been
Speaker 1: going on at Madison Square Garden uh In in in New
Speaker 1: York City since eighteen seventy seven. Time, they didn't have
Speaker 1: a best in show at all until nineteen o seven
Speaker 1: because they said, you know, how do we codify this right?
Speaker 1: And they did. They figured it out and it's really
Speaker 1: Jane says, it sounds confusing, but once I spell it out,
Speaker 1: it's simple. But it's still a little confusing. Yeah, it
Speaker 1: took me a couple of times to to figure this out.
Speaker 1: There's just a lot of stuffs. She does a great
Speaker 1: job of explaining, and it's just there's a lot to it.
Speaker 1: So you wanna you wanna explain this to the Westminster
Speaker 1: Dog Show. We should say is the pinnacle, the peak
Speaker 1: in the United States for any dog, But there's a
Speaker 1: long road ahead of it, like we said, now, like, hey,
Speaker 1: the winner of two thousand twelve show had a hundred
Speaker 1: teen best in shows under its belt. Yeah, and Jane
Speaker 1: called it the super Bowl. I would say it's more
Speaker 1: like an All Star Game if the All Star Game
Speaker 1: counted for something, you know, because it's all these all
Speaker 1: stars from the different breeds, from all these shows making
Speaker 1: this final It's like the Little League World Series for dogs. Great,
Speaker 1: it's like the Chess. It's like Bobby what's his face?
Speaker 1: Fisher almost said Bobby Riggs and liked story. Who Bobby Riggs?
Speaker 1: Bobby Fisher? Oh yeah, did you ever see Searching for
Speaker 1: Bobby Fisher? It did? It was great movie. Here's back. Uh.
Speaker 1: And then you know, of course, um that song One
Speaker 1: Night in Bangkok. Yeah, it's from a Broadway show and
Speaker 1: I can't remember what the Broadway show is, but it
Speaker 1: was based on Bobby Fisher in his life and now
Speaker 1: he moved to Asian and just evolved in the manus.
Speaker 1: That song is about Bobby Fisher, and that was from
Speaker 1: a Broadway show as far as I know. Yes, And
Speaker 1: then the pop vision was just re recorded by whoever
Speaker 1: that was, possibly by the original composers, but for the radio.
Speaker 1: I thought One Night in Bangkok was about you would
Speaker 1: think never mind, I was gonna bring up all you
Speaker 1: had to do? Is this in there? Yeah? Who was
Speaker 1: Gary Glitter? That's what I was thinking. Yeah, I don't
Speaker 1: think so. I think he got in trouble in Bangkok.
Speaker 1: If you know what I mean he did, and he
Speaker 1: recently got in trouble with the whole Jimmy Saville. He
Speaker 1: was part of that too, apparently, gross Man. What a
Speaker 1: sidetrack that was? So? Um Okay, to be a champion, right,
Speaker 1: this is what a dog games for is to be
Speaker 1: a champion. That's right, Because if you're a champion, you
Speaker 1: um get to add c H as a prefix to
Speaker 1: your name. Yeah, like I would be c H. Then
Speaker 1: Chuck if I were a champion dog, yeah, you'd beat you, Chuck, Chuck.
Speaker 1: All right, So let's walk everyone through this, right, all right.
Speaker 1: To be a champion, you gotta get compile a certain
Speaker 1: number of points, uh. And you earn these points at
Speaker 1: different dog show competitions around the country that are not
Speaker 1: the Westminster show. Yeah, and from different judges. Right, you
Speaker 1: gotta get at least fifteen points from three different judges
Speaker 1: or at least two major wins from separate judges. And
Speaker 1: a major win, uh is one where you can earn three,
Speaker 1: four or five points, And that's when you can get
Speaker 1: the right as a champion just for that little show though, right,
Speaker 1: or no, for the compilation of those shows. Right. So um,
Speaker 1: when you get this, uh, when you get to become
Speaker 1: a champion. Um when you have I think it's fifteen
Speaker 1: points and two major wins from separate judges. Yes, you're right, Um,
Speaker 1: you you get to this point. Also, like you said,
Speaker 1: it's not Westminster, it's these little specialty shows. And I
Speaker 1: don't mean little to diminish and I'm just saying compared
Speaker 1: to Westminster, they're much smaller. It's not on ESPN and
Speaker 1: there's specialty shows. Well, it's on the Oh Chow, I'll
Speaker 1: bet um it's the specialty shows are based on UM
Speaker 1: specific breeds, so you'll go to like the Chuhaha Show
Speaker 1: or um the Lakeland Terrier Show. Uh. And the dogs
Speaker 1: are separated between male and female and we can say
Speaker 1: the B word in this one because that's what it's called.
Speaker 1: That's my new band name, by the way, what winner's bitch? Okay?
Speaker 1: Um and Uh they're the males and the females. Are
Speaker 1: then separated into six different classes. You've got the puppy class,
Speaker 1: the twelve eighteen month old class novice, so those are
Speaker 1: dogs that are UM six months or older that haven't
Speaker 1: won any point yet, haven't won any first place prizes,
Speaker 1: so they can be a little older. But there's still
Speaker 1: rookies as far as the competition stage goes, right, and
Speaker 1: six months is the minimum age to compete in an
Speaker 1: A k C show. Yeah, below that, you're just there's
Speaker 1: no way. Yeah, they're too dumb to unpredictable. Um. Bread
Speaker 1: by exhibitor is a class of dogs where the person
Speaker 1: showing the dog is also the breeder. The breeder, by
Speaker 1: the way, is the owner of the dog's mother. Right. Um,
Speaker 1: there's American bread, which is any dog born in the
Speaker 1: US USA. UM. And then there's open the open classes
Speaker 1: open to any dog. And this is the only class
Speaker 1: that any dog that's already become a champion can compete in.
Speaker 1: In the specialty show, oh they are Yeah, that's the
Speaker 1: only class open to that. Because they could just mop
Speaker 1: up all the other classes. They have to face any
Speaker 1: takers in the open class, it's a good way to
Speaker 1: put it. So they divide it up by male and female.
Speaker 1: The males go first, and they, you know, inspect all
Speaker 1: the males as they do it any of the shows.
Speaker 1: You know what that means. Finally, you give them the
Speaker 1: award ribbons first through fourth place, and you don't get
Speaker 1: any points at this point though. The first place. Winners
Speaker 1: of the male class have to compete for the winner's dog.
Speaker 1: The female's class compete for winners bitch. You want to
Speaker 1: say it, I've said it twice now I don't want
Speaker 1: to say I find it difficult to say. Really, it's
Speaker 1: just the connotations are sure. You know, I've never used
Speaker 1: that word, uh in like anger about someone that's it's
Speaker 1: a it's a very rough it's yeah, And I don't don't.
Speaker 1: I don't think that makes me a good person or anything.
Speaker 1: But there's just a couple of things that like I
Speaker 1: wouldn't call my worst enemy, and that's one of them. Gotcha,
Speaker 1: I don't have any enemies. What am I talking about?
Speaker 1: So you've got the winner's dog in the winner's bitch,
Speaker 1: um and uh this is this is the point where
Speaker 1: they start um winning awards point points. I mean, I'm sorry. Um,
Speaker 1: So this is all all these different dogs have been
Speaker 1: weeded out by the different classes and then there there
Speaker 1: you've got the out of all these six classes of
Speaker 1: the male cad male version, in the female version, you
Speaker 1: have winners, right, and then there's uh so this is
Speaker 1: where the points start being awarded. Then there's chances for
Speaker 1: more points in the same show. Um, any champion can
Speaker 1: come along and take the winners on for um best
Speaker 1: in show or best in breed. Yes, and you can,
Speaker 1: and you compile extra points depending on how many dogs
Speaker 1: they beat out. So if you beat out a bunch
Speaker 1: of more dogs, you can turn up to five points. Right,
Speaker 1: five is the most. And remember a major wins three
Speaker 1: or four or five points in a win. Yes, okay, Um,
Speaker 1: so you can win some by being the winner's dog
Speaker 1: or the winner's bitch. You can, Um, the champions can
Speaker 1: take those guys on in the best of breed and
Speaker 1: then um, between those two, the winner's bitch and the winner, um,
Speaker 1: winner's dog, there's another walk off I guess, and um
Speaker 1: they can win point to ever be two. And then
Speaker 1: there's the best of opposite sex. Yeah, that was the
Speaker 1: best of winners, and then the best of opposite sex,
Speaker 1: which it says the best dog of the opposite sex
Speaker 1: of the best of breed. Yes, So whichever dog, whether
Speaker 1: it's the winner's dog, the winner's bitch, or any champion
Speaker 1: that took him on, and one the best of breed,
Speaker 1: say that's a male that wins. Then there's another category
Speaker 1: for the winners. That's females or vice versa, the opposite
Speaker 1: best of opposite. Basically, it's like, we got all these
Speaker 1: points sitting around, let's let's get rid of some good point.
Speaker 1: Or or it's like, did you ever go to camp
Speaker 1: and like run a race but ran terribly, but you
Speaker 1: still got a ribbon that just said participant. Maybe it's
Speaker 1: like that. That's like every race I ever rand the
Speaker 1: same here. Basically I had a trophy once that just
Speaker 1: it was a sad face. Really Yeah, there's a baseball
Speaker 1: bat was kind of sitting at the foot of the
Speaker 1: kid with his head hung down frowning. Yeah. I played
Speaker 1: church sports, so we didn't. Uh, they didn't do a
Speaker 1: lot of trophies, even in church leagues. Like the ultimate
Speaker 1: victor of the church we got a trophy, but they
Speaker 1: weren't big on like ribbons and trophies. The ultimate victor
Speaker 1: of the church league, I would imagine, is salvation. Yea,
Speaker 1: we all won, Okay, so then you've got your best
Speaker 1: of breed winner and then that dog can then advance
Speaker 1: to a group show where all these best of breed
Speaker 1: winners compete a K A or a K see Westminster. Right.
Speaker 1: So um, to make that point when you are at
Speaker 1: a specialty show and you're aiming for Westminster, which I
Speaker 1: imagine every dog there is. You want to win best
Speaker 1: of Breed. You can win points and become a champion
Speaker 1: through winning other stuff like best of Opposite Sex, best
Speaker 1: of Winners, winners, dog winners, bitch right, But to move
Speaker 1: on to the next level, you have to win best
Speaker 1: of Breed of that show, and you have to win
Speaker 1: a bunch. I imagine that's right. And at this point
Speaker 1: half of our listeners are delighted in half their eyes
Speaker 1: are rolling back into their head. Man, we just explain
Speaker 1: the heck out of that. Um. So we're at Best
Speaker 1: in Show, the movie that's such a good movie. If
Speaker 1: you've not seen Best in Show, that Christopher Guest film, uh,
Speaker 1: just go out and see it right now. Just stop.
Speaker 1: I think it's streaming right now. I'm sure it is. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's really good. It's hard to pick out a favorite
Speaker 1: part of that movie. But the scene that always pops
Speaker 1: up to me when Parker Pozzy is trying to get
Speaker 1: her replacement was it a b A little stuffed animal?
Speaker 1: She can't find it, and the guys trying to help her.
Speaker 1: He's like, well this is yellow and black and it
Speaker 1: was like a parrot or something. I can't remember at all.
Speaker 1: But she's just like my hero and that's great. She's
Speaker 1: very good. Alright. So, um, a little bit on the
Speaker 1: a k C. There are several hundred dog breeds in
Speaker 1: the world, but the a k C only recognizes a
Speaker 1: little over one, that's it. And they separate those into groups.
Speaker 1: And yeah, the AKC loves categorizing, breaking putting dogs into
Speaker 1: categories and breaking them down and then putting them into
Speaker 1: new categories. Yeah, and that's what they do here. And
Speaker 1: the poor dogs just like what you can have to treat,
Speaker 1: can get a bacon strip or squirrel. Um. Okay, sporting
Speaker 1: dogs this one, um, obviously these are dogs that are
Speaker 1: good for hunting, pointers, retrievers, setters, and s annials. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's a good dogs. Great dogs. Um hounds, beagles, bloodhounds,
Speaker 1: docks ands. I like hounds except for the baying, the howling,
Speaker 1: the how oh my god, yeah a beagle of you
Speaker 1: never heard like a beagle? No, I never had a
Speaker 1: bag that much. They are loud and insistent, really super
Speaker 1: cute puppies though, possibly the cutest puppies of any breed
Speaker 1: I think. Yeah, those and Oh man, what's the one
Speaker 1: I'm thinking of? A little puff balls? It's a it's
Speaker 1: an Asian dog, the little puff balls Maltese. No, like,
Speaker 1: is it a little dog in the end? Yeah, but
Speaker 1: like the puppies are little puff balls and they stay
Speaker 1: a little stay stay puff balls like Pomeranian. Yes, yeah,
Speaker 1: those are pretty cute puppies. They don't even look real.
Speaker 1: It looks like they don't squeeze them. It should make
Speaker 1: a little noise they do, they do. Yeah, you don't
Speaker 1: want to do that, okay. Um, working dogs, we're talking
Speaker 1: Great Dame's Rottweiler St. Bernard's dogs who are hardy and
Speaker 1: they even you know, are used as working dogs like
Speaker 1: searching rescue stuff like that. Um. And then there's terriers
Speaker 1: that chase rats. Did they maybe even fight? Um? Um
Speaker 1: cobra or two? Uh? Those are um little Schnauzers Scottish
Speaker 1: Terriers also known as Scottie's bull Terriers, which you would
Speaker 1: recognize as spuds mackenzie. Yeah, man, those things are weird looking.
Speaker 1: My buddy Clay just got a giant Schnauzer big Well.
Speaker 1: This thing is like six months old and he's already
Speaker 1: as big as my biggest dog. He's like, just wait
Speaker 1: till you see his name is Bro. He's like, what
Speaker 1: do you see Bro? At the end of this, he's
Speaker 1: going to be enormous. How how big is he expected
Speaker 1: to get? Wait wise, I don't know, but really big.
Speaker 1: He's awesome, very very fun dog. Just like for a
Speaker 1: dog to be that young and that big, they don't
Speaker 1: have control of their limbs yet. So Bro would just
Speaker 1: go running downstairs and just like face plant and then
Speaker 1: get up and you know with the happiest expression behind
Speaker 1: his little eyes that you can see that there. Um
Speaker 1: what else? Toy dogs? Yeah, johuahua's, poodles, pugs and how
Speaker 1: you pronounced it? I always said shitsu was it? She's
Speaker 1: she's she's non sporting dogs. I guess these are the intellects.
Speaker 1: This is a catch all breed um when you don't
Speaker 1: have unifying characteristics, which is kind of sad. The one
Speaker 1: unifying characteristic is these dogs don't play. They don't play bulldogs,
Speaker 1: Dalmatians and the American Eskimo dog, which I've never heard of. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's basically like, we don't know what to do with
Speaker 1: you guys, so we're gonna put you in the non
Speaker 1: sporting dog, and then two more hurting dogs like Australian
Speaker 1: shepherds and uh miscellaneous. So remember we said that the
Speaker 1: AKC likes to classify dogs, and there's more breeds than
Speaker 1: it recognizes. This is a group that they you can't
Speaker 1: win points, you can't win any major awards, I believe.
Speaker 1: But if there's a breed that's starting to get more attention,
Speaker 1: there's more people breeding it. It's like part of the
Speaker 1: process of becoming recognized. You you start out in the
Speaker 1: miscellaneous group, so that's pre recognition almost cheeze. Yeah, hey man,
Speaker 1: these people are keeping track of like the dog's cock
Speaker 1: shured nous. I mean, they're there. They pay attention to details, alright,
Speaker 1: So the best of breeds in each of the group
Speaker 1: are gonna compete in the group show and then if
Speaker 1: you win that group show, then you compete in the
Speaker 1: Ultimate I think we skipped that part, which is the
Speaker 1: All Breed Show, and that's the All Star Game, the
Speaker 1: super Bowl, that's Westminster, the chess match, the Bobby Riggs
Speaker 1: versus uh Billy gene King. That's when a that's when
Speaker 1: a judge goes through each of these groups and picks
Speaker 1: out the best, right, Um, seven groups because the eight
Speaker 1: can't win. And UM, they basically go through and say
Speaker 1: you're number one, you're number two, you're number three, and
Speaker 1: number four, and all of a sudden that number one
Speaker 1: is the best in show, and the controversy erupts, Twitter
Speaker 1: goes crazy. I'm gonna have to pay attention this year.
Speaker 1: It's yeah, it's fun to watch. Yeah, I've never watched
Speaker 1: it where I was like tense, but you know, I've
Speaker 1: been like, oh, that's great, or oh really that's that's
Speaker 1: that's nothing. I'm sure you find yourself rooting for certain
Speaker 1: dogs though. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, there's always a dog. There's
Speaker 1: always at least one if they capture where you're just like,
Speaker 1: I like that dog. Uh. All right, let's talk about
Speaker 1: the criticism of dog shows, because there's definitely plenty. Yeah there,
Speaker 1: it's out there. Um. One of the problems that certain
Speaker 1: groups have is that when you're talking pure bred dogs,
Speaker 1: you're talking about breeding, and UM, myself and many others
Speaker 1: are against dog breeding because there's plenty of dogs out
Speaker 1: there for the taking, but they they're mutts, that's the
Speaker 1: look of um. So breeders basically breed these dogs to
Speaker 1: acquire these or to at least hold onto these attributes,
Speaker 1: and that means in breeding sometimes and that means shorter lives,
Speaker 1: fans and disease and defects, birth effects like Dalmatians tend
Speaker 1: to suffer from blindness and German shepherds suffer from hip dysplasia,
Speaker 1: and these these traits have become associated with the breed,
Speaker 1: these standards of the breed that the AKC maintains. And
Speaker 1: it's kind of like, well, yeah, but if you if
Speaker 1: you want to have a dog that meets all these
Speaker 1: other criteria, it's also gonna get displasia when it's sticks.
Speaker 1: And it's just part of in breeding. It's narrowing of
Speaker 1: the gene pool. And I've definitely noticed and this isn't
Speaker 1: of course, but all the dogs and people have known
Speaker 1: who had dogs throughout the years, I've noticed more pure
Speaker 1: bred dogs dying younger than the MUDs. Well, supposedly they
Speaker 1: have a weaker immune system. Like remember I don't remember
Speaker 1: what episode it was, but we were talking about that
Speaker 1: experiment that UM people sent. People use scents to detect
Speaker 1: an immune system different from yours. Because when you put
Speaker 1: together your immune system and somebody else's immune system for reproduction,
Speaker 1: the kids should have a doubly great immune system. That
Speaker 1: was a long time ago. I remember that, Yeah, it was.
Speaker 1: I don't remember what episode it was, maybe so yeah. Um,
Speaker 1: so remember a few minutes ago we were talking about
Speaker 1: the miscellaneous category can eventually earn you status as an
Speaker 1: officially recognized breed UM. The American Border Collie Association the
Speaker 1: a b C a I really didn't want their dog
Speaker 1: to become recognized by the a k C because they
Speaker 1: thought that meant well, once it's an official breed, then
Speaker 1: that means breeding will become more intense and these dogs,
Speaker 1: you know, will suffer from all these things that we
Speaker 1: just told you about. Yeah, they specifically petition with the
Speaker 1: case don't recognize, don't recognize us, and a case said,
Speaker 1: we're going to recognize. I don't think it was maliciously,
Speaker 1: but they're like, this is what we do, and we're
Speaker 1: going to recognize this dogg it's a breed. Now. They
Speaker 1: were like, had you not asked, we wouldn't know, but
Speaker 1: you did so. Uh. And pets also file um an
Speaker 1: official objection um against tail docking, which is when they
Speaker 1: amputate you know, the tails, so you have a little nub.
Speaker 1: It's such as tails, ears cropping. Yeah. Um, there's a
Speaker 1: lot of breeds that have these unnatural attributes that you
Speaker 1: have to perform surgery on to get, which is counterintuitive
Speaker 1: because you're talking about the idealized version of a breed.
Speaker 1: Why would you have to take some sort of technological
Speaker 1: step to to reach that ideal version? Like if it
Speaker 1: doesn't happen naturally, it seems really awful. Yeah it does
Speaker 1: to me too, But I mean I don't even declaude
Speaker 1: my cats, so the way to go, that's the way
Speaker 1: I But I've got crap all over my house. It's
Speaker 1: cat scratched. But yeah, but the time, you know, Holly
Speaker 1: Fry of pop Stuff, she was talking about how, um
Speaker 1: she lets her cats play on their iPad really and
Speaker 1: I was like, you must have a serious scratch card
Speaker 1: because there's like cat playing apps on iPad um And
Speaker 1: she's like, well, I don't think we have a scratch card. Well,
Speaker 1: when cats play around like that, they usually don't have
Speaker 1: the claws out. They're usually just pawing around, you would hope.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I wouldn't put one on my bed, no way. Um.
Speaker 1: I put on the little sticky things they have, like
Speaker 1: clear tap pets that you put on like your couch arm,
Speaker 1: and those are unsightly in collect hair and dust and
Speaker 1: just one of the things. If you're an animal owner
Speaker 1: with five animals in your house, it's hard to not
Speaker 1: live with some hair. Do you have a rumba? Yeah,
Speaker 1: you should probably get a rumba. It might change your life. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I'm in love with my vacuum cleaner, so I feel
Speaker 1: like that would be cheating on LuxI nice. Yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: so what else was there? Oh? Joanah Goldberg had some
Speaker 1: words about breeding, especially with the A k C. He
Speaker 1: compares it to eugenics. Yeah. In fact, he thought it
Speaker 1: spurred the eugenics movement. Yeah, and we're like, oh wow,
Speaker 1: we have really great dog and um uh, we should
Speaker 1: do this with humans. I'm tired of people with epilepsy.
Speaker 1: Let's just get rid of them. And of course you
Speaker 1: can go back and read or listen to um is
Speaker 1: it Legal to Sterilized Addicts? Basically was all about eugenics. Um.
Speaker 1: He also contends, and not really contends, it's pretty obvious
Speaker 1: that it's a beauty pageant. They're focusing on these physical
Speaker 1: attributes and um, only the aesthetic matters. In his opinion,
Speaker 1: and that's not something he says. You know what, if
Speaker 1: you want to judge a hunting dog, take it out hunting,
Speaker 1: right and see how it does there. Because these jogs
Speaker 1: that these jogs, these dogs have jobs. You know, most
Speaker 1: dogs do have a job of some sort and let's
Speaker 1: see how they do in their job. Yeah, like that's
Speaker 1: how you would truly appreciate a breed, not just its looks.
Speaker 1: And um, you mentioned u K's crufts. The England England's
Speaker 1: Kennel Club runs crufts, um, and they do have it
Speaker 1: of agility and stuff like that. Apparently they're criticized for
Speaker 1: going too far the other way that they need to
Speaker 1: bring back more confirmation conformation. Um. But yeah, if you
Speaker 1: if you go to England and you're into dogs, you're
Speaker 1: gonna be very surprised because they're they're big show doesn't
Speaker 1: look anything like ours. Yeah, those are the well we'll
Speaker 1: get into agility trials. But is that what they have
Speaker 1: in there where you're running between the you're bobbing and
Speaker 1: weaving and going through the tunnels and obedient stuff too.
Speaker 1: And the a k C has these things that's just
Speaker 1: not part of the big one, the Westminster show right, Um,
Speaker 1: but Chuck. You would also probably appreciate England's Kennel Club,
Speaker 1: maybe more than the a k C, because they have
Speaker 1: something called Scruffs. Yeah. I want to see this televised.
Speaker 1: It's it's basically the Crufts for crossberry dogs, non pure
Speaker 1: bred dogs, and it's just adorable that they have this
Speaker 1: and they welcome anything pretty much. Yeah. I mean, obviously
Speaker 1: you have to have your dog trained. You can't just
Speaker 1: walk up off the street, but as far a breeds go,
Speaker 1: you can enter your dog. The criteria are pretty wide open,
Speaker 1: and they just look for good temperament, good health, and
Speaker 1: good character, which I like. Yeah. So um, we talked
Speaker 1: about agility trials. These are sometimes separate competitions altogether, and then,
Speaker 1: like you said, in England incorporated into the best in Show.
Speaker 1: And that's whether they're basically doing like a little obstacle course,
Speaker 1: which is adorable off leash. I mean, did you see
Speaker 1: this picture. That's the cutest picture ever in this article
Speaker 1: how dog shows work. Yeah, it's it's just a little
Speaker 1: terrier jumping over like a little post and he's got
Speaker 1: this look in his face like I'm gonna do it.
Speaker 1: He is gonna do it. He's got his tail up man.
Speaker 1: That's a cute picture. And then obedience trials are basically
Speaker 1: taking commands from the handler, like you know, you've got
Speaker 1: to be listening some of the commands or just uh
Speaker 1: vocal some of them. You can't speak at all, and
Speaker 1: you're just using hand gestures and they're just seeing how
Speaker 1: well trained your dog is. Right, Um, yeah, that the
Speaker 1: dog can become the champion, which is the national obedience Champion,
Speaker 1: which has got to be kind of a dubious honor
Speaker 1: among dogs, like you're the most obedient dog in all
Speaker 1: the land. It's kind of like, um, Kurt Russell when
Speaker 1: he was like the star of Disney movies. It's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: you're a movie star, but you're also like this, you know,
Speaker 1: clean cut teen. But even he distanced himself later he's like, no,
Speaker 1: I'm badder than this. I'm snay. Probably forgot about those
Speaker 1: early movies. Those were awesome. That was a big fan
Speaker 1: of us. What was it the the kid with two
Speaker 1: white shoes or something like that. They were really like vanilla. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they were pretty vanilla. Um. So over the years, Uh,
Speaker 1: we have a few little stats. The breed that has
Speaker 1: won the most the Fox Terrier thirteen times, not bad um.
Speaker 1: The dog that has won the most was Champion Warren Remedy.
Speaker 1: It was a fox terrier who won three times in
Speaker 1: a row in the early nineteen hundreds, so that's pretty good.
Speaker 1: My favorites. The oldest dog to win the eight year
Speaker 1: old Papillon who won Champion Low Ticky Supernatural Being, and
Speaker 1: the youngest ever was a rough Collige named Longed Loyalty
Speaker 1: of belle Haven and one on its ninth nine month birthday.
Speaker 1: It's pretty young. Makes Bro look like an idiot. Bro
Speaker 1: is an idiot. He's level though. I guess it's about
Speaker 1: it right. Yeah, I'm gonna watch this year. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: It's appointment TV for for me. Now good, that is good.
Speaker 1: I think you'll like it. And then you go on
Speaker 1: to Twitter and register your anger or your happiness at
Speaker 1: the winner. I will do so. Maybe all live tweet.
Speaker 1: Your tones are gonna hurt. I gotta get her Twitter
Speaker 1: log in. I don't even know it. Well, you're the
Speaker 1: Twitter or master. I just leave that to you. I will,
Speaker 1: I will. I'll email it to you. Okay. And by
Speaker 1: the way, our Twitter handle is s y s K podcast. Okay,
Speaker 1: So Chuck. If anybody wants to learn more about best
Speaker 1: in Show and dog shows. Um, and to see this
Speaker 1: adorable picture of this terrier jumping in mid air. Man,
Speaker 1: it's a cute picture. You can type in dog shows
Speaker 1: in the search bar at how stuff works dot com.
Speaker 1: And since I said search bar in there, I imagine
Speaker 1: it's time for listener mail. But first, Chuck, I feel
Speaker 1: like we should wish everybody a happy new year. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I hope you had a great two thousand twelve. And
Speaker 1: if it wasn't great, here's the better days. I had,
Speaker 1: very nice, very nice, Chuck, um, and I want to
Speaker 1: wish a very very happy birthday to my sweet and
Speaker 1: wonderful wife. You me. Happy birthday, baby, Happy birthday nights.
Speaker 1: It's very sweet. Okay listener mail, huh okay, all right, Josh,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna call this crying during music. Um, and this
Speaker 1: is from Angela and Columbus, Ohio. There just ta coup buck, guys,
Speaker 1: My family, my family would who's blue? Oh ho ho?
Speaker 1: Talk words? All right, guys. Listening to Chuck talk about
Speaker 1: his experience at Carnegie Hall made me want to share
Speaker 1: this story. I heard a story one day about a
Speaker 1: new musical based on a book Wicked, and I know
Speaker 1: we all know this musical now about the Wizard of
Speaker 1: oz Um. I had a soundtrack for about a year
Speaker 1: before I saw it, and I found out there was
Speaker 1: a Broadway Across America tour coming to Columbis, Ohio. My
Speaker 1: husband and I bought tickets, went with a group of friends.
Speaker 1: I have been listening to the soundtrack for about a year.
Speaker 1: As I said, so I was really excited. So I'm
Speaker 1: watching the show, really enjoying it, getting swept up in
Speaker 1: the stage production and the acting. The music was better
Speaker 1: than I even thought it could be. And when they
Speaker 1: hit the main song, Defying Gravity, sung by Adina Menzel
Speaker 1: on the soundtrack, that's when had happened. I had a
Speaker 1: chuck moment, broke down, sobbing like a little baby. If
Speaker 1: I call it, I love it. I mean, I'm sensitive,
Speaker 1: but that's a pretty hilarious. I'm all right, I'm leaping. Uh.
Speaker 1: The song itself is incredibly moving overall. There's a point
Speaker 1: in the middle where there's a break from the action.
Speaker 1: Before she hits the third verse, she says a few lines,
Speaker 1: turns the last line into this incredibly cathartic note, and
Speaker 1: takes off in flight. Sitting here, remember it, I'm actually
Speaker 1: choking up. Uh. And that's where I could no longer
Speaker 1: control myself all through the third verse, sobbing, uncontrollably loud,
Speaker 1: gasping sobs. Both my husband and my brother in law
Speaker 1: offered me comfort, but I could not control myself. I
Speaker 1: cried at the end of the song and the house
Speaker 1: lights were coming up for an intermission. Uh. My husband
Speaker 1: gave me a hug, not really knowing why I was
Speaker 1: so moved, and I still can't say why. I was
Speaker 1: a mess and incredibly embarrassed. But it was a beautiful
Speaker 1: moment for this touching character speaks to me. PS, and
Speaker 1: that's from Angela and Columbus. PS. I feel a sense
Speaker 1: of strengthen. Catharsis also currently while listening to Shake it
Speaker 1: Out by Lawence in the machine. Huh. Well those scific email. Yeah,
Speaker 1: thanks for sharing your story. What was that person's name? Angela?
Speaker 1: Thanks a lot, Angela. We appreciate that. That's pretty cool. Um,
Speaker 1: so what do you want to say? I don't know
Speaker 1: dog show stories? What do you what do you think? Yeah? Sure,
Speaker 1: dog show stories it is. Uh. If you wanna get
Speaker 1: in touch with us about your dog show story, you
Speaker 1: can tweet to us. Remember it's s y SK podcast,
Speaker 1: and of course we're on Facebook, Facebook dot com, slash
Speaker 1: stuff you should know, and you can send us a
Speaker 1: good old fashion email. Uh to Stuff Podcast at Discovery
Speaker 1: dot com for more on this and thousands of other topics.
Speaker 1: Is it how Stuff Works dot com