1 . All-Breed Show. Includes any breed recognized by the AKC for competition. They are given by All-Breed clubs, such as a local kennel club.
2 . Specialty Show. A Specialty Show features only one breed in competition, i.e., French Bulldogs.
3 . Combined Specialty Show. Several breed clubs, regional or national, combining to create a show consisting of several single-breed Specialty shows. Usually the intent of combining shows is reduction of costs by sharing space and resources. Best of Breed winners do not compete against each other for further points or honors at these shows.
4 . National Specialty Show given by Parent Breed Club.* FBDCA, the Parent Club for French Bulldogs, gives one National Specialty Show per year. The annual National Specialty is considered the ” crown jewel” of dog shows for our breed, though in past times it was not the week-long glamorous event that it is today. It may simply be part of an All-Breed show, whose breed entry is designated by the FBDCA Board as the National Specialty. This is how the FBDCA did it from the early 1900s through 1986. That is, FBDCA National Specialties were always part of an All-Breed show. This changed in 1987 and 1988 when they were part of the Combined Specialties of Chicago shows. The FBDCA flnally had its first stand-alone specialty since the early 1900s in 1989, in San Rafael, CA. FBDCA National Specialty shows have been stand-alone shows ever since.
5 . Regional Specialty show given by Regional Breed Club.* * There are four regional ( AKA local) French Bulldog clubs that meet AKC’s requirements to give specialty shows; we consider these Regional Specialties though other clubs may define them differently. These may be stand-alone events, or given in association with other breed specialties in a Combined Specialty show, or given in association with our National Specialty. For example the Heart of Texas French Bulldog Club had a regional specialty as part of the San Antonio Combined Specialty Association show in October 2010. However other regional clubs have stand-alone shows not associated with other clubs’ specialties though they may be held right before or right after one or more nearby all-breed shows.
6 . Independent Specialty given by Parent Club. A show independent of ( i.e., not part of ) an all-breed show. It may be a separate specialty show given in conjunction with a National Specialty show as the FBDCA has done in recent years; as a stand-alone event or in conjunction with an all-breed show; or in association with other specialties in a combined specialty show, as is the case with the NYC show given as part of the New York Metro Specialties show right before Westminster.
7 . Designated Specialty given by a breed club. The club (either Parent or Regional) designates the breed entry at an all-breed show as a Specialty, as we did for our National Specialty for many years ( see #4) . Last December the FBDCA designated the breed entry at the 2009 AKC Eukanuba National Championship Show as an FBDCA Specialty, as all parent clubs were invited to do to help celebrate the AKC’s 125th anniversary.
8 . Supported Entry. A breed club (parent or regional) that has held at least one successful B-level sanctioned match may support in some fashion the entry of its breed at an all-breed or Group club event. Support can consist of sponsoring ribbons, prizes, or other items for winning dogs. A Sweepstakes may be held with a supported entry if desired.
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*Parent Breed Club. Each AKC-recognized breed has one club, the Parent Club (AKA the National Breed Club or the National Specialty Club), which represents that single breed. The Parent Club for each breed is a member of the American Kennel Club, which is a ” club of clubs,” and whose rules and regulations govern the activities of the member clubs in such matters as holding dog shows. The FBDCA only has one National Specialty per year, but it may hold as many Independent or Designated Specialties as the Board approves, and these may be held anywhere in the country as long as there are volunteers who are willing to work on insuring their success. There are numerous Parent Clubs that hold many specialty shows each year in addition to their National Specialty.
**Regional Breed Club. Also called Local Breed Clubs, these clubs usually have memberships that by AKC rules are limited to a particular area/state/region. After fulfllling requirements set by the AKC (you can download the booklet “How to Form an AKC Accredited Dog Club” at http://www.akc.org/sitesearch/index.cfm?q=how+to+form+an+akc-accredited+dog+club )they may be approved to hold breed specialties in their territory as deflned by AKC, although they may on occasion be granted permission to hold a specialty outside that territory) .
To download a pdf of this information, click Specialty Dog Shows Explained.
Source: The French Bull Dog Club of America
www.frenchbulldogclub.org
