Acadia's Bright New Day is up to 9 points

Saturday, July 5th, Chip was winners Dog, Best of Winners for 2 more points. This gives him a total of 9 "minor" points. To complete an AKC championship a dog must win 15 (total) points, 2 majors. The number of points a dog can win at a show are determined by the number of dogs the dog defeats. The AKC calculates different factors (such as number of dogs in that breed that competed the year before, number of dogs in that breed registered, etc.) and then determines a "point scale" for each breed. This scale changes every year.

The maxium number of points offered at any show is 5. Winning between 3 and 5 points is called a "major". A dog must win 2 "majors" under 2 different judges. So, a minimum of 6 points must come in the form of "major" wins, and the remaining 9 points can be "minor" (1-2 point) wins.

Chip will now just be competing in shows where the entry is large enough for a major. Unfortunately, these are not "scheduled". Occasionally show people will call each other to find out who is going to enter at a show to determine if that show will in fact have an entry large enough for a "major", but usually people enter the dog at shows they want to go to, and under judges they think will like the dog they are showing, and hope for majors.

The best scenario is to win the 2 majors early, and then they are out of the way and there is no wasted entry fees. It is not considered sportsmanlike to show a dog in a "minor" show if it has all of it's "minor" points. That means that you pay the entry, and if it is not a major, you are out the entry fee. Oh well. We are keeping our fingers crossed that not only will the entries increase at the next set of shows, but that Chip wins them! That is the next neccessary step!