Show’s going to the dogs — deliberately

Nichole Davis

Monday, Oct. 14, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

In 26 years of competition, Arizona dog owner Bill Laird has never turned a profit from showing his blue-ribbon winning pets at American Kennel Club shows, but he keeps coming.

"It's a great sport, but it's not something I do to make money," Laird said Sunday while waiting to compete in a championship round of a dog show in Las Vegas with his 10-month-old German shepherd, Kaplan.

Like many owners on the circuit, Laird has been showing dogs for several years, and he estimates that he has owned at least 50 German shepherds since the early 1970s.

"I like German shepherds, and it's fun," the cabinetmaker said. Besides, "I need some kind of hobby."

Laird was one of more than 4,500 dog owners and 1,800 dogs that competed Sunday at the Silver State Kennel Club's All-Breed Dog Show and obedience trial outside Sam Boyd Stadium.

This competition is the smaller of two AKC all-breed shows held locally each year. An April show routinely attracts 5,500 owners and 2,200 dogs.

Owners of purebreds from around the country come to both events hoping to earn champion points, which could help qualify their pets for a national ranking, said Clark Hazlett, show chairman and SSKC president.

Each of the 137 breeds recognized by the AKC has a standard or an ideal dog, and the goal of the judges is to award points to the one dog of each sex that best matches the ideal, said German shepherd judge Twyla Minor of Riverside, Calif., who has owned two national champions.

In the ring, Minor looks at the dog's posture, temperment, teeth and body and motion.

In German shepherds, the most striking feature is a flying trot, a beautiful side-reaching side gait, Minor said, noting, "If you have that, and you have the others, then you have a great dog."

Dogs are paraded around the ring by professional handlers such as Bill Tank, who handled five German shepherds in different age groups.

"I try to keep them performing in a consistent manner so the judge can evaluate them," Tank said.

Ribbons and plaques are the prizes awarded to top dogs. But profits can be made through mating, especially the consistent winners.

"You're going after the championship to raise the stud price and improve the breed," Hazlett said.

Dogs compete for best of breed, group (German shepherds are members of the herding group) and show (the overall champion) at each event.

More than 1.5 million dogs are entered in AKC dog shows each year, and another 115,000 dogs compete in obedience trials.