A novelty show is a competition or display of exhibits or specimens, usually of pet animals, in which the competitions is unusual (often comedic) compared to typical animal shows.
A pet or companion animal is an animal kept primarily for a person's company, entertainment, or as an act of compassion such as taking in and protecting a hungry stray cat, rather than as a working animal, livestock, or laboratory animal. Popular pets are often noted for their attractive appearances, intelligence, and relatable personalities, or may just be accepted as they are because they need a home.
An animal show is a form of exhibition featuring the display or performance of one or more breeds of animal.
For instance, a dog show might contain or consist entirely of categories (classes) which are humorous or are simply for non-purebred pets, as an alternative to conformation show classes, which are usually reserved for specific standardised breeds and treated with considerable seriousness. Pet photo competitions can also be considered novelty shows of a sort.
Purebreds, also called purebreeds, are cultivated varieties or cultivars of an animal species, achieved through the process of selective breeding. When the lineage of a purebred animal is recorded, that animal is said to be pedigreed.
A conformation show, also referred to as a breed show, is a kind of dog show in which a judge familiar with a specific dog breed evaluates individual purebred dogs for how well the dogs conform to the established breed type for their breed, as described in a breed's individual breed standard.
A breed standard in animal fancy and animal husbandry is a set of guidelines which is used to ensure that the animals produced by a breeder or breeding facility conform to the specifics of the standardized breed.
Some examples of novelty classes are "cat and owner look-alike", "dog with the most spots", "smallest/largest/fattest/thinnest" of a pet type, "dog in fancy dress", and the like. One of the most famous novelty shows is the World's Ugliest Dog Contest.
The World's Ugliest Dog Contest is an annual contest held in Petaluma, California, as part of the Sonoma-Marin Fair, to decide which of the dogs entered in the contest is the ugliest. The contest, along with the rest of the fair, is typically scheduled for the fourth week of June. Along with the title of “The World’s Ugliest Dog”, the winner’s owner receives a check for $1,000 and a trophy. As of 2017, the prize has been increased to $1,500, a trophy and a free trip to New York City. There is significant media coverage, and as many as 2,000–3,000 people attend the contest during the fair each year. The fair now holds an all-day Dog Lovers' Festival preceding the evening contest.
In the UK, a dog rescue group in Sussex named Allsorts Dog Rescue Society runs the Giant Golden Dog Show (formerly the Golden Dog Show), claimed to be the largest novelty dog show in the world. Held annually at the end of September at Albourne Equestrian Centre near Hassocks, England, it features numerous rings and classes for all kinds of dogs. In 2010, it featured 4 rings with 63 unique classes. In 2011, it grew to 6 rings, with 80 unique classes, and included dog long-jumping and dog racing, all held on one day in one location. The event awards a large number of awards compared to other dog shows: In 2010, 67 trophies were handed out along with 329 rosettes, and this rose to 87 trophies and 422 rosettes in 2011. The show is held annually to raise funds for the organisation's rescue efforts.
An animal rescue group or animal rescue organization is dedicated to pet adoption. These groups take unwanted, abandoned, abused, or stray pets and attempt to find suitable homes for them. Many rescue groups are created by and run by volunteers, who take the animals into their homes and care for them — including training, playing, handling medical issues, and solving behavior problems — until a suitable permanent home can be found.
Hassocks is a large village and civil parish in the Mid Sussex district of West Sussex, England. Its name is believed to derive from the tufts of grass found in the surrounding fields.
This dog-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
Related Research Articles
The Border Collie is a working and herding dog breed developed in the Scottish borders for herding livestock, especially sheep. It was specifically bred for intelligence and obedience.
Dog fighting is a type of blood sport generally defined as two or more game dogs against one another in a ring or a pit for the entertainment of the spectators or the gratification of the dogfighters, who are sometimes referred to as dogmen.
A working dog is a canine working animal, i.e., a type of dog that is not merely a pet but learns and performs tasks to assist and/or entertain its human companions, or a breed of such origin. In Australia and New Zealand, a working dog is one which has been trained to work livestock, irrespective of its breeding.
Crufts is an umbrella term for an international canine event held annually in the United Kingdom. Crufts is centred on a championship conformation show for dogs but also includes a large trade show of mainly dog-related goods and services and competitions in dog agility, obedience, flyball and heelwork to music.
The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show is an all-breed conformation show that has been held in New York City annually since 1877. Currently, the breed and Junior Showmanship competitions are held at Piers 92 and 94, while the group and Best in Show competitions are held at Madison Square Garden. The number of entries is so large at nearly 3,000 that two days are required for all dogs to be judged.
A backyard breeder is an amateur animal breeder whose breeding is considered substandard, with little or misguided effort towards ethical, selective breeding. Unlike puppy mills and other animal mill operations, backyard breeders breed on a small scale, usually at home with their own pets, and may be motivated by things other than monetary profit, such as curiosity, to gain new pets, or to show children "the miracle of birth".
Scruffts is an informal dog show competition, similar to that of a conformation show for purebred dogs, where crossbreed dogs of any parentage are allowed to compete. It is hosted by The Kennel Club of the United Kingdom and is named after its world-famous annual show for purebreds, Crufts. Scruffts began in 2000.
Victoria Stilwell is an English dog trainer, author and television presenter. Stilwell served as a judge on the CBS show Greatest American Dog and presented the Animal Planet dog training TV show It's Me or the Dog, counselling families with problem pets and solving their dogs' behaviour problems.
Animals in sport are a specific form of working animals. Many animals, at least in more commercial sports, are highly trained. Two of the most common animals in sport are horses and dogs.
Chris DeRose is an animal rights activist, and recipient of the 1997 ‘Courage of Conscience’ International Peace Award and a former actor. He appeared as a regular on the ABC series San Pedro Beach Bums, General Hospital, Cagney and Lacey, CHiPs, The Rockford Files and Baretta. He also had lead or guest roles in 14 feature films. He was an on-camera reporter for the television shows Hard Copy and Inside Edition. Earlier, he worked as a police officer and as an investigator.
Megan Blake is a pet lifestyle expert and an actress based in Malibu, CA. She was also Miss Georgia in 1983.
Wendy E. Diamond is an American author, reality television personality, and founder of pet-related businesses, including Animal Fair magazine, Paws For Style, a pet fashion show, and Yappy Hour. For her charitable efforts, Wendy was presented with the Ellis Island Medal of Honor on May 7, 2016. She is also the founder of Women's Entrepreneurship Day.
The Golden Retriever is a large-sized gun dog that retrieve shot waterfowl, such as ducks and upland game birds, during hunting and shooting parties. They were named 'retriever' because of their ability to retrieve shot game undamaged due to their soft mouth. Golden retrievers have an instinctive love of water, and are easy to train to basic or advanced obedience standards. They are a long-coated breed, with a dense inner coat that provides them with adequate warmth in the outdoors, and an outer coat that lies flat against their bodies and repels water. Golden retrievers are well suited to residency in suburban or country environments. They shed copiously, particularly at the change of seasons, and require fairly regular grooming. The Golden Retriever was originally bred in Scotland in the mid-19th century.
Dog agility is a dog sport in which a handler directs a dog through an obstacle course in a race for both time and accuracy. Dogs run off leash with no food or toys as incentives, and the handler can touch neither dog nor obstacles. Consequently, the handler's controls are limited to voice, movement, and various body signals, requiring exceptional training of the animal and coordination of the handler.
