KARACHI: The Kennel Club of Pakistan (KCP) All Breed Championship Show held at the Zamzama Park here on Sunday turned out to be quite a healthy outing for not just the competing 100 to 150 canines but their owners as well. And what’s better than coming out of there as proud owners with certificates, cups and trophies to boot.

The show was not one where the dogs obey commands, jump through hoops, etc. “That would have been a training show. This is not that kind of a show,” Zahid Sindhu, one of the organisers, told Dawn. “It is a breed conformation show,” he explained.

A Breed Conformation Show is where the judges are looking at pure breeds or thoroughbreds. At the park, the KCP in collaboration with the German Shepherd Dog Club Pakistan and the Pakistan Rottweiler Club had two separate rings with different judges. One ring was dedicated to German shepherds and Rottweilers while the other was for multiple breed dogs, including bulldogs, bull terriers, boxers, Labradors, golden retrievers, poodles, though not mixed breed dogs.

Ayesha Baigmohamed, a judge for the German shepherds there, told this reporter that she was going to see the contesting dogs and compare them to the breed standards. “Basically, you are looking at the anatomy of the dog, which includes its height, length, the wither, the croup, the length of the legs, the position of the ears, the teeth, etc. Can you define its gender from just its head and its face?” she explained.

“There is also a gun test for German shepherds where you fire a blank to check if the pitch of the gunshot makes the dog skittish or wanting to run away or bite. Of course, you want the dog to be as sound and as stable as possible,” she said.

Another judge, Imran Husain, who was there to look at all breed thoroughbreds, said that he had been judging dogs for some 40 years now.

“I am an international judge. I have trained to judge all kinds of dogs. The Kennel Club of Pakistan is associated with the Fédération Cynologique Internationale, which is the largest international federation of national kennel clubs based in Thuin, Belgium. We also judge the dogs through the same international standards and regulations,” he said.

Asked if mixed breed dogs, mutts or mongrels, whom anyone might have rescued from the road and adopted could also take part in the championship, the judge smiled before shaking his head. “No, they may be any breed, but they must be pure-bred, not mixed, to compete here,” he said.

With so many dogs in one place, there were also personality clashes with barking fits on one side and tails between the legs on the other side. It brought up some funny moments where tiny poodles were challenging big German shepherds or Rottweilers, who quite unimpressed looked the other way. Still, in case there was a big ego clash and a lot of barking on both sides, the owners were up for a big challenge of controlling their sweet doggies, who may be perfect darlings at home but had turned into complete rascals in the company of other dogs.

But all the dogs were not in this much trouble. Those sitting calmly with their owners with happy grins and wagging tails allowed children to pat them as they awaited their turns inside the ring. It also allowed their owners to socialise, interact and enjoy some quality time with other dog owners to discuss dog food, breeding, veterinarians, etc.

Published in Dawn, january 9th, 2023