Brazil

reported by Tais Vagostelo (St. James), show director, Brasilia Kennel Club.
Photos for this section of: Jch, Braz Ch, Great Ch, Pan American Ch, International Ch, American Ch, multi BISS & BIS ST' JAMES BRIGHT MAN Breeder/Owner: Tais L. Vagostelo

In Brazil we have several kinds of championships:

Junior Champion: For puppies from 4-12 months. The puppy must get 3 CJC to finish this. It isn't necessary to win the class. The puppy must to get an "excellent note" to get a CJC. Three puppies in the same class can get CJC, for example.

Brazilian Champion: Only for dogs older than 12 months old. The male must has 5 CACs to finish and the bitch needs 4 of them. It is necessary to get 2 reserves of breed too. A dog gets a CAC when it wins its' class. If there are more than 20 dogs in a same class the 2nd class gets a CAC too.

Great Champion: After the dog finishes its Brazilian Championship, it can try to finish this title. The dog must be older than 15 months to finish. The male needs 60 points and 3 bests of breed to finish. For bitches, they need 40 points and 2 bests of breed. The judge can give 5, 3, 2 or 1 point to the dog (never 4 points). It used to be 5 pt for first in the class, 3 to the 2nd, etc, etc. However if the judge doesn't like the dog, he can give fewer points or no points!

Panamerican Champion: We have some Panamerican shows here. In these shows, the best male and best female gets a CACPAB. It is necessary to have 4 CACPAB to finish this title. However a dog/bitch only can get a CACPAB if it is older than 15 months. One of the CACPABs must be received under a non Brazilian judge.

International Champion: The dog/bitch gets a CACIB when it is the best male and best female in a International dog show. To finish this title it is necessary to have 4 CACIBs from different countries (one judge must be from Argentina, another from Canada, another form Australia, etc, etc). The dog/bitch must be older than 15 months to get a CACIB.

Great National Winner: The dog/bitch must win 3 BIS (Best in Show) under three different judges, in three different states of Brazil. It is so hard to finish this title.

Now, about our dog shows and classes ...
We have 10 different groups here. The American Cocker Spaniel (cocker spaniel is used to English cockers) is judged in the 8th group (the gun dog is used to retrieve).

Puppy class: to 4-6 months puppies

Novice class: 6-12 months puppies

Junior class: 12-24 months dog which isn't a champion

Senior class: For dogs older than 2 years which aren't a champion

Champion class: For champions dogs which are trying to finish the great championship

Great Champion class: For dogs which already are champions and great champions.

We don't have different varieties here. All the colors are judged together. The judge chooses the best bitch and reserve bitch. The same for the males. (By the way, here the bitches are judged first!) Thus the judge will choose the Best of Breed and Reserve of Breed. In this case, the best of breed can be a male and the reserve of breed another male (the reserve male) for example.

In the group the judge chooses the 1st through 4th in group. If the American cocker got a Group 1st for example, the reserve of breed can go to the group and can get a placement too. As our american cockers have a high level of quality, it is common to see two cockers getting 1st and 2nd in the group at the same dog show.

For the BIS, the judge chooses 5 placements. If a cocker spaniel gets a BIS, the reserve of the group will replace it and can get a BIS placement too. I have seen two cocker spaniels getting BIS placement at the same dog show.