Luminary Thoughts

Quite nice, I think. Rather different from the Championship certificate which, of course I’ve cherished for each dog who finished. Vivi is my first to earn a Grand Championship title. It is something AKC came out with about three or so years ago. So, none of my older ones will be such and maybe not all my future champs either as it is pretty expensive. First you pay your handler and all the ancillary fees to get the championship, then if you decide to go on, you pay alot more for the GCH. But, it is more difficult and does show your dog is a cut above because whereas the championship is earned competing against other unfinished dogs, the GCH is earned competing against other finished champions. Some people say they will never go for it feeling it negates the first championship. But, AKC was the only large dog shows venue in the world without it. I think I will decide based on how each dog does. For instance, Vivi finished her championship in about three weekends of showing pretty much winning points each time. Then she got the GCH in four weekends of showing. So, that’s pretty quick. Her of littermates that I’ve shown, now all finished, one will never get it because he, Mondo finished as a puppy close to turning a year. To compete for the GCH, I would have had to grow his continental and I said, hmmm, nope. But, the other two, Questo and Pearl, I had held back to go into 12-18 mo at PCA so they were already in pattern. Both are about half way to their GCH. Soon, Questo will come home (and I will be looking for a co-ownership home for him) while Pearl will stay with the handler as we are thinking about doing some specialing with her. sigh — more money!!! I must love it…