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The Group Judging Competition
from: The Complete DogWhen your dog becomes "Best of Breed", he's then eligible to compete in group judging. If you've a novice, you may have thought this was something that happened only to an experienced dog show competitor. Not ture! The key is to have a great dog you've kept in good condition, done a good job of training so that he shows well, then it's quite possible for you to go Best of Breed your first time out. Or, what sometimes happens is you could have the only dog of your breed entered in the show on that particular day. Therefore, if you have the only one of a breed, if the judge believes he's a good representative of the breed, you'll be awarded Best of Breed, which makes you eligible to compete in the group.
There's no rule that says you have to compete in the group, but in this situation you're eligible, so why not compete even if you feel you don't have any chance of winning or placing. You'll find it to be an excellent experience for you and for your dog with no harm done even if you don't win.
Showing in the group is no different than showing in the breed, with a couple fo exceptions. First, you'll find that the ring is usually a quite a bit larger and second, you'll find yourself competing with the Best of Breed winners rather than dogs of the same breed as yours. With the larger ring, you'll have to adapt to covering a lot more ground when gaiting your dog around the ring.
In group judging, the judge often stands in one position and has each dog brought to him to be examined. If the judge didn't have a good opportunity to see the dogs as they were going around the ring, when he asks for the individual gait he'll probably have each dog gait twice: once when he's standing at the end of the ring watching for soundness, and when the dog is gaited a second time, the judge will move to the side of the ring to observe the dog's over-all appearance.
So your job is to remember to change the lead from one hand to the other while keeping your dog between you and the judge. An alternatives to this would be for the judge to go down the line of dogs, examining each one and gaiting each one before he moves on to the next dog for examination; or he could examine all the dogs and then gait them.
There's no doubt you'll be a bit more nervous in the group ring, but keep in mind that everyone else is probably nervious as well. The same procedure will take place as occurred in the breed classes when the judge places you First, Second, Third, or Fourth.
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