Best Brace in Show - Montgomery County

[bradl]

Two very nice Cairns in the Best Brace in Show competition at Montgomery this year.

AKC Video

Most of the good footage of the Cairns is toward the end.

Including the part where they win!

[kintra]

How exciting! They looked lovely

[Nikki]

sorry stupid question but what is Best Brace in Show?

[bradl]

A more experienced show person may come along and correct and improve this answer, but here's my understanding:

Each breed at a show that offers a brace class will award Best Brace to a brace of two dogs being shown together. At a group show like Montgomery (terriers only) Best Brace competition is the best brace from each breed competing against each other, the winner being Best Brace in Show.

Brace is a special class at some dog shows where two dogs are judged as one entry. The objective I guess is to demonstrate consistency of breed type by exhibiting two very similar dogs simultaneously. It's a challenging class with dogs as varied as Cairns can be. Other challenges include training the dogs to gait correctly and cooperatively so close together (note in the video Merril uses the tail to get one of her dogs back into position ), getting the dogs on and off the table without dropping one , training the dogs to accept examination calmly while on the table together, etc.

Ask Liz - she, brave soul, entered a brace at her very first Montgomery. It was great to see.

Mostly it's just a fun class. It's typically offered at specialties and "group" shows (where all dogs are from the same group - terriers or hounds or sporting, etc.). There is another class, even rarer, called Team - where three or more (not sure about this) are exhibited in the same way. I've personally only seen dogs like Corgi's and Siberians and similar shown in teams. A team of Cairns would be a sight to behold, for sure!

Because these classes don't lead to championship points, they are called "nonregular" classes. Other nonregular classes you see at breed specialties which are fun are veterans (for older dogs), and Stud Dog and Brood Bitch. The latter are very interesting classes where a single dog (the stud dog or the brood bitch) is judged based on the quality of its progeny, who are in the ring with it. The younger dogs are examined, but the award goes to the parent.

[eastofeden]

I know that this post is about Confirmation Brace. But there is also Brace Obedience. Which is also a "Non-Regular" class in which dogs of the same breed are paired togather to perform Novice Obedience excercises (Heel on Lead, Figure Eight, Heel off Lead, Recall & Long sits/downs). The dogs are judged on their precision and synchronization when performing the excercises.

Right now my training goal is to have my two Cairns ready to compete in Obedience Brace by next summer. This is a class that is rarely offered and when it is I have not often seen terriers competing.

[bradl]

That's awesome. We have one club member who used to enter brace-O with his two Cairns, but you are right - it's seldom seen, and rare as hen's teeth with Cairns. Shall I ask our obedience chair if we will be offering it at our specialty next July?

[eastofeden]

I actually was going to hint at that when I first posted.

I know that there are some good obedience Cairns up there in Oregon and Washington...it sure would be fun (Very entertaining at the very least )

About time we show those dogs from the working/herding groups what Cairns can do.

[kintra]

I never knew about Obedience Braces! How awesome!

hehe I love obedience in general with Terrors...the look on the Golden/Border people's faces when Zach won his class over their dogs was priceless

[hallswel]

I love the Brace class! I have entered several times...I like working my dogs together. I love the video..I was lucky the year I showed in Montgomery she didn't have a team there! Great job doing something very difficult.