French Conformation Show

Author: Michal Cline
Sete, France

Each year since moving to France, I planned on attending the International conformation competition held in Montpellier every January. Unfortunately some unexpected event always foiled my plan. Finally, this year, accompanied by my friend Aline, I made it to my first conformation show.

In France, the Caniche (Poodle) is in Group Nine and, for this show, Class 9 dogs were scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. Ouch! I am a “night person,” and waking up early enough to get to Montpellier on time required Aline and me to leave Poussan no later than 8:30 in the morning. Somehow I managed to get myself together in order to be ready when Aline arrived to pick me up.

The show is always held in the large and modern Parc des Expositions near the airport just outside Montpellier. As we pulled into the parking lot, exhibitors were unloading cars and vans. There are several buildings, but we finally found the one where Poodles would be shown. I have never seen such confusion! There were rows and rows of fenced-off rings for the dogs that made up Group Nine, and participants had set up their equipment along the ring they were to show in. Spectators were able to wander freely among the dogs and their handlers (who were primarily non professionals).

The building was freezing, incredibly noisy, and the smell, which included hairspray, was overwhelming. However, the dogs did not seem to mind. There were over 30 different breeds being shown on Saturday. What an experience to see such a variety of dogs in one place! This was a very important show as it is an International competition, thus the dogs were from all over the world. I was surprised at how many breeds I had never seen before.

Finally we found the Poodle ring and spoke with some of the handlers who seemed fairly laid back. As you can see in the pictures, the majority of Poodles were white Standards. There was also a red Dwarf Poodle and a couple of black Poodles. We spoke to several breeder-handlers and asked their views on bicolored Poodles. A couple of them were not aware of the bicolors, and one breeder did not express any problem with them.

Judging began with Standards. The dogs trotted around the ring several times, and then the judge examined each one. Several were dismissed, and the remaining Poodles trotted around again. In the ring, a table was set off in one corner where a woman was taking notes from the judge. After about two hours, shivering and unable to feel our feet, we decided to leave. Unfortunately, we have no idea who placed and who did not.