I know that the dogs are not being judged against each other, but against their specific breed standard. My question is HOW ON EARTH DOES THE POODLE WIN THE NON SPORTING GROUP EVERY YEAR!!!??? Is every single poodle that makes it, its perfect breed standard? There is never a Golden Retriever that meets its breed standard (or pick any dog that never wins)?

It seems that the judges only know most about poodles for this to be true. I have a hard time believing that every year, the poodle shows that it is its best breed standard. This cannot certainly be so.

Please help if you can please explain to me how this is works.

Thanks!

Well, I wish I could give you the definitive answer, but here is my best guess - a poodle in show cut is very flashy, this particular dog has won many BIS's in the past year so there is a very good chance that the dog's owner and handler have advertised its wins. This translates into more judging assignments for the judges who put up the dog. And poodles do not always win the Non-Sporting group - I know a dalmatian won in the recent past and so has a chow-chow. When you get to the group level of showing, it is more about the dog's attitude at the end of the leash saying "Pick Me" than anything because all the dogs in the ring are actually very good specimens of the their particular breed standard. Uno won last year because that is exactly what he did - he strutted hsi stuff and basically told the judge to "Pick Me" and that is what he did. When you "special" your dog, the dog has to love the dog show thing or it can be fruitless. BTW, it looks like Poodles will be moving back to the Sporting Group which is where they have really needed to be. Not sure if it will be for 2010 or 2011, but it is coming. Hope this helps.

In the last 85 years, standard Poodles have won 27 times, miniature Poodles have taken the honors 17 times. Many of the standard Poodle wins were awarded to the same dog in consecutive years, and those were really some outstanding dogs. Other winners have included Dalmations, Chows, Boston Terriers, Bichon Frise, etc. Here's the whole list: http://www.westminsterkennelclub.org/histo...ortwinners.html