Going to the dogs: $5 admission to see hundreds of dogs at Cape Cod dog show Sept. 14-17

If you have a purebred Great Pyrenees who is a girl, she would run unopposed in her class at the annual Cranberry Cluster Dog Show coming up Sept. 14-17 at Cape Cod Fairgrounds on Route 151 in East Falmouth.

“If you’re the only dog in the class or in some cases within the breed, you might go right into the group competition (as a working dog),” Harsch said. “The AKC has just started a sperm collection bank for disappearing breeds.”

“For the Great Pyrenees, only one dog is being shown and it’s a male,” said David Harsch, spokesman for the show co-sponsored by the Cape Cod and South Shore kennel clubs.

Numbers tend to rise and fall with the popularity of the breed as pets, he said. Last year, the hot breed was Labrador retrievers. Want to guess what it is this year? (Answer at end of story.)

Could your dog be a show dog?

Competition is broken into three categories: Conformation, obedience and dock diving. For the first category, your dog needs a pedigree and papers to prove it.

“If your dog is purebred, it’s really not that hard to get papers. You just go to the AKC (American Kennel Club) website and you can do it right online,” said Harsch, a Mashpee resident who has shown Samoyeds for two decades.

“Conformation is the most popular of the events. Dogs bred for a particular purpose (working dogs, herding dogs, etc.) compete for points, titles, placements, and Best of Show underneath the big tent,” Harsch wrote in an email.

For conformation, the dog walks around the ring and then stands so he or she can be compared to the breed standard. One caveat: dogs must be intact, meaning unneutered.

There are separate prizes for dogs with professional handlers and those shown by their owners.

“It was thought more recognition should go to people who just show their own dog,” Harsch said.

Where mixed-breed dogs with mad skills can shine

For the other two categories ― obedience and dock diving ― your dog can be mixed breed but would need some mad skills. The world dock diving record – held by Sounders the whippet from Washington – is 36 feet, 11 inches in distance with one jump over the pool reaching a notable 9 feet in height.

Unlike official events, which require pre-registration two to three weeks in advance, “try-it” tickets will be allowed for dock diving as space and time permit. Try-its cost $10 for two tickets and each dog will be given three minutes on the dock.

It is offered on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. If you want to get involved, email John at forecastlabs@comcast.net or Kelly at backdraftacds@gmail.com.

For humans, show admission works out to less than a penny per dog

Only dogs that are signed up for the show are allowed to attend so if the family dog wants to get involved, you’ll have to scope out the situation for him or her to enter next year.

Admission is $5 per day for all humans over 15. There is no shortage of dogs to see, beginning with 631 dogs entered for Thursday and building to 886 on Sunday.

There are 64 pages of individual events over for days listed at www.infodog.com. Click “show info,” then “show calendar” to locate Cape Cod and South Shore shows. Finally, click on the premium list.

A good rule of thumb, Harsch said, is to spend mornings in the main tent for the “bred with it” competition and then head farther into the fairgrounds for performance-based events. (In case you are wondering, obedience requires dogs to perform with only hand signals from their trainers, while rally events allow spoken commands.)

Ty, the Welsh terrier co-owned by Ann Bark of Truro, who took “Best of Show” at last year’s Cranberry Cluster show and went on to win the Welsh Terrier National, will not be showing this year, Harsch wrote, because she recently had puppies.

There is a puppies-only event at the show, where dogs too young to compete can get their paws into the ring and get used to the show atmosphere ― like toddlers in tiaras.

If you would like to talk to people about their dogs, or ask permission to pet a dog, Harsch recommends approaching owners in the grooming tent or at individual RVs so you don’t interrupt them just before competition.

How much does it cost to show a dog?

Entry fees for dogs to be shown are about $30, he said, but investment in a purebred Samoyed puppy can run you about $4,000 these days. Harsch also professionally grooms the four Samoyeds in his multigenerational family once a month at $60 per dog.

Sometimes when a purebred is not perfectly suited to the breed standards, like Harsch’s dog Kalikimaka, obedience or rally competition is an alternative.

“She’s too big for conformation,” Harsch said. “But she’s very good. Getting her to lay down on command is one of the hardest things because I know she’s dying to work.”

This year's most popular breed

Oh, and we didn't forget. The most popular dog this year is the French bulldog or Frenchie, with 13 competing. You will also see a lot of retrievers and Rhodesian ridgebacks at Cranberry Cluster as specialty shows are scheduled for those breeds.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Perfect form: Judging breeds, dock diving, obedience at Cape Dog Show