On September 17, 1884, a group of twelve dedicated sportsmen, responding to a “meeting call” from Messrs. J. M. Taylor and Elliot Smith, met in the rooms of the Philadelphia Kennel Club in that city. Each member of the group was a representative or “delegate” from a dog club that had, in the recent past, held a benched dog show or had run field trials. This new “Club of Clubs” was, in fact, The American Kennel Club. This newly formed organization was created to ensure that dogs confirmed and excelled at the task they were bred for. 9 breeds were featured, most of whom were hunting breeds as that was the important task of the day - to exemplify "the qualifications and appearance of each breed." The official term for dog shows is conformation — as in, the act of conforming or producing conformity. While a dog show may look like a beauty pageant, it’s not. Dogs are not being compared to each other; they’re being measured by how closely they conform to the standard of their particular breed. Why? Because the closer a dog’s appearance is to the breed’s standard, the better that dog’s ability will be to produce puppies that meet the standard. It’s also the reason why mixed-breeds and spayed or neutered purebreds are ineligible to compete in conformation. The dog most closely conforming to the breed standard in the opinion of the judge will win Best of Breed.
