Stuff You Should Know - How Dog Shows Work

Episode Date: December 27, 2012

You know those shows where people wearing sensible shoes jog dogs around in circles? They actually represent the pinnacle of a long and complex path to glory for dogs and their owners. Join Chuck and Josh as they peek inside the American dog show. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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They just have way better names for what they call, like what we would call a jackmove or being robbed. They call civil acid. Be sure to listen to the war on drugs on the iHeart Radio App, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to Stuff You Should Know from HowStuffWorks.com. Hey. Hey. This is unusual, but I feel like we plug other people's stuff so often. Let's take some time and plug our TV show, our television show. People are like, again? Yeah. We know. Yeah. Well then by now you know that it's going to premiere at 10 p.m. Eastern Standard Time

on Science Channel at 10 p.m. Episode 1 at 10.30 p.m. Episode 2 falls right behind it. Two back-to-back episodes of Stuff You Should Know, the TV show where we play ourselves ourselves. That's right. And it is premiering after the season three premiere, or if you're from England, series three premiere of It Eat Abroad with Carl Pilkington, Rickie Jervais. And it's a great lead-in. We're really happy because it's an awesome show. And if you don't have TV or cable, you can actually purchase our show now on iTunes. After the premiere date. That's right. Every time a new episode comes out, the next day it'll be up for sale on iTunes. Yep. For Buck99 and Science Channel,

so cool they are making the first available show for free. Yep. The premiere. Yeah. For none money. And we think you're going to like it. If you don't, let us know. If you do, let us know. But we had a good time making it. We got the whole first season done and we're rolling them out starting January 19th. That's right. We appreciate your support. Yeah. Okay. On with it. Roop, roop. Hey and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark with me as always is Charles W. Chuck Bryant. And that makes this Stuff You Should Know, the podcast. Indeed. About dogs. My favorite topic. Yeah. That's one of them. What else? I don't know. Dogs. I'm one of those people that like dogs more than many humans. Sure. So, as you know.

And so, you know, although dog shows, I'm not real big on. I love watching dog shows. Yeah. I just, I've never gotten into them. I know there's criticism. There's controversy, but I don't care about that. I just, I'm kind of bored watching them. I never get bored. It's almost like watching a fractal screensaver or something. It sucks me into that level of like just zoned altitude. Is it appointment television for you? Like, do you make a point every February or something? I think last year it was Valentine's Day. Yeah. Okay. It's early February. Yeah. Last year, when a little pecanese one in Maliki. I think I remember seeing that dog. Look at that dog. It's faces smushed. It's beyond cute. Look at that hair. So, apparently, if you want to blow up the

Twitterverse with angry tweets, you can talk politics. Yeah. You can talk religion. Yeah. Or you can hold the Westminster Dog Show and select a Best in Show. People get pretty upset. Man, people went crazy last year. Like you commenting or just in the Twitter universe? People on Twitter. Yeah. I'm just a fan. I didn't have you live tweeted during the show. But I live tweet very infrequently. It's tough on the thumbs. Sure. So, Maliki, this little cute four-year-old pecanese one, Best in Show, and people were really mad. They called it a mop because of it. Geraldo Rivera's mustache, a wookie, snooky for some reason. Maybe just because it rhymes with wookie and that's what they were going for. Yeah. They'd just been watching Jersey

Shore. Who knows? That's silly. But Maliki is no slouch. It had won 114 Best in Show awards. Wow. Only four years old. So, this thing's been mopping up the competition. Yeah. Man, I just made myself shiver. Yeah. But people went crazy. One guy said he was a fan of the Dalmatian. He said, I'm done with these dog shows. And I think that happens every year because Until the next dog show. Exactly. Yeah. There's a lot of people who feel very passionately about dog shows. There's plenty of people like me who love to just zone out and watch them. Sure. And then, you know, there's people who just don't know anything about them. And that's what we're here for today to explain everything there is to know about how dog shows work. That's right. And this

will either be really interesting to you or you may just zone out like Josh does watching the Westminster show. You know, though, I don't think we've ever released an uninteresting episode. Maybe they have uninteresting titles, but you go on and you listen to it. It will interest you. I defy you right now. Stuff you should know listeners who haven't listened to every single episode. So we'll call you the 28%. Yeah. To go out and find an episode that sounds boring in the title that you've not heard and listened to it. And I guarantee you, you will find it interesting. It's the it's just that thing. Yeah, one comes to mind. College football rankings. Interesting to me. But boy, our listeners are not into college football. But was it for the most

part boring? Was it really not interesting? There's nothing interesting in there. I think if you're not into sports at all, then it was probably really boring. Gotcha. But I'll avoid that one where the guarantee is void. But hey, if you're into sports, you'll love it. No, I think on the other end, if you're into sports, it was like, well, you guys messed this up or you forgot this. Oh, and hey, by the way, congratulations. We are now an award winning podcast. We got a stitchy. Is that what they're called? That's what I made up. Mark Marin had to call our names. He hosted the stitcher awards last night. Oh, really? Yeah, he won one himself for a best episode. Yeah, we were nominated for that too. For we were one that I didn't think was like an accidental

intervention. I mean, that was okay, but I would have picked a different best episode. I think it was the sacrum bit that really led us into that. Oh, yeah, sure. On the toast. Yeah. Okay. So anyway, dog shows. Yeah. Conformation shows, not firmations, are what we're going to talk about for most of the show. And that is purebred dogs competing against other purebred dogs, almost exclusively based on physical attributes. Yeah, that's the Westminster dog show that you see every year at Madison Square Garden. Yes. It's just, yeah, what the dog looks like. And basically, it's appearance, it's body structure. And then to a lesser extent, it's dude. Yeah, it's attitude. It's character. Because that also what they're trying to do here,

if you've ever watched a part of this, and I love that this, who wrote this one? Jane McGrath. Oh, Jane, I remember her. She wrote that, have you ever been channel surfing and come across one? I feel like a lot of people, that is their entrance into the dog show world is, they're flipping it around in February, they go, oh, yeah, that thing. Right. Where the Christopher Guest movie, yeah, mocked. I'll watch a few minutes of that. And I've done that. And I've always been like, I don't get it. How are they judging these other dogs against each other? It's a very good question. And we're here to tell you how. Yeah. Because, you know, you, this little Pekingese went up against things like Great Danes and Dalmatians and Dobermans and all that. And it's

still beat them all. And the way it did that is how they judge any kind of confirmation show. They judge the dog by the standards of its breed. And then the dog that most closely fits those idealized standards. Yeah. Wins. These very specific registered, I'm going to say registered standards. Yeah. So let me give you an example. I was looking this up. There's a, and the AKC has developed these standards from information taken from breeders. That's right. And the, for example, the Lakeland Terrier, one of the standards is its attitude. Right. And it has the Lakeland Terrier has quote, a bold gay and friendly with a confident cock of the walk attitude. So this, this is the kind of thing that the AKC sits around us. Yeah.

Basically. I love that. In England, they have different standards. That's the American Kennel Club. And they have a different show called Krust CRU, FTS. And theirs is a little bit different, but we'll get to that later. Yeah, we'll talk about that in a little bit. For the most part, we're focused on Westminster and the AKC. So in addition to attitude, character traits, there's all those physical traits that the AKC has maintained on each breed. So for example, balance and not how well the dog stands up, although the gate is important. Yeah. If you talk like falls over, that's probably a bad sign. But yeah, it's, yeah, it's not going to win this year. Balance is what we would call symmetry for humans. It's the overall proportions of its shape and

size. Yeah, like that Scottish Terrier is really pretty, except boy, look at those ears. Look at the size of his butt. Yeah, you're out. Yeah. Sorry, Scotty. Weight, size, eyes. And again, eyes is size and shape and color. Yeah. If you got that one wonky eye, forget about it. Unless you're an Australian shepherd. Yeah. Are they supposed to have one? I think they're supposed to have a blue and a brown. A blue and a brown? Everyone I've seen has. Yeah. But what does the AKC say? I don't know. They don't care what slubs like you and I think. The head shape? Of course, ears, muzzle, whiskers? Thickness of whiskers is an important one. Oh, really? Yeah, I would think that'd be an indicator of poor health. What, that bad whiskers? Thin whiskers, brittle whiskers. I

think you want nice stout whiskers, like a centimeter thick each. Okay. That's probably the standard for any breed. This is the JKC. Yeah. Teeth, you always see them checking out the teeth. You don't want any kind of weird scissor bite or I guess certain breeds have the underbite. Yeah, a lot of them do the brachial carty. Yeah, our own Jerry's dog, Charlie, I recently learned, has a bit of a little underbite. That's cute. And sometimes the lip will get hung and the little bottom teeth are just kind of jut out there. That's very cute. It's very cute. You want to go over and like adjust the lip. So here you go. Yeah, I like dogs that have like teeth sticking like shizus. Yeah, boxers too, right? Boxers, pugs, pecanese. Oh, did that one? Yeah, they all have

that. It's like brachial carty. It's like anything with a smushed face usually has an underbite as well. Okay. Teeth, all right, we just said teeth tail, I mean, shoulders. And these dudes are feeling, these judges are feeling these dogs as well, like muscle and bone. Like they're trying to get under the fur to judge these things. So one of the big things your dog has to learn very early on is to let strangers feel them up in all sorts of uncomfortable places. Yeah, you don't want your dog snapping at this guy when he fondles your dog. And if your dog snaps at the judge and then falls over, just go home. It's all over. What did they say the best in show? When the dog broke his gate, the one guy, so he might as well just taking a dump right there on

the floor. Yeah, Michael McKean said that thing. He's awesome. And then of course, there's coat, length and texture, and color, and very much like thoroughbred horses, there's accepted colors for each breed. Yeah. You got a dog that's blue, and it's supposed to be a golden retriever. You got problems. Yeah, if you got a blue retriever, you have many problems. Although you could probably make some money taking it around the country. Oh, sure. Taking an old timey circus. Where you can't make money is by winning the Westminster Dog Show. Yeah, that's a good point. You would think that these things offer like big cash prizes, but they don't. It is really about prestige and being one of those dog show people, like wearing that ribbon and getting that trophy. Sure. Wearing

sensible shoes and learning to walk very fast. That's right. Because your gate matters as a human. Right, you know. So you put all this together, right? And these judges know the standards for the breeds. And when they're looking at these dogs, they're saying they're matching it up to their mental catalog that they have. And then the ones that most closely match the idealized version of the breed, like we said, wins. Boom. And that's how you get the little, you know, lasso opso or the picanese that can beat out like a Great Dane or a German Shepherd or something like that. That's how they compare them. Yeah. And that's only been going on since, I say only since 1907. Previous to that, and this has been going on at Madison Square Garden in a New York City

since 1877. Yeah. They didn't have a big time. They didn't have a Best in Show at all until 1907 because they said, you know, how do we codify this? Right. And they did. They figured it out. And it's really, Jane says, it sounds confusing, but once I spell it out, it's simple, but it's still a little confusing. Yeah. It took me a couple of times to, to figure this out. There's just a lot of steps. She does a great job of explaining it. It's just, there's a lot to it. So you want to, you want to explain this. So the Westminster dog show, we should say is the pinnacle, the peak in the United States for any dog. But there's a long road ahead of it. Like we said, Maliki, the winner of the 2012 show, had 114 Best in Shows under its belt.

Yeah. And Jane called it the Super Bowl. I would say it's more like an all-star game if the all-star game counted for something. Very picky. You know, because it's all these all-stars from the different breeds, from all these shows. Right. Making this final all-star game. It's like the, the Little League World Series for dogs. Okay. Great. It's like the chess. It's like Bobby, what's his face? Fisher. Fisher. Almost said Bobby Riggs. And you guys know the guy's story? Who? Bobby Riggs? Bobby Fisher. Oh yeah. That's sad. Did you ever see Searching for Bobby Fisher? I did. It was a great movie. Years back. And then, you know, of course, that song

One Night in Bangkok. Yeah. It's from a Broadway show. And I can't remember what the Broadway show is, but it was based on Bobby Fisher and his life. And now he moved to Asia and just had devolved into madness. That song is about Bobby Fisher. And that was from a Broadway show? As far as I know, yes. And then the pop version was just re-recorded by whoever that was. Possibly by the original composers, but for the radio. I thought One Night in Bangkok was about, uh, you would think. Never mind. I was going to bring up. All you had to do was just end there. Yeah. It was Gary Glitter. That's what I was thinking. Yeah, I don't think so. I think he got in trouble in Bangkok, if you know what I mean. He did. And he recently got in trouble with the whole Jimmy

Seville. Oh yeah. He was part of that, too. Apparently so. Gross. The war on drugs impacts everyone, whether or not you take drugs. America's public enemy, number one, is drug abuse. This podcast is going to show you the truth behind the war on drugs. They told me that I would be charged for conspiracy to distribute 2,200 pounds of marijuana. Yeah, and they can do that without any drugs on the table. Without any drugs, of course, yes, they can do that. And I'm a prime example of that. The war on drugs is the excuse our government uses to get away with absolutely insane stuff. Stuff that'll piss you off. The property is guilty, exactly. And it starts as guilty. It starts as guilty. The cops, are they just like looting? Are they just like pillaging?

They just have way better names for what they call like what we would call a jackmove or being robbed. They call civil acid for it. Be sure to listen to the war on drugs on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast. From Wall Street to Main Street, and from Hollywood to Washington, the news is filled with decisions, turning points, deals, and collisions. I'm Tim O'Brien, the senior executive editor for Bloomberg Opinion, and I'm your host for Crash Course, a weekly podcast from Bloomberg and iHeart Radio. Every week on Crash Course, I'll bring listeners directly into the arenas where epic upheavals occur. And I'm going to explore the lessons we can learn when creativity and ambition

collide with competition and power. Each Tuesday, I'll talk to Bloomberg reporters around the world, as well as experts in big names in the news. Together, we'll explore business, political, and social disruptions, and what we can learn from them. I'm Tim O'Brien, host of Crash Course, a new weekly podcast from Bloomberg and iHeart Radio. Listen to Crash Course every Tuesday on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Man, what a sidetrack that was. So, okay, to be a champion, right? This is what a dog aims for, is to be a champion. That's right. Because if you're a champion, you get to add CH as a prefix to your name. Yeah, like I would be CH, then Chuck,

if I were a champion dog. Yeah, you'd be Chuchuk. Chuchuk. All right, so let's walk everyone through this, right? Yeah. All right, to be a champion, you got to get, compile a certain number of points, and you earn these points at different dog show competitions around the country that are not the Westminster show. Yeah, and from different judges. Right. You got to get at least 15 points from three different judges, or at least two major wins from separate judges, and a major win is one where you can earn three, four, or five points. And that's when you can get the CH as a champion. Just for that little show, though, right? Or no, for the compilation of those shows. Yeah, yeah. Right. So, when you get to become a champion, when you have, I think it's

15 points and two major wins from separate judges. Yes, you're right. You get to this point also, like you said, it's not Westminster, it's these little specialty shows. Sure. And I don't mean little diminishing, I'm just saying compared to Westminster, they're much smaller. It's not an ESPN. And there's specialty shows, well, it's on the Ocho, I'll bet. Is it? These specialty shows are based on specific breeds. Right. So you'll go to like the Chihuahua show, or the Lake Lanterrier show. Right. And the dogs are separated between male and female. And we can say the B-word in this one, because that's what it's called. That's my new band name, by the way. What? Winner's Bitch. Okay. And the males and the females are then separated into six different classes. Yes.

You've got the puppy class, the 12 to 18 month old class, novice. So those are dogs that are six months or older, that haven't won any points yet, haven't won any first place prizes. So they can be a little older, but they're still rookies as far as the competition stage goes. Right. And six months is the minimum age to compete in an AKC show. Yeah, below that you're just, there's no way. They're too dumb. Too unpredictable. Bread by Exhibitor is a class of dogs where the person showing the dog is also the breeder. And the breeder, by the way, is the owner of the dog's mother. Right. There's American Bread, which is any dog born in the US. Sure. USA. And then there's open. The open class is open to any dog. And this is the only class that any dog that's already

become a champion can compete in in the specialty show. Oh, they are? Yeah. That's the only class open to them. Oh, okay. Because they could just mop up all the other classes. They have to face any takers in the open class. All right. That's a good way to put it. Yeah. So they divide it up by male and female. The males go first and they inspect all the males as they do at any of the shows. You know what that means. Yeah, fondling. Yeah. You give them the award ribbons first through fourth place. And you don't get any points at this point, though. The first place winners of the male class have to compete for the winner's dog. The females class compete for winner's bitch. You want to say it? I've said it twice now. I don't want to say it. I find it difficult to say.

Oh, really? It's just the connotations are. Sure. You know, I've never used that word in, like, anger about someone. It's a very rough, terrible word. Yeah. And I don't think that makes me a good person or anything, but there's just a couple of things that, like, I wouldn't call my worst enemy. And that's one of them. Gotcha. I don't have any enemies. What am I talking about? So you've got the winner's dog and the winner's bitch. Yep. And this is the point where they start winning awards with points points. I mean, I'm sorry. So this is all these different dogs have been weeded out by the different classes. And then there you've got the out of all these six classes of the male cat male version and the female version, you have

winners, right? And then there's so this is where the points start being awarded. Then there's chances for more points in the same show. Any champion can come along and take the winners on for best in show or best in breed. Yes. And you can any compile extra points depending on how many dogs they beat out. So if you beat out a bunch of more dogs, you can earn up to five points. Right. Five is the most. And remember, a major win is three, four or five points in a win. Yes. Okay. So you can win some by being the winner's dog or the winner's bitch. You can the champions can take those guys on in the best of breed. Yep. And then between those two, the winner's bitch and the winner, the winner's dog. There's another walk off, I guess. Yeah. And they can win points

whoever be two. And then there's the best of opposite sex. Yeah, that was the best of winners. Right. And then the best of opposite sex, which it says the best dog of the opposite sex of the best of breed. Yes. So whichever dog, whether it's the winner's dog, the winner's bitch, or any champion that took them on in one, the best of breed. So that's a male that wins. Right. And then there's another category for the winners. That's females or vice versa, the best of opposite sex. Basically, it's like we got all these points sitting around. Let's get rid of some. Good point. Or it's like, did you ever go to a camp and run a race, but you ran terribly, but you still got a ribbon that just a participant. Oh yeah. Maybe it's like that. That's like every

race I ever ran. That same here. Basically. I had a trophy once that just, it was a sad face. Really? Yeah. There's a baseball bat just kind of sitting at the foot of the kid with his head hung down frowning. Yeah, I played church sports. So we didn't, they didn't do a lot of trophies even in church leagues. Like the ultimate victor of the church league got a trophy, but they weren't big on like ribbons and trophies. The ultimate victor of the church league, I would imagine is salvation. Yeah. We all won. Okay. So then you've got your best of breed winner. And then that dog can then advance to a group show where all these best of breed winners compete, aka, or AKC, Westminster. Right. So to make that point, when you are at a specialty show and you're aiming for

Westminster, which I imagine every dog there is, you want to win best of breed. You can win points and become a champion through winning other stuff like best of opposite sex, best of winners, winners, dog winners, bitch, right? Yes. But to move on to the next level, you have to win best of breed of that show and you have to win a bunch, I imagine. That's right. And at this point, half of our listeners are delighted and half their eyes are rolling back in their head. Man, we just explained the heck out of that. I agree. So we're at Best in Show. Yeah. The movie. That's such a good movie. If you've not seen Best in Show, the Christopher Guest film. Yeah. Just go out and see it right now. Yeah. Just stop. I think it's streaming right now. I'm

sure it is. Yeah, it's really good. It's hard to pick out a favorite part of that movie, but the scene that always pops up to me is when Parker Posey is trying to get a replacement. Was it a bee? Yeah, it's a bee stuffed animal. She can't find it. Yeah. And the guy's trying to help her. He's like, well, this is yellow and black and it was like a parrot or something. I can't remember it all, but she's just like my hero. Yeah, she's great. She's very good. All right. So a little bit on the AKC. There are several hundred dog breeds in the world, but the AKC only recognizes a little over 150. 150. That's it. And they separate those into groups. And yeah, the AKC loves categorizing, breaking, putting dogs into categories and breaking them

down and then putting them in a new category. Yeah. And that's what they do here. And the poor dogs are just like, what? Can I have them treat? Can I get a begging strip or what? Squirrel. Okay. Sporting dogs is one. Obviously, these are dogs that are good for hunting, pointers, retrievers, setters and spaniels. Yeah, those are good dogs. Great dogs. Hounds, beagles, bloodhounds, toxins. I like hounds except for the baying, the howling. How do they howl? Yeah, a beagle. Have you never heard like a beagle? No, I've never had a beagle or a beagle that much. They are loud and insistent. Really? Super cute puppies, though. Possibly the cutest puppies of any breed, I think. Yeah. Those and oh, man, what's the one I'm thinking of? Little

puffballs. It's an Asian dog. The little puffballs. Maltese? No. Is it a little dog? Yeah. In the end? Yeah, but the puppies are little puffballs and they stay puffballs. Oh, a Pomeranian? Yes. Yeah. Those are pretty cute puppies. Yeah, they don't even look real. It looks like a squeezer, but it should make a little noise. Right. They do. They do. Yeah, but you don't want to do that. Okay. Working dogs. We're talking Great Danes, Rottweilers, St. Bernard's, dogs who are hearty and they even are used as working dogs, like search and rescue stuff like that. Right. And then there's terriers that chase rats. Do they? Maybe even fight Cobra or two. Those are little schnauzers, Scottish terriers, also known as Scotties. Yeah. Bull terriers, which you would recognize as Spuds

McKenzie. Yeah. Man, those things are weird looking. My buddy Clay just got a giant schnauzer. They're big. Well, this thing is like six months old and he's already as big as my biggest dog. Yeah. He's like, just wait till you see his name is Bro. He's like, what do you see Bro at the end of this? He's going to be enormous. How big is he expected to get weight wise? I don't know, but really big. He's awesome. Very, very fun dog. Yeah. Just like for a dog to be that young and that big, they don't have control of their limbs yet. So Bro would just go running downstairs and just like face plant and then get up and, you know, with the happiest expression behind his little eyes that you can't see like that. There. What else? Toy dogs? Yeah. Chihuahuas,

poodles, pugs and how you pronounce it? I always said shih tzu. Is it shih tzu? Shih tzu. Shih tzu. Non-sporting dogs. I guess these are the intellects. This is a catch all breed when you don't have unifying characteristics, which is kind of sad. The one unifying characteristic is these dogs don't play. They don't play bulldogs, dalmatians and the American Eskimo dog, which I've never heard of. Yeah. It's basically like, we don't know what to do with you guys. So we're going to put you in the non-sporting dog. And then two more, herding dogs like Australian shepherds and miscellaneous. So remember, we said that the AKC likes to classify dogs. Yeah. And there's more breeds than it recognizes.

This is a group that they, you can't win points. You can't win any major awards, I believe. But if there's a breed that's starting to get more attention, there's more people breeding it. Yeah. It's like a part of the process of becoming recognized. You start out in the miscellaneous group. So that's pre-recognition, almost. Yeah. Geez. Hey, man. These people are keeping track of like the dog's cocksuredness. I mean, they're, they pay attention to details. All right. So the best of breeds in each of the group are going to compete in the group show. And then if you win that group show, then you compete in the ultimate. I think we skipped that part, which is the all breed show. And that's the all-star game, the Super Bowl. That's the Westminster. The chess

match. Right. The Bobby Riggs versus Billy Jean King. That's when a judge goes through each of these groups and picks out the best. Yep. Right. Seven groups because the eighth can't win. Right. And they basically go through and say, you're number one, you're number two, you're number three, you're number four. And all of a sudden that number one is the best in show. And the controversy erupts. Twitter goes crazy. I'm going to have to pay attention this year. It's, yeah, it's fun to watch. Yeah. I've never watched it where I was like tense. Oh, sure. But you know, I've been like, oh, that's great. Or, oh, really? That's, that's nothing. I'm sure you find yourself rooting for certain dogs though. Yeah. Yeah. There's always a dog. There's always at least one,

if not several, where you're just like, I like that dog right there. All right. Let's talk about the criticism of dog shows. Yeah, because there's definitely plenty. Yeah. It's out there. One of the problems that certain groups have is that when you're talking purebred dogs, you're talking about breeding. And myself and many others are against dog breeding because there's plenty of dogs out there for the taking. Yeah, but they, they're mutts. That's what I'm just kidding. So breeders basically breed these dogs to acquire these, or to at least hold on to these attributes. Yeah. And that means in breeding sometimes, and that means shorter life spans and disease and defects, birth defects.

Yeah. Like Dalmatians tend to suffer from blindness and German shepherds suffer from hip dysplasia. Yeah. And these, these traits have become associated with the breed, these standards of the breed that the AKC maintains. Yeah. And it's kind of like, well, yeah, but if you, if you want to have a dog that meets all these other criteria, it's also going to get dysplasia when it's six. Yeah. And it's just part of inbreeding. It's narrowing of the gene pool. And I've definitely noticed, and this isn't 100% of course, but all the dogs and people I've known who had dogs throughout the years, I've noticed more purebred dogs dying younger than the mutts. Well, supposedly they have a weaker

immune system. Like remember, I don't remember what episode it was, but we were talking about that experiment that people sent, people use scents to detect an immune system different from yours, because when you put together your immune system and somebody else's immune system to reproduction, the kids should have a doubly great immune system. Man, that was a long time ago. Remember that? Yeah, it was. I don't remember what episode it was. Smell maybe? Maybe so. Yeah. So remember a few minutes ago, we were talking about the miscellaneous category can eventually earn you status as an officially recognized breed. The American Border Collie Association, the ABCA, really didn't want their dog to become recognized by the AKC, because they thought that

meant, well, once it's an official breed, then that means breeding will become more intense. And these dogs will suffer from all these things that we just told you about. Yeah, they specifically petitioned with the AKC. They said, please don't recognize us. And the AKC said, we're going to recognize you. I don't think it was maliciously, but they're like, this is what we do and we're going to recognize this dog as a breed. No, they were like, had you not asked, we wouldn't know, but you did. So sorry. And PETA has also filed an official objection against tail docking, which is when they amputate the tail to see the little nub. Yeah, it's not just tails, the ears. Oh yeah, your cropping. Yeah. There's a lot of breeds that

have these unnatural attributes that you have to perform surgery on to get. Yeah. Which is counterintuitive because you're talking about the idealized version of a breed. Yeah. Why would you have to take some sort of technological step to, yeah, to reach that ideal version? Like, if it doesn't happen naturally, it seems really awful. Yeah, it does to me too. But I mean, I don't even declaw my cats. So, yeah, that's the way to go. That's the way I, but I've got crap all over my house. It's cat scratched. But at the same time, you know, Holly Fry of pop stuff. She was talking about how she lets her cats play on their iPad. Oh, really? And I was like, you must have a serious scratch guard because there's like cat playing apps on iPad. Oh, wow.

And she's like, I don't think we have a scratch guard. Well, when cats play around like that, they'll usually don't have the claws out. They're usually just pawing around. You would hope. But yeah, I wouldn't put one on my iPad. No way. I put on the little sticky things. They have like clear tapeettes that you put on like your couch arm. Yeah. And those are unsightly and collect hair and dust and just one of the things if you're an animal owner with five animals in your house, it's hard to not live with some hair. Do you have a Roomba? No, you should probably get a Roomba. It might change your life. Yeah, I'm in love with my vacuum cleaner. So I feel like that would be cheating on Luxie. Nice. Yeah. Okay. So what else was there? Oh, Jonah Goldberg had some words

about breeding, especially with the AKC. He compares it to eugenics. Yeah. In fact, he thought it spurred the eugenics movement. Yeah. And we're like, oh, wow, we have this really great dog and we should do this with humans. I'm tired of people with epilepsy. Let's just get rid of them. And of course, you can go back and read or listen to is it legal to sterilize addicts? Yeah, that was basically was all about eugenics. That's true. He also contends and not really contends is pretty obvious that it's a beauty pageant. They're focusing on these physical attributes. And only the aesthetic matters in his opinion. And that's not something he says, you know what, if you want to judge a hunting dog, take it out hunting, right, and see how it does

there because he's jogs, but these dogs, these dogs have jobs. You know, most dogs do have a job of some sort. Right. And let's see how they do in their job. Yeah, like that's how you would truly appreciate a breed. And not just its looks. And you mentioned UK's crux, the England kennel club runs crux. And they do have lots of agility and stuff like that. Apparently, they're criticized for going too far the other way, right, that they need to bring back more confirmation, confirmation, right. But yeah, if you if you go to England and you're into dogs, you're going to be very surprised because their their big show doesn't look anything like ours. Yeah, those are the well, we'll get into agility trials. But is that what they have in there where

you're running between the your bobbin and weaving and going through the tunnels and yeah, obedience stuff too. Yeah. And the AKC has these things that's just not part of the big one, the Westminster show. Right. But Chuck, you would also probably appreciate England's kennel club, maybe more than the AKC because they have something called scruffs. Yeah, I want to see this televised. It's it's basically the crux for crossbreed dogs, non purebred dogs. And it's just adorable that they have this and they welcome anything pretty much. Yeah. I mean, obviously, you have to have your dog trained. You can't just walk up off the street. But as far as breeds go, you can enter your dog. The criteria are pretty wide open. And they just look for good temperament, good health,

and good character, which I like. Yeah. So we talked about agility trials. These are sometimes separate competitions all together. Right. And then, like you said, in England incorporated into the best in show. And that's where they're basically doing like a little obstacle course, which is adorable off leash. I mean, did you see this picture? That's the cutest picture ever in this article how dog shows work. Yeah. It's just a little terrier jumping over like a little post and he's got this look in his face like I'm going to do it. He is going to do it. He's got his tail up. Man, that's a cute picture. And then obedience trials are basically taking commands from the handler like, you know, you got to be listening. Some of the commands are just

vocal. Some of them you can't speak at all. And you're just using hand gestures. And they're just seeing how well trained your dog is. Right. Yeah. The dog can become the champion, which is the national obedience champion, which has got to be kind of a dubious honor among dogs. Like you're the most obedient dog in all the land. Yeah. It's kind of like Kurt Russell, when he was like the star of Disney movies. It's like, yeah, you're a movie star, but you're also like this, you know, clean cut teen. Oh, that's great. I remember those. But even he distanced himself later. It's like, no, I'm better than this. I'm snake pliskin. Exactly. Yeah. I forgot about those early movies. Those were awesome. I was a big fan of those. What was it that the

kid with two white shoes or something like that? They were really like vanilla. Yeah, they're pretty vanilla. Yeah. So over the years, we have a few little stats. The breed that has won the most, the Fox Terrier 13 times, not bad. Yeah. The dog that has won the most was champion Warren Remedy, who is a Fox Terrier who won three times in a row in the early 1900s. So that's pretty good. Yeah. My favorite's the oldest dog to win. The eight year old Papillon. Oh yeah. He won in 1999. Champion low-tiki supernatural being. And the youngest ever was a rough collie named Laund Loyalty of Bellhaven and won on its nine month birthday. Nine months old. It's pretty young. Makes bro look like an idiot. Bro is an idiot. He's lovable though.

And I guess it's about it, right? Yeah. I'm going to watch this year. It's appointment TV for me now. Good. That is good. I think you'll like it. And then go on to Twitter and register your anger or your happiness at the winner. I will do so. Maybe a live tweet. Your thumbs are going to hurt. I got to get our Twitter login. I don't even know it. Well, you're the Twitter master. I just leave that to you. I will email it to you. Okay. And by the way, our Twitter handle is syskpodcast. Yeah, I knew that part. The war on drugs impacts everyone. Whether or not you take drugs. America's public enemy number one is drug abuse. This podcast is going to show you the truth behind the war on drugs. They told me that I would be charged for conspiracy to distribute 2200 pounds

of marijuana. Yeah. And they can do that without any drugs on the table. Without any drugs. Of course, yes, they can do that in on the prime example. The war on drugs is the excuse our government uses to get away with absolutely insane stuff. Stuff that'll piss you off. The property is guilty. Exactly. And it starts as guilty. It starts as guilty. The cops, are they just like looting? Are they just like pillaging? They just have way better names for what they call like what we would call a jack move or being robbed. They call civil asset for it. Be sure to listen to the war on drugs on the I heart radio app, apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. From Wall Street to Main Street and from Hollywood to

Washington, the news is filled with decisions, turning points, deals and collisions. I'm Tim O'Brien, the senior executive editor for Bloomberg opinion. And I'm your host for crash course, a weekly podcast from Bloomberg and I heart radio. Every week on crash course, I'll bring listeners directly into the arenas where epic upheavals occur. And I'm going to explore the lessons we can learn when creativity and ambition collide with competition and power. Each Tuesday, I'll talk to Bloomberg reporters around the world, as well as experts and big names in the news. Together, we'll explore business, political and social disruptions and what we can learn from them. I'm Tim O'Brien, host of crash

course, a new weekly podcast from Bloomberg and I heart radio. Listen to crash course every Tuesday on the I heart radio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Okay, so Chuck, if anybody wants to learn more about best in show and dog shows and to see this adorable picture of this terrier, jumping in midair. Man, it's a cute picture. You can type in dog shows in the search bar at howstuffworks.com. And since I said search bar in there, I imagine it's time for listener mail. But first, Chuck, I feel like we should wish everybody a happy new year. Yeah, I hope you had a great 2012. And if it wasn't great, here's the better days I had. Very nice. Very nice, Chuck. And I want to wish a very, very happy birthday to my sweet and wonderful

wife, Umi. Happy birthday, babe. Happy birthday. That's very sweet. Okay, listener mail, huh? Yes. Okay. All right, Josh, I'm going to call this crying during music. And this is from Angela in Columbus, Ohio. Take a look guys. My family. Take a blue. Who's blue? Michigan. Oh, tough words. All right, guys. Listening to Chuck talk about his experience at Carnegie Hall made me want to share this story. I heard a story one day about a new musical based on a book Wicked. And I know we all know this musical now about the Wizard of Oz. Yeah, yeah. I had a soundtrack for about a year before I saw it. And I found out there was a Broadway Across America tour coming

to Columbus, Ohio. My husband and I bought tickets, went with a group of friends, had been listening to the soundtrack for about a year, as I said. So I was really excited. So I'm watching the show, really enjoying it, getting swept up in the stage production and the acting. The music was better than I even thought it could be. And when they hit the main song Defying Gravity, sung by Edina Menzel on the soundtrack, that's when it happened. I had a Chuck moment broke down, sobbing like a little baby. I don't know if I call it a Chuck moment. I mean, I'm sensitive, but that's pretty hilarious. All right, I'm weepy. The song itself is incredibly moving overall. There's a point in the middle where there's a break from the action. Before

she hits the third verse, she says a few lines, turns the last line into this incredibly cathartic note and takes off in flight. Sitting here, remember it, I'm actually choking up. And that's where I could no longer control myself all through the third verse. I'm sobbing uncontrollably, loud gasping sobs. But my husband and my brother-in-law offered me comfort, but I could not control myself. I cried to the end of the song, and the house lights were coming up for intermission. My husband gave me a hug, not really knowing why I was so moved, and I still can't say why. I was a mess and incredibly embarrassed, but it was a beautiful moment for this touching character who speaks to me. P.S., and this from Angela in Columbus,

P.S. I feel a sense of strength and catharsis also currently while listening to Shake It Out by Florence and the Machine. Well, that was a specific email. Yeah. Thanks for sharing your story. What was that person's name? Angela. Thanks a lot, Angela. We appreciate that. That's pretty cool. So what do you want to say? I don't know. Dog Show stories? What do you think? No? Yeah. Sure. Dog Show stories, it is. If you want to get in touch with us about your Dog Show story, you can tweet to us. Remember, it's S-Y-S-K Podcast. And of course, we're on Facebook, facebook.com, slash stuff you should know. And you can send us a good old-fashioned email to stuffpodcast at discovery.com. For more on this and thousands of other topics,

visit HowStuffWorks.com. The war on drugs is the excuse our government uses to get away with absolutely insane stuff. Stuff that'll piss you off. Cops, are they just like looting? Are they just like pillaging? They just have way better names for what they call like what we would call a jackmove or being robbed. They call civil answer for it. Be sure to listen to the war on drugs on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Listen to Squirrel Friends, the official RuPaul's Drag Race podcast on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.