“The Big Five”

 “The Trifecta”

 “A Clean Sweep”

All describes a very, very rare and extraordinary feat at a dog show. A happening so remarkable that it will send grown men and women leaping for joy, screeching in octaves never reached before, gushing torrents of tears that seem to have no end and evoking uncontrollable sobbing like there was no tomorrow let alone today!

So, what you call it makes no difference as the results are all the same. The feat will stand the testament of time, always to be remembered by the recipient and thus recited at will to any and all that are cornered, like it or not! Repeated as if on an endless conveyor of thought that spirals round and round. It will be something that will be etched deeply in that part of the brain that attains instant gratification each and every time the event is recalled.

So what are these occurrences that have such overwhelming emotional powers and at the same time have extreme and ominous sounding verbiage?

Just what is a Trifecta, Big Five or a Clean Sweep? How does it pertain to dog shows and to those so affected?

They all describe what every dog show fancier be it breeder, exhibitor or owner dreams about that some day they will experience the thrill of victory reserved for a very minute segment of the fancy’s populace!

WINNING! Not just winning, WINNING IT ALL!

Okay, let’s back up a moment or two and review with a primer of Dog Shows 101.

• Lesson 1: For those that are not very heavy into showing dogs, let’s do a shorten version of why people show dogs. Simply put, they spend ungodly amounts of money in the pursuit of winning at the dog shows with their dogs. Winning is everything at these endeavors, coming close is not even close, for as you look closely at the word C-L-O-S-E, you will see the word L-O-S-E and that is the exact opposite of WIN. So, one dog will WIN and the rest of the pack might come CLOSE and NOT WIN!

• Lesson 2: If you are a breeder, the more your dogs win, the higher your status as a breeder goes. In the circles of dogdom it becomes an obsession to reach that lofty if not mythical pinnacle of  “top breeder”. Winning is all that is important, for winning will bring about the reviews and raves that will bring about the desired proclamation.

• Lesson 3: Okay here is where the Big Five, Clean Sweep and Trifecta terminology comes in, so count along if you will.

1. Dogs and bitches compete at the class level. Each male dog competes against the other males and one male dog will be designated as the Winners Dog.
2. The females follow the same procedure and ultimately the one that ends up as the winner is referred to as the Winners Bitch.
3. As soon as the class dogs have competed and a Winners Dog  (1) and Winners Bitch (2) has been designated by the judge, competition begins for Best Of Breed. Now the champions enter the ring followed by the Winners Dog and Winners Bitch. It is the judge’s job to select the best dog from this lineup of dogs, thus the designation Best Of Breed (3). If the Best Of Breed is a male, then the judge must designate a female as Best Of Opposite Sex (4) and vice versa. Finally, the judge must decide between the Winners Dog and the Winners Bitch as to which is the better of the two and this dog is awarded Best Of Winner (5)

Winning just one of the above placements is grounds for massive celebrations from the recipients. The leaping, screeching and sobbing is sure to follow with the bestowment of one of those 5 designations.

Now armed with the above primer and subsequent information, it will become evident that the impact of winning each and every award at a dog show has to those in the fancy. So winning all five awards becomes the Big Five or the Clean Sweep. To me winning Winners Dog (1), Winners Bitch (2)  and Best of Breed (3) becomes the Trifecta.

For a breeder, trainer, and handler, winning the Big Five is a dream come true. To have all your dogs win each and every award becomes the ultimate validation for your breeding program. It is the stamp of approval from an acknowledged authority, the judge that all of your dogs are the best at that given show.

As the breeder of all those winning exhibits, you are allowed to strut your stuff, walk the walk, talk the talk and whatever other form of celebration will adequately express your elations of achieving something that most will only dream about!

Call it what you may, Big Five, Clean Sweep or Trifecta it is a rare feat that few will savor, but when it becomes reality, the recipients become part of a very small fraternity. To win each and every award for your breed at one given show is comparable to a hole in one in golf (none for me, as I don't do golf), a perfect 300 game in bowling (I've bowled 3) and pitching a no hitter in baseball ( I got struck out 3 times in high school by on opposing pitcher that pitched a no hitter against my team).

As a boast and brag, in the 18 years of showing and in particular the last 13 years of showing our own bred-by dogs we have achieved an incredible 21 Big Fives. The first was in 1992 with Chambrays Russell taking Winners Dog and Chambrays Tikki taking Winners Bitch. They both went into the Best of Breed competition against several specials and Russell was awarded Best of Winners and Best of Breed and Tikki was awarded Best of Opposite Sex, so the first Trifecta, Clean Sweep, Big Five went into the record books for us as breeders.

*More recently in June of 2004, Trifecta #19 was especially sweet as Ch Chambrays Twist of Fate is awarded Best of Breed, with her litter sister, Chambrays Mad About Madeline winning Winners Bitch and Best of Winners and their brother Chambrays Chisholm Sir Lancelot winning Winners Dog. All these dogs are offspring's of JAMSS, BISV Am/Int Ch Chambrays Chisholm Chancey CGC. Thus becoming our first family Trifecta!