The first modern dog show might have been a marketing gimmick, but certainly it was a side show – an added attraction to the annual cattle show at Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1859.  Only setters and pointers were shown, and the prizes reflected the sporting nature of the show: Guns.  Later that year, the first show to include non‑sporting breeds would be held in Birmingham, and it was such a success that a year later, the Birmingham Dog Show Society ran the first National Dog Show for which there were 30 breeds entered in 267 entries. There would be no looking back.

But what of the days before organized shows?

Popular wisdom holds that after a day in the field, sportsmen gathered at the local public house with their dogs and after a pint or two, compared their dogs. Certainly there was no uniform agency, no registry that regulated breeds, let alone breeding. The concept of keeping records of purebred dogs just wasn’t thought to be particularly important. That would change with the formation of The Kennel Club in England. As people came together in competition, it was important that when dogs were compared with each other, they be the same breed.

Jessica Hope wrote a wonderful article on the history of dog shows in England with some fine photographs accompanying the piece.

An Early Canine Meeting (1855) by R. Marshall