As exhibitors increasingly turned to more
unusual breeds, many of European origin,
the number introduced into the None
Sporting Group, which then included all
breeds which could not naturally be
considered Gundogs, Hounds, Terriers or
Toy breeds, grew steadily until the mid 60s
when everyone considered the group, then
consisting of thirty two breeds, too large. The solution was to split the group into Working Dogs and the rest, to be known as Utility Breeds, Collies as one of the Pastoral Breeds was placed in the Working Group.
Escalating entries introduced new problems for show organising societies and lack of space, whilst not the only problem, was perhaps the most pressing. In the last weeks of this decade Richmond Dog Show Society held its first two day Championship Show, having, on the previous year, hosted the largest one day show ever known with an entry of 11,047 made by 7,160 dogs. This being more than double the entry of 5,864 from 3,440 dogs seen at their 1961 show. At Cruft’s, where entries also outstripped available space, the Kennel Club elected to introduce a qualifier in 1967 restricting entries to dogs who had been placed at Championship Shows in the preceding year. In this way it was hoped that entries would be reduced to more manageable numbers without excessively penalising the regular exhibitor on which the sport relied.
