[martemchik]

If you're talking AKC conformation, most people will tell you that you're just throwing money away. Although she doesn't have any major faults, and is a beautiful girl with pretty good conformation, her glaring weakness is the coat. So unless you run into a bunch of bitches at a show that have bigger faults than the lightness of the coat, you're probably not going to be very successful. It doesn't mean you shouldn't do it, its something fun and its just learning some more about a different venue, but the show world is very very complicated, with people knowing what judges will put up their "type" of dog, and showing under those judges.

AKC is very heavily dominated by black/tan saddlebacks. It's very difficult to achieve a championship with any other coat. Judges have their preferences and then there are a lot of complicated politics that get involved as well. If you're interested in learning...do it! But if your end goal is a championship...its going to take a lot of time and money on your part.

BTW...most judges SHOULD NOT and WILL NOT put up any kind of recessive issues with coat. Blue is a genetic problem, and what is considered a serious fault...I'm surprised that dog got as high as 2nd no matter what its structure looked like. Can't comment since I didn't see the other dogs...but they must've had bigger issues. If a blue dog was the only dog at a show, I would expect the judge to not put it through to the group stage.

Maybe someone who knows AKC shows a little better will chime in, but on the website, pale or washed out colors are listed as serious faults as well in addition to blues and livers. Such a blond tan could be considered pale/washed out by some, but don't quote me on that.