Crash Course in Show Termonolgy and Process

Showing was a huge mystery to me with all the ins and outs. I think it took me almost eight months before I even grasped the basics.
I thought I would try to give a little idea as to the goal of showing.

The main idea is to have your dog made up to Champion. In order to be champion your dog must win three Challenge Certificates (CC or tickets for short) and each one must be awarded by a different judge.
In order to compete for Challenge Certificates, you must win your class and appear in a lineup of unbeaten dogs or bitches. One certificate is given for dogs and one for bitches. There is also a Reserve Challenge Certificate (RCC or reserve ticket) given, and that means that if for any reason the CC winning animal is found to be ineligible, or disqualified, the judge feels the RCC winning animal is worthy to be given the CC. A bit like Miss World and her runner up.
There is no time limit on collecting tickets. It can happen in a short span of time, it could take years. You can collect as many CCs as the judges are willing to give you.
Misha's great-grandfather on her sire's side is the UK breed record holder for CCs, 59 of them in a 10 year show career.

After the CCs are awarded the two CC winners, dog and bitch, are then put up against each other for Best of Breed, or BOB.
The BOB winners from all breeds then moves forward to the Group competition. From all the breed winners in the specific group, the Best of Group is selected and that moves forward to compete in the Best in Show.
We are in the Pastoral Group. There are seven groups all total; Working, Pastoral, Gundogs, Hounds, Utility, Toy, and Terrier. So in essence from all the hundreds and even thousands of dogs that are entered in a show,
it comes down to seven dogs competing for a Best in Show win. That's the real prize.
But to be honest, I would be very happy to have Misha become a Champion.

There are other little things like competing in your class.
Each breed will have specific classes, and they are divided out by dogs competing separately and bitches separately. Usually. In smaller 'Open' Shows, not Championship shows (where CCs are on offer) they will have dogs and bitches competing in the same classes.
Usual classes are:

Minor Puppy (6 to 9 months of age)
Puppy (9-12 months)
Junior (12-18 months)
Yearling (18-24 months)
Graduate (no age limit, but win limits)
Post-Graduate (Again, win limits)
Limit
Open
Veteran (8 years and up)

The above can get confusing, and I won't address them now. As a sample, at the moment Misha is 2 wins away from having to move up to Limit from Post-Graduate. She is allowed 5 wins in PG at Championship shows before having to move up.

So, we are really hoping that Misha has gained that little bit of maturity she needs in her beautiful face to hopefully make the judges decide she is not too young for the high honours!
Misha has been given 2 RCCs this year. Both judges have said that she is young, she has time. :)
Let's hope her time is fast approaching!