Big primpin'

She’s ‘in season,’?” explains the well-dressed, fortyish woman while watching her jaunty, stub-legged Cardigan Welsh corgi lope around the Astroturf ring. “So she’s understandably a little distracted.”

Such a conversation between strangers might be baffling in most social circumstances, but not in the world of purebred-dog events such as the International Kennel Club of Chicago’s annual Cluster of Dog Shows, which rolls into town Friday 24.

The shows, which take place at McCormick Place North, give you the chance to see if the filmmakers behind the spoof Best in Show were exaggerating; learn the minute differences between bearded collies and border collies; and hear demure middle-aged women repeatedly use the word bitch without a shred of irony or derision.

More than 100,000 people passed through the turnstiles last year to check out some 3,000 examples of man’s best friend, making the annual event one of the largest all-breed shows in the U.S., says IKC spokeswoman Patricia Montgomery.

Dog competitions have grown in popularity in recent years, with the Super Bowl of dog shows, the Westminster Kennel Club show, pulling down boffo ratings on cable earlier this month. The purebred-dog scene has also gained considerable street cred, with OutKast’s Antwan “Big Boi” Patton trafficking in custom-bred rottweilers, English bulldogs and American pit bull terriers at his kennel near Atlanta.

While many competitions keep the canine talent behind the ring’s velvet rope, Saturday and Sunday’s events are “benched” shows, so spectators can get close to the dogs. “It is a wonderful way for spectators to find breeds and talk to breeders,” club president Lou Auslander says. “We view benching as a chance to educate the public about our dogs.”

Four distinct Best in Show winners, one each day, will be named over the course of the show. All bets are off as to which dogs might bring home the IKC show’s top prizes: Westminster has bestowed top honors to diverse breeds ranging from the petite Norwich terrier to the mammoth Newfoundland over the years, Montgomery notes.

“There are so many different breeds out there who are competing to put that best paw forward,” Montgomery says. “It really defies expectations as to which breeds might win Best in Show.” The same holds true in the “Puppy Spectacular” judging, but with a slightly higher cute factor, as this contest awards the best puppy, ages six months to one year. Youths also take center stage in the Junior Handler ring, where not the dogs but their human counterparts, ages 9 to 19, are judged on their ability to control and showcase their pets.

But the McCormick Place show is about more than pretty faces: As in years past, the dogs will compete in several contests. The most athletic of these is the agility competition, which sends the animals through a sort of canine steeplechase of jumps, slaloms, turns and tunnels. Obstacles are arranged to accommodate the sizes of the dogs, giving spectators the rare treat of watching frankfurter-shaped dachshunds round the same homestretch as German shepherds. In the obedience ring, well-trained canines go at a more deliberate speed, but with an often stunning ability to obey detailed commands.

This year also marks the IKC debut of Rally competition, a race that requires handlers to improvise commands around an ever-changing obstacle course. This new event tests both speed and teamwork between dog and handler, making it a combination of agility and obedience, Montgomery says.

The show also gives pet owners the chance to pick up artwork, supplies, and other dog-related swag, and would-be owners can register with breed rescue groups, which man the more than 150 exhibition booths lining the hall.

Get hounded Friday 24–Monday 27 (773-237-5100, www.ikcdogshow.com). See listings.