A show ring is usually about 20-30 feet on a side, surrounded a baby-gate kind of fold-up barrier. The size of the ring can vary depending on how much room is available for all the rings in the building. In the sort of perversity for which show superintendents are known, at the Columbus, Ohio shows the ring for hulking Irish Wolfhounds is always the size of a postage stamp while the ring for tiny Chihuahuas seems to cover an acre.
If the ring is indoors, the floor has a rubber mat about 3 feet wide along the perimeter and one diagonal from the entrance of the ring to the far corner. If the show is an outdoor one, the ring is on grass. At the entrance to the ring is a pole with a stardard at the top bearing the ring number. Taped to the pole is the program of judging for that ring. In order to examine small breeds more comfortably, there's a small table about 3½ feet high inside the ring. Along one side of the ring are the placement placards for 1st through 4th place, Best of Breed, Best of Winners and Best of Opposite Sex.
Just inside the entrance and to one side are two chairs, one for the judge and the other for the ring steward. A table, about 2 feet by 3 feet, between them holds the prize ribbons, the armbands the steward is handing out to exhibitors, a walkie-talkie to communicate with the announcer; one basket with handiwipes, paper towels, and tissues and another with hard candy which has been sitting in someone's car trunk for the last year. Nice clubs provide chocolates and caramels for the judge and exhibitors. There may also be a little floral display to brighten the table up. Beneath the table is a cooler with a variety of drinks for the judge and steward.
The only people allowed in the ring are the judge, the steward, those exhibitors who are having their dogs judged, and the show superintendent. The clean-up crew and show photographer may also be summoned as needed. Usually, there are some chairs at ringside or people may bring their own. Strictly speaking, no one is allowed to set up grooming tables at ringside or bring crates containing dogs, but this rule is sometimes relaxed for toy breeds so long as it doesn't interfere with traffic at ringside.
The steward arrives at the ring about a half hour before judging is scheduled to begin in order to organize the ribbons, armbands, and any trophy cards. There's a full show catalog at kept at ringside, on the cover of which canny stewards write something like "Stolen From Ring 6" in large letters in order to discourage it walking off. The steward also has a book of the catalog entries of the breeds and dogs for that ring that day.
When he's finished getting things ready he takes a tour of the ring to pick up distracting objects that might have blown in: dust bunnies, scraps of paper, and the like. At our show one year, there was a pile of mulch at the end of the pavillion for the county fair the next week. The pile was four feet high and thirty feet long and there was a strong breeze blowing it into the pavillion and the rings. When he's made sure the mats are secure or that there aren't any hidden holes in the grass, he's ready to hand out armbands to the exhibitors waiting at ringside.
About ten minutes before judging begins, the judge arrives with the judge's book. This book is quite different from the show catalog or the stewards book, consisting of bound pages with tear-off carbons and with only the armband numbers of the dogs entered that day for that ring. The judge and the steward discuss how the judge wants the ring run: things like where to line the dogs up when they enter the ring, where to place the table, whether to have the dogs on entering the ring line up in the numerical order of their armbands (known as catalog order) or not. Because the show runs on a strict schedule, the two synchronize their watches. Just before the show begins, the National Anthem might be played, a touch I always like. Then proceedings can begin.