Actually I would have thought that the older version of figure skating, school figures (in which they had to have perfect movements, posture and expression while they traced a perfect circle into the ice, or an oval) was more like a dog show. Now ice skating is more free and flexible, which doesn't apply to dog shows at all. But the judging of the sport is indeed very similar: they are judged based on strength, flexibility, posture and expression. Apart from dog shows, they are also judged on the choreography of their performance (creativeness, originality, etc.).
