Open Shows

[Katana]

Open shows are dissappearing faster than ice in the desert!!! Checking the two weekly papers there is a serious lack of shows to enter. I hope that the KC are happy with what they are doing but I for one think that they are doing more harm than good (nothing new there!!!).

We need the open shows to help new puppies and judges coming up but as it stands come 10-15 years there will be no shows as we will not have any judges!!!!!

My local club used to hold to succesful shows a year but are now down to one, something needs to be done to encourage open shows not get rid of them.

 

[JAX]

Every one seems to start at Champ shows nowdays, At Richmond there were so many whipptets losing places by poor handling ( and i dont mean Puppies !!)The handlers/ owners not have the `ringcraft knowledge ` that you learn at Open shows .

I just think to myself ,`what a waste of £20.00!!`

With some of the judges we get at open shows , you waste money entering under them too , Again the fault of the kennel club . too many rules and regs ,who can judge this and how many etc .

I dont know what the answer is ,

It used to work one time , we had sanction , limit and open shows all going together and all getting good entries . Im glad I dont have to do the KC criteria for getting passed for C C `s now adays , it dosnt give any body any enthusiasim(sp) to do it .

But I cant understand any one taking on a breed they so obviously now `jack s,, t`about , as what happened at a recent open show , no wonder she only had 5 whippets entered .That sort of entry wont help the society at all will it .thats how society `s lose there licence

 

[dawn]

Open shows are dissappearing faster than ice in the desert!!! Checking the two weekly papers there is a serious lack of shows to enter. We need the open shows to help new puppies and judges coming up.

My local club used to hold two succesful shows a year but are now down to one, something needs to be done to encourage open shows not get rid of them.

Many points arise from Katana's post. (slightly modified above)

The lack of open shows is a concern but, like Jax, I remember the times when attending an open show was something special and not taken as the starting point.

The recent increase in the number of open shows in the last 5-10 years has IMO lowered the status of these shows. Where a society would have run a Limit and an Open show per year they went to 2 or 3 Open shows hoping to make more money - why do society's need money - if they 'break even' over the year surley that is a success.

We used to have Exemption shows which are now Companion shows so no change there.

Then were Sanction shows which were very restricted in number of classes and who could enter. These were the basic 'proper' show. I recall one evening sanction show at Newton memorial hall in Chapeltown where Hillsdown Tobique was being shown and her sister Claire-de-Lune. Both dogs looked really well. Phil and Vic had travelled ther ON THE BUS...... which you would never envisage these days.

The next level was (is) the Limit show which is almost the same as the Open show except that you must be a member to show. So why not train your pups and judges at Limit shows?

My opinion is that there is no need to encourage open shows per se but to encourage shows to be run that the exhibitors enjoy. This is where the success is for the society and the exhibitor.

Like Jax where a society has breed classes particularly our breed there is no reason why they should not get a breed specialist as there are so many 'judges' wanting (needing) hands on experience and are willing to judge 3 or 4 classes even at Limit shows for that experience.

 

[silas]

Let's not forget those who love showing but due to circumstance cannot make the journey to Champ shows. Living in Cornwall I understand that many of our local show enthusiasts are just not able to get to the Champ shows. It takes about 2 hours to get out of the county, a price we pay for living on the tip of the country.

However some of the Senior Citizens of showing who previously made epic journeys to exhibit their dogs can no loger do so due to health problems. We must remember that we may be among them one day. How would we feel to have our showing days taken from us? :b

 

[janfiers]

:- " Some of us can even remember Primary shows which came before even the sanction show but in fact were very similar although confined to a smaller number of dogs. Ashfield C.S. has in their catalogue archive a couple of catalogues and the entry fee was a halfpenny, which in todays terms would not even be a quarter of a penny. BIS got £2 10s (£2.50) PLUS a trophy to keep.

As sec of a general society, not only have the KC damaged the whole open show scene with stupid rules about average entries ratio to open shows held per year, the dog press have put up their rates for advertising to such astronomical heights that we have not advertised our shows for the last 3 years. Has it made a difference? Yes it has, we have saved around £400 and there has been no loss of entries through the fact that our show has not been advertised!

As a society as long as we cover our costs, with a little reserve in case of emergencies then we are quite happy and consider ourselves to have been successful. Since becoming sec we have made a modest profit each year.

I agree with Jax about wasting money at Champ shows when both handler and puppy are complete novices, but that seems to be a sad reflection of society these days. Not many people want to start at the bottom of the ladder and work their way up it, they expect to start at the top.

Anyway here's an opportunity to hear about one Open Show, that's ours. It's on Saturday, 13th February, 2005 at Belper Leisure Centre (cos Alfreton will still allegedly be unavailable due to refurb) and Whippets will have 4 classes. The judge is from up north, but until I have received his acceptance better not tempt fate and say who it is. Italian Greyhounds will be on also for 3 classes with a different judge. Timing is good for pre Crufts practice also and will mean that yours truly can go to Scotland this year and celebrate Hogmanhay with my son and new wife!!

 

[dawn]

Anyway here's an opportunity to hear about one Open Show, biggrin.gif biggrin.gif biggrin.gif that's ours. It's on Saturday, 13th February, 2005

EEEEEE Jan

that is just a short time before another Open show which is also ideally timed for the pre Crufts run-in.

Held at Grenoside Community Centre in Sheffield with the (handler of) BIS at Crufts 2003 judging Whippet bitches and another lady from Lancashire judging the Whippet dogs.

 

[janfiers]

there's always somebody to go one better!

Jan

 

[Katana]

Having been involved in the breed for nearly 30 years starting in Junior Handling I agree with Jax that the standard of handling in many breeds is awful. I have seen top handlers and breeders in my other breed and how their dogs do anything I don't know! I know it should be on the quality of the dog but bad handling can make a good dog look terrible and good handling can make a mediocre dog look good.

I can also remember open shows where Whippets used to receive really good entries but now you are lucky to get more that 10 - 15. It is not only Whippys though look at the GSD and English Setter entries over the last few years.

I personally enjoy the open shows rather than the ch shows as their is usually a better atmosphere and other exhibitors are more willing to give advice to novice exhibitors.

 

[~JO~]

I can also remember open shows where Whippets used to receive really good entries but now you are lucky to get more that 10 - 15. .

I don't know where you are based but down in the south-west nearly all the open shows have at least 30 entries, one I went to a couple of months ago had 50 entries! You are really lucky to even get placed most of the time I obviously live in the right (or is that the wrong) part of the country!!