Becoming: Encouraging Young People to Compete
BY JACQUELYN FOGEL continued
group judging into a 2-hour show. I am not opposed to this event as much as I used to be, but I still struggle with the concept, and who benefits from it. I know we shouldn’t compare Westminster to this show, yet comparisons are inevitable. Westminster is in a City that adores dogs at a time of year when it feels really good to spend a couple of days inside watching all things doggy. Many of the spectators who watch Group judging are local residents, and everyone who watches the show on TV loves that it is a live broadcast. The advertising and prestige of Westminster brings in spectators from all over the world. Money from outside the Fancy pours into this event, and it makes spending seem much more worth- while. I don’t know how much money the AKC spends on the Florida shows, but I suspect little of it is offset by peo- ple from outside the Fancy. We exhibitors and club mem- bers are footing most of the bills, and that doesn’t feel right. Maybe I have this all wrong. Maybe a week in Florida is worth a lot more to dog people than I think it is. I love Meet-The-Breed events and Performance events, but I want them to be viewed by crowds of people from out- side the Fancy. I want to attend shows that are exhibitor friendly – like the Chicago and Cleveland shows, and I don’t care if the weather outside is unseasonably warm. I don’t think we need to have clubs subsidizing the AKC delegate meeting in Florida to make sure there are enough ring stewards for the event. I want an extravagan- za like this to be held where spectators from outside the Fancy love it and look forward to seeing it every year. If the Superbowl can be held in football crazy, sometimes brutally cold cities, then so can the AKC National Dog Show. I know there are dog-friendly places outside New York. The Pacific Northwest comes to mind. I think we’re spending a lot of money on these shows, and I’d just like somebody to tell me who is reaping the benefits . n Jackie Fogel got her first purebred basset in 1969, but her real education in the world of AKC dogs and shows started in 1979 when she moved to Wisconsin and whelped her first home-bred champion. In 1995 Jackie got a bedlington terrier from David Ramsey of the famous Willow Wind line. She has bred and shown numerous #1 bedlingtons, and continues to actively breed both bassets and bedlingtons. In 2007 Jackie began judging, and is approved to judge 6 breeds. She owns and manages Cedar Creek Pet Resort, and is active in the Kettle Moraine Kennel Club, Keep Your Pets, Inc., (a non-profit she founded), and the local Rotary club. Jackie writes for ShowSight Magazine, the basset column in the Gazette, and a pet column in a local magazine.
between 8:00 am and 6:00 pm. The public exercise areas are very small and spaced out in the grooming area. They become pretty disgusting quickly after the private pens come down. It would be wonderful to be able to take dogs outside for a walk in the warmer weather, but there are very few areas that allow dogs, and they are very far away from the grooming building. Florida is not a dog- friendly state. The ground-cover they call grass is not familiar to the feet of many dogs, and the hotels close to the show site offer very small areas where pet exercise is allowed. The show and hotels do not provide clean-up equipment, so all exhibitors must carry their own clean- up supplies at all times. If you travel with your dogs in a car, you need to be aware of heat issues, though this year the weather was on the cool side, so that was not a prob- lem. The biggest reason many average exhibitors don’t want to go to large shows like the AKC National in Florida, is they feel like these shows are rigged to favor the top-winning dogs. Yes, a common exhibitor may be able to win a major or earn Grand Champion points, but few expect the judges to point to anybody except han- dlers when it comes to Best of Breed or Group judging – and all of the big money awards are reserved for those wins. I personally would like more emphasis and bigger prizes for breed winners, but that’s not likely to happen. They are good shows to send class dogs with handlers because many breeds have majors, and that benefits some owners and breeders who can afford to get their class dogs to the shows. Unlike Westminster in New York, the Florida shows do not draw in the same numbers of spectators. Because Florida is not a dog-friendly state, few of the locals have much interest in all things doggy. I think dogs are con- sidered more of a nuisance than an attraction. People who are visiting Florida don’t want to spend long days inside a huge building when outside adventures are so numerous. The AKC advertising for these events is getting really good, but attendance is still small for the size of the event. Exhibitors are the spectators. We are the ones who visit the vendors, buy the food and line-up to watch the Group judging. So who does this huge extravaganza benefit? Outside the increased entries the local Florida Clubs get, and the delegates who get a mini-vacation in warm weather, I don’t know. I’m sure the hotels don’t care if our dogs aren’t there having accidents in the lobby and on the ele- vators. I suspect the convention center would continue to prosper without this really messy event. The residents and visitors don’t seem to care if we’re there. At least this year’s show went back to being televised so it is possible to say that the event was worth the positive press expo- sure we received. I know a lot of people who planned to watch the event on New Year’s Day. However, like the National Show in Philadelphia, this show was taped and heavily edited. I heard comments from people that they didn’t like watching as much as they enjoyed Westminster because everything was so rushed. It’s hard to collapse all
180 • S how S ight M agazine , J anuary 2018
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