“WE, ALONG WITH AKC, HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO BRING PEOPLE INTO THE FOLD BY SHOWING THEM OUR NEWER PUREBRED BREEDS.”
provide special rings on Friday prior to their shows for Specialties or Nationals. There will be a Meet the Breeds. During the weekend, there will be three oppor- tunities for FSS breeds to compete and up to five for Misc. Sheryl Bradbury, Show Chairman, says interest is boom- ing. One FSS breed calculates 50 or more dogs will compete in their ring. Bradbury plans to establish a suc- cessful club again and as before be able to give back to their community at the same time building the membership to include younger enthusiasts. The FSS and Miscellaneous breed owners are a ready market, already enthused, already devoted to their breeds and to the sport of dogs. Why not take advantage?! The results remain to be seen, but what a great idea! Wishing them all the best. The Golden Gate Kennel Club in the San Francisco area has also been creative with Open Shows. They have provided two days of OS, contests for breed booths and many special activities for the public and exhibitors. In addition, last year they provided two mornings of seminars to acquaint judges with the newer breeds. Representatives of FSS clubs attended the seminars to find ideas to incorporate in their presentations. The public had seen something about the shows and semi- nars on line. One woman, determined to stay in our seminar, snuck back in after I told her it was for registered attendees only. The remote failed just about then so I put her to work advancing slides. She was delighted. PERSONAL EXPERIENCE I personally have judged Open Shows and I have stewarded for OS. The things that stood out to me: • Clubs that appreciate the opportuni- ty of the Open Show go out of their way to welcome these rarer breeds and their owners. They make a big deal of it and bring the FSS winner and Misc. winners into the big ring for their OS BIS just before the regu- lar BIS. The owners are honored and receive huge rosettes. • The exhibitors were nervous and have possibly never shown in a show venue before, so clubs selected judg- es who were outgoing and under- standing. Judges gave many handling tips, repeated instructions and were thanked afterward the extra effort to help.
• The exhibitors were very happy to be there and extremely proud of their dogs. This is huge; think back, this is probably the way you started at Match Shows. • The public from the San Francisco area, having seen the announcement online, was interested in the breeds, visited the set ups and grooming area and stayed to cheer on their favorite dogs in the final round of competition. • A suggestion to the newer clubs for the benefit of your breeds: name the judges in advance so your club secretary can send the judges edu- cational materials. You may not have your standard in final form but some sort of guideline, or country of origin standard. The rules and regulations on Open Shows can be found on the akc.org website or search AKC Open Shows. QUESTIONS I ASKED TO PARTICIPANTS 1. What do you like best with Open Shows? 2. What do you like least? 3. How did you first get involved? How did you hear about the program? 4. Have you found some exciting dogs at these shows? ABOUT THE PARTICIPANTS Karina Wahlman Royal T Kennel, California Karina is very new to showing, an avid believer in form and function and lives on a farm. Karina imported her Transylvanian Hound, Ardo, from Hun- gary at 4 months of age. Ardo needed socialization. I was stewarding when I saw Karina win back-to-back Open Show BISs in Arizona last spring. But it was not easy for Katrina. She was merely trying to expose her puppy to new situations, nev- er thinking she would become interested in showing dogs. She was passed over
many times, no one knew what breed Ardo was and she felt lonely. However, Katrina gradually developed friendships with other rare breed owners. She says after rare breed RBIS, BIS and a BIS Pup- py with a second Transylvania Hound she bought, all in one weekend, she was hooked! The Transylvanian Hound is an elegant, noble hunter and rather rare even in his homeland. Karina will pres- ent at Golden Gate on January 29th.
Denise & Al Parker Southern California
Denise and Al fell under the spell of the Grand Basset Griffon Vendéen when living in Pennsylvania. They were seeking a mobile groomer and Betty Barth of Gebeba PBGVs and GBGVs, was that person. The Parkers have three Grands now, two from the Barth’s and one imported. They have been showing over a year in Open Shows. The Park- ers find out where the Open Shows are held through Facebook.
Brent Humphrey Sidekick GBGVs, Florida
Brent has had other AKC breeds but to build their GBGV program. He and Corey Benedict imported GBGVs from Holland. Brent, Treasurer of GBGVCA and Corey, GBGVCA President, have a huge following. They have worked dili- gently in guiding the Grand to AKC Mis- cellaneous. The breed has nearly com- pleted all requirements to attain regular status and enter the Hound Group.
Marilyn Vinson Chinafleet, Arizona
Marilyn is a breeder/judge of Shar- Pei but wanted to interest her husband some activity when he retired. Falling in love with Bracco Italiano, she found a good breeder and has taken part in Open Shows, traveling far distances to do so. She was a presenter last year for Golden Gate KC seminars, showed
50 • T op N otch T oys , O ctober 2016
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