Page 172 - ShowSight - September 2019

One Person’s Look at the Current and Future... BY WALTER J. SOMMERFELT continued
“I WOULD LIKE TO SEE THE AKC BE- COME PROACTIVE IN GETTING CLUBS TO GO BACK TO THEIR HOMETOWNS and provide their communities the opportunity to share in our wonderful world of purebred dogs.”
events that the average working person could attend with their family the new clusters were adding Fridays and in some cases Thursdays to the weekend. Some of the working people would use vacation days to attend the occasional Friday shows and some Thursday shows but as clusters grew so also did the use of what at the time were called agents. At one time the AKC licensed professional handlers, these were individu- als with kennels and were dedicated knowl- edgeable people that AKC not only inspect- ed but just as with judges controlled which breeds, they were approved to exhibit. They provided their clients with Rate cards and the clients knew in advance what their costs etc. would be. Also, back in those days we did not have the number of publications as we do now promoting the top dogs. Most handlers and exhibitors always showed within a specific area and the competition within various breeds was often between the same exhibitors show after show and many bonds and friendships were formed because people truly cared about their breeds and preserving and promoting them. Following breed judging often little picnics and many discussions among fellow breed exhibitors took place with many staying to cheer on the breed winner of the day in the group. These were fun times and many a lifetime of friendship were built. Conversa- tions between judges and exhibitors were commonplace and considered great learn- ing opportunities with no one questioning integrity and impropriety.
AKC eventually dropped the licensing of professional handlers and the new term was agents. Many of these individuals did not have kennel set ups and were no longer under the direct supervision of the AKC. Basically, they were free to charge whatever was agreed upon between themselves and the clients. Some were very qualified while others were using it to supplement their income from a regular Monday through Friday job. As more and more clusters grew into three- and four-day weekends more
and more RV’s started to appear, and ven- ues now had to deal with providing park- ing for these vehicles and the electric to maintain them. To be considered “excep- tional” numerous venues were starting to supply indoor locations with heat and air conditioning as well as electrical outlets for grooming. These changes eventually led to a decline in outdoor shows with tenting and many of the smaller fairgrounds that most clubs were using. These exceptional ven- ues also caused an increase in costs to the clubs which of course were passed on to the exhibitors in rising entry fees.
The most dramatic and damaging change caused by clusters was the eventual move of many clubs from holding shows within their own community and now showing in the new cluster locale. Clubs joined together to form cluster mainly for financial reasons to share the venue as well as the cost of judges and give the exhibitors and handlers what they wanted. Initially there were not a very large number of three and four day clusters, however over time these expanded to many less than excep- tional venues and the number of clusters grew to where there are now several 4-5 day clusters on the same weekend throughout the country and we now have very few two day weekend stand alone shows remaining. In the 1970’s almost every show had over 1,000 dogs while some clusters had between 2,000-3,000 dogs a quick look now shows many of these cluster now with entries of between 500-1,000 with an average of around 800 why is that?
The main reason is there are now a lot of shows on any given weekend. Most of these shows are attended by professionals as the average person is working on Thursday and Friday and many don’t want to attend if they can’t do the entire circuit. It is also known that over time club leadership changes and clubs that once partnered together may now have individuals that don’t work together for any number of reasons including a declining membership due to aging. These
leadership changes have caused many clus- ters to deal with break ups or difficulties in the clubs working together.
Clusters have also taken the shows out of the club’s home territory thus eliminat- ing an opportunity to showcase our sport to that community. To verify this one only needs to look at the number of shows being held in Springfield, Massachusetts, Purina Farms in St. Louis and a few other select venues around the country. Those clubs that choose to remain in their territory are often faced with tight financial budgets, somewhat limited available venues and defi- nite limits on the judge pool available to fit their needs.
I would like to see the AKC become pro- active in getting clubs to go back to their hometowns and provide their communities the opportunity to share in our wonder- ful world of purebred dogs. I propose that the AKC allow any “Member” club that keeps their show in the home territory to be approved for a “Three Day” weekend of shows. The benefits to the club and com- munity are plentiful. First it allows the club to manage its own show and its own weekend without worrying about the other club involved. Second it could return larger entries as now local working exhibitors may take the one vacation day to attend. Costs of judges would be managed more efficiently by dividing expenses by 3 vs 2. The extra day provides the club the opportunity to invite schools, nursing homes and other groups to attend the Friday show as a field trip. It can also give the club an opportunity to provide other items of community inter- est like “meet the breeds”, GCG, Trick dog test, my dog can do that, and other events on one of the three days especially if space is limited. It might also provide for some type of social event that could be used as a fund raiser for a local charity. As the founder and coordinator for the former St. Jude Show- case of dogs. I can attest first-hand the posi- tive publicity that can be generated in the community. During those years hundreds
170 • ShowSight Magazine, SepteMber 2019