Can I also add as an orginiser of a show this year the real headache is worrying that people will attend. We have to buy rosettes at 42 pence each nsurance and the licenses cot £20.00. If you take all the so called "show" people out of the equation lots of companion shows will not be able to continue as the wont meet there overheads.

Oh, I've seen "non-showers" going in a huff before.

Helen

So have I, actually.

I've decided i'll no longer be entering pedigree classes, and will stick to the Novelty classes.

Absolutely. I organised one with RIO this year and although we raised a lot of money for the charity of our choice. You take a chance of who will turn up on the day. Also the weather plays a huge part. So organisers take the chance of losing hundreds of pounds of their own money just trying to do some good for the local charity. Out of the 150 dogs that entered. I would say a good 120 of them were in the pedigree classes and shown by people that showed. We need everyone to enter and can't afford to be picky on who should come or not

Some of this argument mistifies me. Any dog who is KC registered on the breed register can enter a championship or open show. The only difference with companion shows is that the dog does not have to be registered with the kennel club. Now I have a rescue dog I will be doing more companion shows as they are the only ones we can do but when I owned registered dogs I went to both & the only criteria with companion shows was distance & the charity, any charity for close events but I'd travel further to support certain charities I'm involved with. One other thing was with companion shows as you enter on the day really bad weather stopped me going, though if the charity was one of my specials I sent a donation in lieu. When we organised a companion show the weather was our biggest worry.

I have no wish to "say hello" thank you.

I have a history of "charity phobia". To reiterate, those who care give quietly, without fuss. Those who want kudos shout it from the rooftops. I will say no more on the subject.

Your reference to "little shows" is patronising in the extreme. It is indicative of your viewpoint.

I have attended my first show and have accurately recounted what I saw. I suspect this is the norm. Why would someone having "fun" crate their dog on the far side of the field, only to bring it out to show it in one class (- AV Open of course)? My dogs had a great day - these dogs did not, I can assure you.

Westie_N makes valid points. You should listen to her, not condemn her out of hand.

Marionette, Westie_N has only made one point as far as I can tell, and it's simply to complain that there is too much competition in Compaion shows.

Now, if she has ever had to compete against a Champion in AV Terrier at a Companion show then her point is valid, otherwise it is not at all valid, it becomes a whinge and only serves to show her up as a poor sportsman/woman.



Dawn R.

Westie_N does not seem like a poor sport to me. In fact, quite the opposite.

Her posts indicate that she has the interests of the entrants of the Companion shows very much at heart and and the more I read on this forum, the more I see why.

Gosh you do have a phobia don't you :smt001 I would not have said turning up to a show and entering a handfull of classes was anybody shouting it from the rooftops.

Surely the interests of the Companion show is to get as many people through the gates, entering as many classes as possible. Our interest as an individual is perhaps to gain the best chance of winning but I think for the sake of charity and good sportsmanship most of us fight to choke that down :smt001