Nihonken Invitational - Recap and looking forward.
When we first started talking about doing a Nihonken themed show, I knew people would attend. My concern was convincing people who were attending to enter the ring with their dogs. So when pre-entry's closed and we had 29 dogs, I was very happy. From past experience we knew that we would have a "couple" day of show entries. At the 35 dog mark my happiness became excitement by the 40 dog mark that excitement started turning to panic. It was a very happy panic but I kept thinking where did all these nihonken come from. The final tally was 42 entries and knowing who wanted to show but couldn't make it, we could have hit the 50 mark easily.
Without a doubt the show was a hit. I know there was some concern about including the American Akita and Jindo early on. But they really fit in which to me is important because the owners of these dogs have been very supportive of the nihonken community. Our goal here is to promote the nihonken breeds and to me one of the most effective ways to do so is through the altered portion of the show. I'm guessing that 25% of our total entries was in the altered portion.
Looking back on the show, I've already noticed a couple things I would like to change. The show start time got off at 10 in a large part due to the number of day of show entries. So next year we will start at 10. We didn't use ring two at all, so next year we will roll show 2 start time back to noon. I want to build a proper lunch break into to schedule as well. Ring wise, I think two EZ ups extending out to the middle of the ring would provide shade while standing in groups. For group showing I like the 1st-4th setup but maybe do 1st slight larger and fancier.
I do want to get an idea as to what you guys liked and didn't like. Some of it might be out of our control but we can always improve and tweak the show. So please give input. One thing I would like to know is the following: Would community prefer a Saturday Show over a Sunday?
Lastly, I would like to thank the show staff for helping us get this off the ground. It was a new venue for us and at times the show planning was quite intimidating. Once we get the results official, I will post of PDF on here of results, some photos, all the entries/placements, and thanking people. Give me a few days to finish it.
Again thank you for coming out,
Sean
Without a doubt the show was a hit. I know there was some concern about including the American Akita and Jindo early on. But they really fit in which to me is important because the owners of these dogs have been very supportive of the nihonken community. Our goal here is to promote the nihonken breeds and to me one of the most effective ways to do so is through the altered portion of the show. I'm guessing that 25% of our total entries was in the altered portion.
Looking back on the show, I've already noticed a couple things I would like to change. The show start time got off at 10 in a large part due to the number of day of show entries. So next year we will start at 10. We didn't use ring two at all, so next year we will roll show 2 start time back to noon. I want to build a proper lunch break into to schedule as well. Ring wise, I think two EZ ups extending out to the middle of the ring would provide shade while standing in groups. For group showing I like the 1st-4th setup but maybe do 1st slight larger and fancier.
I do want to get an idea as to what you guys liked and didn't like. Some of it might be out of our control but we can always improve and tweak the show. So please give input. One thing I would like to know is the following: Would community prefer a Saturday Show over a Sunday?
Lastly, I would like to thank the show staff for helping us get this off the ground. It was a new venue for us and at times the show planning was quite intimidating. Once we get the results official, I will post of PDF on here of results, some photos, all the entries/placements, and thanking people. Give me a few days to finish it.
Again thank you for coming out,
Sean
Comments
I vote for a Sat. show.
And maybe wondering if using the two rings to separate the genders so that the males don't get "too" distracted when it's their turn from all the marked areas.
I couldn't get Kaiju to pry his nose off of the grass after all the other dogs had done through!
Saturday shows would be great, but I do love the whole idea of the 2 shows in one day. My dogs definitely loosened up by the 2nd go-round.
Jesse
Where's the smugmug link you wanted to provide me so I can direct Jean to upload her photos of the show to it?
Jesse
Me personally, I'd like if show 2 ran one or two breeds behind show 1. (Normally UKC does it a group behind, but we only have one group and its huge.)