# Future national specialties



## Loisiana

2012 St. Louis
2013 Texas
2014 N Carolina
2015 ????
2016 North California

Anyone know about 2015? Who plans on going where?


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## DNL2448

Yeah! I may have something ready for the 2016 National in Northern California! Tag will be 5 so he should be ready for Beginning Novice, or maybe even Novice! Breeze and Dooley will be 10 so they should be good for Veteran Novice or Graduate Novice!


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## BayBeams

2016 sounds like a good goal for my youngster, Baxter. He should be more than ready to show by then. 
Thanks for the info...


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## Gwen

DNL2448 said:


> Yeah! I may have something ready for the 2016 National in Northern California! Tag will be 5 so he should be ready for Beginning Novice, or maybe even Novice! Breeze and Dooley will be 10 so they should be good for Veteran Novice or Graduate Novice!


I'll be right there with you!!!!! We'll compete as to who has the oldest obedience dog trialling for Novice :doh::doh:


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## HiTideGoldens

I'll be there in 2016 for sure! Maybe also Texas in 2013  Just realized this was in agility and obedience....maybe Chloe will be ready for agility in 2 years!


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## Claire's Friend

We'll be at the California one too. Anyone going to Reno next spring????


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## DNL2448

Claire's Friend said:


> We'll be at the California one too. Anyone going to Reno next spring????


I'm planning on it, but just spectating!


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## Claire's Friend

Erica's talking about bringing Teller (Jordan's Dad) out for it. If that happens, we will be there for sure !!!


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## BajaOklahoma

Our Club is hosting 2013.  
Amazing what all is involved. 
Most of our club members work fulltime and are already putting in lots of time. Just finding a venue that met our needs took forever - and you would think there would be lots of locations in Dallas or Fort Worth. Electricity, water, AC, parking, RV spots and services for the RVs. Scheduling breakfasts, and judges and trying not to have schedule conflicts. The list goes on and on.
And nearby clubs have members that are volunteering to help. 
To all of the hosting clubs - thank you for all of the hard work. I appreciate you more now than I ever did and should have at the time.


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## gabbys mom

Our club is hosting 2012! Come on down, it will be a great time.


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## fuzzbuzz

Made a round trip to the Specialty today. Made a promise to myself "I WILL be in St. Louis next year".


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## GoldenSail

Hmmm...2016 is the most attractive for me. Wow, Scout will be old.


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## sammydog

Where did you get the info that 2016 is in Nor Cal?!!

We will be in Reno for the Agility National! WOO HOOO!!!!


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## HiTideGoldens

GoldenSail said:


> Hmmm...2016 is the most attractive for me. Wow, Scout will be old.


I thought the same thing. Jack will almost be old enough to show in Veterans at that show!


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## sammydog

Mira will be 8, wow!


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## Maxs Mom

gabbys mom said:


> Our club is hosting 2012! Come on down, it will be a great time.


Planning on it!!! Do you know Jeannie Greenlee? She is my breeder, I know her club is involved but not sure if it is just for the hunt test or not. I already have my hotel room booked.


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## Maxs Mom

sammydog said:


> We will be in Reno for the Agility National! WOO HOOO!!!!


Wish I could go to that. Someday we WILL meet.


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## gabbys mom

Maxs Mom said:


> Planning on it!!! Do you know Jeannie Greenlee? She is my breeder, I know her club is involved but not sure if it is just for the hunt test or not. I already have my hotel room booked.



I know Jeannie : ) She's awesome!! We've run some hunt tests together- Oz and Bang got their JH at the same time!


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## KatieBlue'sMidnightSky

So far, I plan to attend 2012 St. Louis & 2013 Wichita Falls! Hope we are ready by then! Hoping to do conformation & rally....maybe Hunt. Agility....not yet, too young.


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## MarieP

Loisiana said:


> 2012 St. Louis
> 2013 Texas
> 2014 N Carolina
> 2015 ????
> 2016 North California
> 
> Anyone know about 2015? Who plans on going where?


Ah! I just found out that 2014 will be in NC/SC! God willing, I will be there with Riot and, I'm sure, a new pup.  Let's see, Ri-butt will be 4 or 5. I would LOVE to run him in the Q, and maybe he will be ready for Novice OB...


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## hotel4dogs

Does anyone know the approximate dates of the 2015 Specialty in Ohio????


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## AmbikaGR

hotel4dogs said:


> Does anyone know the approximate dates of the 2015 Specialty in Ohio????



Barbara I do not believe the GCGRC has released any info as of yet. To my recollection it must be in either Sept or Oct. Not sure if that helps at all.


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## hotel4dogs

Thanks Hank. I know it hasn't been *officially* released, but I think I remember seeing the approximate dates somewhere. Or maybe I imagined it? Must come from sniffing the mats, LOL.
I'll ask the kind folks on Work Gold, maybe someone there is in the GCGRC and knows.


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## AmbikaGR

hotel4dogs said:


> Thanks Hank. I know it hasn't been *officially* released, but I think I remember seeing the approximate dates somewhere. Or maybe I imagined it? Must come from sniffing the mats, LOL.
> I'll ask the kind folks on Work Gold, maybe someone there is in the GCGRC and knows.




. :--evil:


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## hotel4dogs

heeheeheehee
As you can tell, that just tickled the heck out of me.
Considering we are in the midst of yet another major winter storm right now, anything that makes me grin and giggle is truly a good thing!


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## AmberSunrise

Tentatively it looks like Sep 25 - Oct 4 2015

2015 GRCA National Specialty » Tentative Schedule

Tentative Schedule

2015 GRCA National is tentatively scheduled from September 25th, 2015 – October 4th, 2015. The draft schedule of events are as follows:

Friday, September 25th Hunt Test (1)

Saturday, September 26th Hunt Test (2) Tracking (1)

Sunday, September 27th Agility (GCGRC) Hunt Test (3) Tracking (2)

Monday, September 28th Agility (GRCA) CCA (1) Field Trial (1)

Tuesday, September 29th Field Trial (2) Obedience/Rally (1) Sweepstakes

Wednesday, September 30th Field Trial (3) Obedience/Rally (2) Conformation (1)

Thursday, October 1st CCA (2) Conformation (2)

Friday, October 2nd Conformation (3)

Saturday, October 3rd Best of Breed

Sunday, October 4th WC/WCX


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## Megora

Very cool!!!! Looks like I'll just have to do W-S then.


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## Kmullen

I am so excited about going!!! I will be showing my puppy, Hush and a dog from my previous breeding, Parker. Parker will also be running agility and doing obedience! Can't wait!


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## OnMyWay2MyDreams

Cant go this year..bummer..but I have high hopes to go next year! Daisy will be older then and maybe momma could do obedience! Also it will fall on my bday next year..will turn the big 35 too. So will just make it a present to myself!


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## Loisiana

Wish I could go, but the one last year in Texas is probably the only one I will ever get to (unless they have one that close again). I just can't get that much time off work, especially that early in the school year (teacher). Even if I just go for obedience, I still have to figure in travel time there and back.


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## Megora

Holy crud! Did other people rush to get hotels today too?

I was planning on making reservations this morning when they became available, but totally forgot until this evening. And there wasn't that much available on the connections thingy.... apparently reservations were fast an furious this morning?! 

I wound up getting a better price for a hotel (and not wait listed) on hotels.com.... but will definitely be down there Tuesday through Saturday.


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## AmbikaGR

Actually I have rented a house about 45 minutes away for the week we will be there. I reserved it early as there is not the same availability there that there was in NC.


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## Eowyn

I won't stay in a hotel. I will either drive to and from the days I'm going, or stay in a friend's motor home with her. I think it's only 3 hours from me.


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## Megora

Eowyn said:


> I won't stay in a hotel. I will either drive to and from the days I'm going, or stay in a friend's motor home with her. I think it's only 3 hours from me.


You weren't kidding when you said you love road trips....  

We're about 4 hours away - and believe me, I get worn out just with a 1-2 hour drive somewhere! And that's why I was frantic to get us into a hotel that was relatively close. : I didn't like the idea of driving an hour back and forth every day.....


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## Loisiana

the max I'll typically drive back and forth is an hour and a half. If it's going to be a longer drive than that, I either spend the night or only enter one day. But I enjoy staying in hotels, aside from the whole "dog walking" thing.

Based on the current schedule, the only way I could go is if I went up that weekend and started back home Tuesday night. Which would mean only doing nonregular/optional titling obedience.


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## Megora

Wait.... So odds are Tuesday will have all the non-regular obedience classes? I didn't think of that!!!! I don't even know what I was thinking when I looked at that schedule and decided all the classes I wanted to enter will be on Wednesday. I wanted to have the option to enter Bertie in pre-novice or beginner novice as a warm up. And maybe enter Jacks in prenovice or do brace if I think the dogs could handle it (probably not)..... So this probably means getting there a day earlier than planned!


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## Loisiana

don't know for sure how they'll do it next year, but the past few years they have had all the non regular and optional classes the first day, and the regular classes the second day.


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## Megora

I just went back and added another night to my hotel arrangements.... checking with one of the obedience people closely involved with the host club, it sounds like they may or may not add another day of obedience. Which I'm really hoping isn't Monday. LOL. It seems so ridiculous having to set up hotel arrangements when we don't even know for sure what's going to be on what days.


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## Alaska7133

As it gets closer it is possible there will be changes to the schedule. We had this year changes to just about everything. We had 3200 entries for national this year! That was huge. I know they had to add extra judges and rings for obedience/rally. Then they quickly ran out of space for MH and couldn't run another. The conformation was way huge and ran far longer than expected. So you'll see some juggling. It's hard because entries are due I'm guessing Sept.1. They only have a couple of weeks to get it all figured out and catalogs, ribbons, etc. printed.

Oh if anyone is interested I heard there were some catalogs available from the 2014 specialty. 

We do have the largest national specialty of any breed! I honestly don't know how they pull it all together.


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## Megora

Alaska7133 said:


> We do have the largest national specialty of any breed! I honestly don't know how they pull it all together.


 Say what you want about the splits in the breed.... it is what MAKES the breed so successful as far as having so much participation.


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## Alaska7133

And now that reminds me that all venues will be close together and we will have more dogs taking parts in more events. Which means the 2015 show could have far entries than 2014 did with 3200 entries. How exciting!

We have a very versatile breed!


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## Megora

I think there should be a lot more entries anyway.... I know a _lot_ of people here in MI who skipped this year because it's so close next year. I was looking at the catalogs and noticed that there were a lot of people I regularly showed with this year did not go down this year. And should be drawing a lot more people from Canada as well. <- I was tickled excited when I saw some online friends from Ontario are definitely going, so I get to finally meet them.


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## Alaska7133

I know several west coast Canadians that didn't go to 2014 due to the additional distance. It's hard to find just the right place and time. Plus add in a club willing to do it. 2015 location is going to be hard due to the lack of hotels in the area. People will be driving 20 + miles to the venues from their hotels. But, everyone will be at one location in one state. So I think you're right, adding in the Canadians now, we should have a better turnout in 2015. Which is hard to imagine a larger show than 2014. Are you thinking of doing conformation at the show? It is fun to do conformation at the show even though it's so big and so many people. I thought it was a lot more fun than my smaller local shows, even though I knew there was no possibility that my dog was going to go anywhere.


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## Megora

My plan (rough as it may be)....

Pre novice with Jacks if offered - because it will be very low stress for him (he can't really handle big local shows, doubt he'd handle a big national show!). 

Pre novice or beginner novice with Bertie - as a warm up.

Novice with Bertie. This may be more scary for me than him. I'm really hoping we get to show in novice well before then so I'm reasonably comfortable by then. 

And then I'll enter Bertie in either Am Bred or Open.... probably Open. 

Being able to show my dogs at a national is totally all about having the experience and the honor of showing them there. And hopefully showing well. It's not about placements or winning. Not for small fry like me.


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## Alaska7133

For conformation, be creative. Try entering something other than Open. There are sooo many dogs in Open. Try AOH, Novice, Am bred, something different. Smaller class (still huge), but not as huge. It was very different for me to show in a class with more than 5 bitches. I've never done that before now! I had to think of things to play with Lucy while we waited inside the ring. Also the pattern is pre-set by the judge at beginning, so every ring, every time is the same pattern. They even tape a box on the floor for where you are supposed to do your hard stack.

Megora, what about tracking?


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## Loisiana

Tracking is really hard to get into, and you don't know until after closing if you got in. Hard to make any kinds of plans that way.


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## Alaska7133

Good to know. CCA is the same way. Limited entry and you don't hear about whether you got in until after the entries close for all the venues. It's amazing what they cram into 10 days.


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## Megora

I would have liked to play in field (WC maybe.... I've been working with Bertie on my own) and tracking (Jacks)... but it would really be running into way too much stuff crammed into just a few days for me. And Sundays are tricky for me because of church obligations.  

That me not even realizing there's a waiting list to get entered into those!


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## hotel4dogs

While I'm excited to see everything so close by, I'm really dismayed to see how many things conflict with the field events, at least on the tentative schedule.
Entering Tito in MH will preclude any agility or obedience.
Tracking conflicts with field.
So it will pretty much be a decision to do field and conformation, and nothing else, or to skip field.


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## hotel4dogs

How many of us will fit there??



AmbikaGR said:


> Actually I have rented a house about 45 minutes away for the week we will be there. I reserved it early as there is not the same availability there that there was in NC.


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## Eowyn

Alaska7133 said:


> Good to know. CCA is the same way. Limited entry and you don't hear about whether you got in until after the entries close for all the venues. It's amazing what they cram into 10 days.


I would like to get in the CCA, but understand it's not likely. My girl will be 13 months for nationals, so should just be starting to come into her stride (going off of what is the norm for her line) and I'm excited to show at nationals for the first time (even though I can't imagine placing). I am also hoping to get in a little obedience/rally with her.


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## Alaska7133

Your dog will need to be 18 months for the CCA. The GRCA has a link on their home page to CCAs around the country, they aren't only held at national. They also have information about what the judge is looking at. No they don't have to be groomed like show dogs!


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## Eowyn

Alaska7133 said:


> Your dog will need to be 18 months for the CCA. The GRCA has a link on their home page to CCAs around the country, they aren't only held at national. They also have information about what the judge is looking at. No they don't have to be groomed like show dogs!


For Eowyn, not the puppy. That was confusing, sorry. Eowyn for the CCA, my puppy for conformation and obedience.


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## Megora

hotel4dogs said:


> While I'm excited to see everything so close by, I'm really dismayed to see how many things conflict with the field events, at least on the tentative schedule.
> Entering Tito in MH will preclude any agility or obedience.
> Tracking conflicts with field.
> So it will pretty much be a decision to do field and conformation, and nothing else, or to skip field.


You should be able to do obedience though, right? Would you enter Tito as a veteran or run him in something else? 

I'm assuming that JH/SH/MH will be first up - Friday-Sunday. Comparing to 2014 - they put the Master Test first. 

Looks like Tracking and Agility will conflict with field. 

The WC tests are on Monday - and will conflict with agility.

I heard people begging for more days of agility - which means it could conflict with obedience.... 

If you are doing field trials - that will conflict with obedience and conformation. I suspect a lot of the diehard people doing field trials would skip obedience and conformation anyway. 

Conformation and obedience being held the same days - doesn't technically worry me since they're the same location and it's doubtful they'll get to Open first thing on Wednesday.... right?


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## luvgld7

Alaska writes: "For conformation, be creative. Try entering something other than Open. There are sooo many dogs in Open. Try AOH, Novice, Am bred, something different." 
_________________________

FWIW, Winner's Dog from the last two Nationals has come from the AmBred class.


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## Megora

This past year.... I thought there were 38 dogs in Am Bred and 45 dogs in Open - give or take. So not a huge difference in numbers.


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## MaureenM

I just read on Facebook that the 2017 national specialty will be hosted by the Potomac Valley Golden Retriever Club and held in Salisbury, MD! I am beyond excited, 45 minutes away!!! I know it's 2 years away, but wow! And the field trial's will be held close to the site as well...I can't wait to watch them and all the other events! Thinking Finley and I will participate in a little obedience too


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## Nairb

Wilmington, OH is an 11 hr drive for me. Why not Minneapolis, or even Chicago! These things are always so far away.


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## OnMyWay2MyDreams

MaureenM said:


> I just read on Facebook that the 2017 national specialty will be hosted by the Potomac Valley Golden Retriever Club and held in Salisbury, MD! I am beyond excited, 45 minutes away!!! I know it's 2 years away, but wow! And the field trial's will be held close to the site as well...I can't wait to watch them and all the other events! Thinking Finley and I will participate in a little obedience too


I know..i cant wait! My breeder told me and I was like no way! I will be there for sure! Only 45 minutes ..I can even go to see the hunt tests..I hope! And my duaghter will be old enough for the Junior showmanship. It will be a great time!


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## Alaska7133

There is no perfect place for national. We need facilities big enough for conformation, obedience, tracking, CCA, WC/WCX, and field trials. Those are the minimum items that are required for national. Then squeeze it all into 9-10 days! Plus find a place with enough hotels. The field trials require about 500 acres of preferably hay fields. Then the indoor facilities for conformation and obedience and CCA. Finding field trial grounds gets harder every year. Then finding a club to host the event is hard too. The work load of putting on the event is immense and starts a couple years in advance. There were over 3,000 entries at national last year! It was AKC largest obedience trial on record, and it was all golden retrievers. 2015 will be more condensed with locations much closer together. But hotels will probably be farther from the event locations. It's so hard to get everything you need in one place!


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## Eclipse

I'm excited for the National! Wilmington is a three hour trip one way for me, so I'll have to choose between doing Rally and Agility. I'm hoping Penny will be competition ready for Agility by then since it's on the weekend.


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## Loisiana

Nairb said:


> Wilmington, OH is an 11 hr drive for me. Why not Minneapolis, or even Chicago! These things are always so far away.


For a national event I'd consider that fairly close. Anytime a national level event (golden national, noc, etc) is within 12 hours of me, I consider that to be "near me" that year.


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## Nairb

That's OK. This wouldn't be the year to go anyway. We'll be done with Novice by then, and perhaps not ready enough for Open to plan an 11 hr trip in advance. Some day...


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## Megora

Loisiana said:


> For a national event I'd consider that fairly close. Anytime a national level event (golden national, noc, etc) is within 12 hours of me, I consider that to be "near me" that year.


I'm terrible but even the 4 hour drive this year (which I'm doing) is right at that "do I really want to do this" limit for me. I hate driving over 2 hours for shows...l


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