# Not many show Goldens



## DanaRuns (Sep 29, 2012)

I live in Southern California. We have 18 million people here. We also have millions of dogs. Goldens are the second most popular breed here. There are tens of thousands of Golden Retrievers from L.A. to the Mexican border. I did a survey of the catalogs of all shows in SoCal this season and counted _only 30_ or so active show Golden Retrievers that live and show in Southern California. In this most populous place in the country, we can't even mount a 3 pt. major with only local dogs.

Where are all the show dogs? There just aren't very many. And I know breeders and judges who say that many of the show dogs don't belong in the ring.

We have more sushi restaurants than show dogs. We have more landfills than show Goldens. We have more people killed by dogs in one year than we have Goldens showing. 

I'd say dog shows aren't dying, they are practically dead.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

I imagine the expense of purchasing a puppy as well as the restrictive breeding laws (meaning the license fees and force neuter/spay laws) you have out there has had a negative effect.


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## cubbysan (Mar 13, 2007)

How active is your golden retriever club? Ours is just starting to grow here in KC. 

I know when I bring Sailor to public places, always meet at least once person that owns a golden and would love to get into showing with their next puppy, but doesn't know how. I refer them to the club, but not sure how many join. I am actually thinking of writing out little cards with the club website to pass out.


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## Max's Dad (Apr 23, 2012)

I do not know much about dog shows. What I do know, based on what you and others have posted on here, is that showing a dog costs a lot of money. A well bred dog is upwards of $2K, costs of a handler, grooming, supplies and travel, are all expensive. Heck, you bought a motorhome to make it easier for you to attend dog shows. Plus, here in SoCal, there are a lot of other activities that people can choose to participate in.

Also, based on what I have read here, breaking into the dog show world is difficult. It appears to be somewhat of a closed community and from what I have read on here, newcomers are not always welcome. 

I usually watch Westminster, and to me, the judging seems very arbitrary. Nothing is written down, it is simply up to the judge. I get the impression, right or wrong, that sometimes the winner is pre-ordained. It reminds me of a boxing match, where no one knows who is ahead until the results are announced at the end. 

Plus there are a limited number of Golden Retrievers that qualify for dog shows. We have attended a couple of events this summer where there were a lot of Goldens present, but most of them would not qualify to compete, or would not be competitive if they did qualify. Not being the proper size would eliminate many. Not having the winning "look" that is popular with the judges today would prevent many from having a chance to win. 

From what I have seen on here, dog activities in general are much more prevalent in the eastern and northeast parts of the US. There are dog clubs, more training facilities, and so on. Merely finding a decent obedience class in our area is not easy.

I hope you continue to compete with Gibbs and Ziva. I am looking forward to seeing them at Westminster in the future.


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## cubbysan (Mar 13, 2007)

I was just talking to a club member today. The first time he hired a professional handler, his dog unexpectedly almost got BIS. He made it all the way up there, and the judge was going back and forth between his dog and another. He was sweating it out because he was only expecting to pay about a hundred dollars handling fee, and now it was going to be $750 if he got BIS. He warned me to read contracts very thoroughly.

Right now my breeder is handling my puppy, so I don't need to worry about handling fees yet.


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## CharlieBear80 (Oct 13, 2013)

Dana, does this seem to be regional to you?


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## cubbysan (Mar 13, 2007)

At my club meeting today, they were also saying that AKC has decreased the number of miles between shows, this makes the shows smaller if another show is competing to get the same entrants. This will make smaller shows and less majors.


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## DanaRuns (Sep 29, 2012)

I don't know whether it is regional or not. I have only shown here, so I have no idea how to compare it to other areas. Plus, it takes a different number of dogs and bitches in each region to make a major. For instance, here in Division 9 it takes 19 dogs and 20 bitches to make a 3 pt. major. In Division 10 it takes only 5 dogs and 6 bitches.

Dave probably speaks true when he recites all the obstacles to showing a Golden Retriever. It is expensive. It is a closed group that can be hard to break into. (I did it inadvertently, by bringing beer and wine for everyone at the Western Regional Specialty barbecue, and then having my puppy Gibbs win a large class in his first show. People noticed who I was and had kind thoughts since I plied them all with alcohol.  )

Still, with all that being true, I was still amazed to find so few show Goldens in this most populous and generally well-off area.

I think our club is active. It's certainly one of the larger and more established clubs in the country, and we put on specialties, matches, play dates, field competitions, agility competitions, sponsors a Golden Retriever Rescue, and holds a number of other events each year (such as the Chris Zink "Coaching the Canine Athlete" 2-day seminar that I am organizing for next February, and which you should all come to!  ). And yet we still have only about 30 active show dogs living and showing in this area. Plus, some of our club's board members actually think we have _too many_ show dogs (though they don't say too many, they say some of the dogs don't belong in the ring -- a conclusion with which I emphatically disagree).

Yes, handlers are expensive, though I would gladly fork over $750 for a BIS, believe me! Lol! 

It just seems to me that in a place as populous as Southern California, if all of the show Goldens got together at the same show, we should be able to make a major. But we cannot. So I have to ship Gibbs off to Nevada, or Arizona, or Montana, or Idaho, in order to try to find a major . . . and even then they are hard to find and you have to pay the entry fee and the handler to drive and keep the dog before you even find out that they couldn't build a major. For such a populous breed as the Golden Retriever, that doesn't seem right.

People -- the AKC, the GRCA, show dog people, whoever -- seem to be killing off this sport on purpose.


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## Eowyn (Aug 29, 2013)

DanaRuns said:


> I don't know whether it is regional or not. I have only shown here, so I have no idea how to compare it to other areas. Plus, it takes a different number of dogs and bitches in each region to make a major. For instance, here in Division 9 it takes 19 dogs and 20 bitches to make a 3 pt. major. In Division 10 it takes only 5 dogs and 6 bitches.
> 
> Dave probably speaks true when he recites all the obstacles to showing a Golden Retriever. It is expensive. It is a closed group that can be hard to break into. (I did it inadvertently, by bringing beer and wine for everyone at the Western Regional Specialty barbecue, and then having my puppy Gibbs win a large class in his first show. People noticed who I was and had kind thoughts since I plied them all with alcohol.  )
> 
> ...


GRF makes me post down here as well.


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## quilter (Sep 12, 2011)

You listed a lot of dog activities that your club holds. Could it be that conformation is losing popularity to the other activities? Keeping an intact dog is difficult, too, these days. Around here, they aren't allowed at a lot of places. 

Or it could be the weather. We have lots of show goldens up here in the PNw. At least it looks that way to me. The cool weather is golden friendly.


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## LJack (Aug 10, 2012)

Majors are tough to come by. That is as it is supposed to be and honestly how it should be. Unless you get lucky enough to get them out of the way at the beginning of a career, we all end up in the same boat, hunting majors. In fact there is a FB group dedicated to this.

I agree though that it would be nice to have more interest in welcoming newcomers and new comers in general. Conformation I feel suffers because in the range of things to do with your dog, it is not very high on the fun or easy scale. When people choose a discipline, obedience, rally, agility, dock diving and others are simply more fun and achieving success such as titles, ribbons and accomplishments. Most of these other disciplines are not direct competition based or I guess more importantly strictly competition based. As an example, dogs can earn a CD as long as they qualify regardless of placing. We really only have 6 winners in the conformation ring each day. Sure, we may hand out 48+ ribbons but only 6 of those carry the building blocks for titles. That is a very small percentage even at a minor point show.


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