A few weeks after our National, the Malamute National was held at a hotel a few blocks from where I work - actually, it was held IN the hotel, in the ballroom! They preceeded the National with a regional specialty show. With a ring less than half the size of our puppy class ring and dogs moving at what seemed like a fairly leisurely pace, a lot of the dogs were owner handled by owners who weren't necessarily in peak condition. Last April, the Sheltland Sheepdog National was held at the fairgrounds down the road from me. Many of the motorhomes and trailers brought a dozen dogs - and these were not all handlers. The judging was held indoors in an exhibit hall, again with small rings and many dogs owner handled. We have a breed that is traditionally shown at a fast pace in a large ring. In addition to travel costs, we have the added expense of professional handlers. Not just for their skills and "name" recognition, but because many of us could never do our dogs justice if we tried to handle them ourselves (personally, I would never make it around the ring twice at a run, LOL!).. Of course, we all LOVE watching our beautiful dogs open up and fly in a large enough ring to really show off their long reaching gaits, but there is a price to pay and it does limit entries. Not to mention that most of us would never consider bringing a dozen GSD's with us in a motorhome or trailer unless we had helpers! Comparing our National to those of other breeds by just looking at entries, cannot give a true picture of the dedication of the owners and breeders, because we have different circumstances involved. Instead of just looking at the number of conformation entries, if they also looked at the many other events being held as part of the GSD National, I doubt many other breeds could compare! Our National also has obedience, agility, tracking, herding and the Working Dog invitational. I don't know if any other breeds can match that. Janice Buchanan In a message dated 11/30/2004 6:58:20 PM Mountain Standard Time, texasgsds@xxxxxxxxx writes: There is an interesting article in the Dec 2004 issue of Dogs in Review entitled "How Special are Specialties". The author is Bo Bengston. It is research and stats on specialty shows held in 2003. There were over 2,000 specialty shows held in 2003 and 167 of them were GSD specialty shows. Other popular breeds like Goldens and Labs had only 51 and 36 specialties respectively. The Golden National had 790 entries and the Lab National had 726. The Golden National had the most entries of any specialty in 2003. Number 10 on the list was the Newfie National with 416 entries. The GSD National only had 270 entries-- not enough to even make the top 10 and the was only one other GSD specialty show with more than 100 entries in 2003. The average GSD specialty entry for 2003 was 48, several shows had just a few dozen entries. The author wondered if we were tired of so many specialties and if the PC was unhappy with all of the small specialties since it only did one show a year. And was suprised that the entries were so small when GSD's are the 4th most popular AKC breed. Does anyone have opinions on why our specialty shows are so poorly attended? Diane ============================================================================ POST is Copyrighted 2004. All material remains the property of the original author and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or FORWARDS of any kind are permitted without prior permission of the original author AND of the Showgsd-l Management. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ALL PERSONS ARE ON NOTICE THAT THE FORWARDING, REPRODUCTION OR USE IN ANY MANNER OF ANY MATERIAL WHICH APPEARS ON SHOWGSD-L WITHOUT THE EXPRESS PERMISSION OF ALL PARTIES TO THE POST AND THE LIST MANAGEMENT IS EXPRESSLY FORBIDDEN, AND IS A VIOLATION OF LAW. VIOLATORS OF THIS PROHIBITION WILL BE PROSECUTED. For assistance, please contact the List Management at admin@xxxxxxxxxxxx VISIT OUR WEBSITE - http://www.showgsd.org ============================================================================