The Tack Box Podcast
The Tack Box Podcast is an informative and relaxed show that covers all aspects of dog ownership. Join AKC judge and Renowned breeder, Dale Martenson, and new enthusiast, Tyson Wald, as they discuss topics ranging from acquiring your first dog, showing, breeding, marketing puppies, and running a Kennel.
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The Tack Box Podcast
Episode 71: Declining Dog Show Entries | From a Show Chair Perspective
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In this episode, Brian Leonard shares insights into organizing and managing dog shows, including logistics, club involvement, and how to attract new participants. Discover practical tips for running successful events and the importance of community engagement.
What is going on, everybody? Welcome to the Tac Box Podcast. We're here on this hot Tuesday in the Texoma area, and I guess maybe Arkansas a little bit. And uh we are here to record episode 71 of the Tack Box Podcast. We have a super special guest. We've been talking about this for I don't know, like four or five weeks now, it seems like Dale, that we've been talking about having Brian Leonard on. He's a show chair for the Hot Springs National Park Kennel Club and probably a bunch of other kennel clubs. We're gonna let him explain that all to you. But he's gonna, he's uh, he's here to talk with us and to you guys about dog shows, what it's like to be a show chair and all the fun stuff that's happened in his tenure of of being a show chair, what we've seen in dog shows and and where we see them going. So we're gonna jump right in, we'll get started. I'm gonna hand it over to Brian. Brian, if you could, thanks first of all for joining us on this episode. But if you could give everybody just a little bit of a background on you, how you got into dogs, you know, give the rundown, the biography of you a little bit, and then we can get rolling with some questions.
SPEAKER_02Awesome. Brian Leonard in Hot Springs, very hot Hot Springs, Arkansas, where I think like at a heat index of 105 or 106 today, it's insane. Yeah. So very glad to be inside doing this. So I've been in dogs for probably about 30 years. Um, started out with papillons and got into it in a very bizarre way. Uh at that time, my partner's mom had a female papillon. And so we were talking, and I'm like, well, why don't I just get a male and let's have puppies and figure this out? So I contacted a breeder and she's like, sure, I'll sell you a papillon, but you have to show it. So I'm like, you know, I grew up with cattle and horses and everything else, so you know, I'm like, how hard can it be to show a dog? You know, so kind of got involved. So I was in papillons for probably 10, 12 years. Dale and I competed against each other quite a bit. Quite a bit. So yeah, we beep, he beat me a lot. I don't know. I don't know about that. We I prefer not to look at the tape because I'm sure it's probably and then one year, just as a random thing, I thought I really loved Tibetan Terriers and I got involved with the breed with one of the probably one of the older, most more established Kendalls, Camelot, from the Chicago area, and we became really good buddies. So I started showing Tibetan Terriers, have been involved with Tibetans since about maybe 2002, 2003 is when I got my first one. Bred some national special, bred a national specialty winner. So of multiple best in show dogs. So Tibetans has kind of been my breed ever since. Slowed down a little bit. I'm in the hospitality industry, so it makes it extremely difficult to be off weekends to go to do dog shows. So I don't show nearly as much as I used to. I think my last year, I literally drove coast to coast twice in one year, and I got done with that, and I'm like, okay, my time's done. It's time to sit back and relax. So uh, not this past year, but the year before, I was lucky enough to be chose chosen to do the sweepstakes for our national specialty. So kind of dipping my toe into that pond, um, being pushed really hard by someone on this podcast that we won't mention. So hopefully going that going that way. So but joined the Hot Springs National Park Kennel Club as soon as I was able to. So also helped start the Toy Dog Club of Central Arkansas, which currently I'm the treasurer of. I am currently the president of the Sporting Dog Association of Central Arkansas. Both of those clubs basically came about to help support, you know, the Hot Springs show and um at that time the Celine County Club, you know, when they were still having shows. So it came kind of you know to kind of help hold our entry a little bit more. And now with our show, we also have the Natural State Golden Retriever Club coming in with us.
SPEAKER_01So that's kind of my tenure in Dogs. Well, well, Brian, you know, I mean, as an exhibitor and a judge having been to your cluster before, I mean, it is like one of my favorite shows to go to because you guys do so much for your for the exhibitors and stuff. But you're so involved in the community and how and I mean how important your show is for like, you know, for Hot Springs, Arkansas. Like, yeah, I mean, it is right in the convention center. I mean, tell us, tell us a bit about what that really looks like. I mean, how of the the number of contracts, all would it take for, you know, like hotels and civic center, all of that. I mean, it's it's a massive job.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so you know, getting all that lined out between and and everyone, you know, their first thought is judges and you have a show. So our convention center is to give you an idea, is three city blocks long. So it is not a tiny facility. We use probably, I would say about half of it for the dog show. We use the, of course, the giant exhibit halls. So uh we were blessed as a club that I worked for the convention center for 20 years as an event coordinator. So we're, you know, have a little bit of an inside track to help with expenses and have stayed very close to everybody there. We're we have hotels at either end of the facility. So both hotels are thrilled. You know, our show is usually the last weekend of September, or every once in a while falls into that first weekend in October. That typically is one of the one and only times during the year that Hot Springs is slow on tourism. So it brings in, you know, we we count them as room nights. So it probably brings in several hundred room nights to the hotels, which they are extremely grateful for at that time and work out wonderful deals for us for not just our judges, but also, you know, our our exhibitors as well. Restaurants, you know, everybody has their favorite. We actually have people who come in a day early or stay a day late, so they can go to our bathhouses and do, you know, the baths and massages and hang out, meet at some of the great restaurants we have. So it ends up kind of being a vacation spot as well.
SPEAKER_00So hot springs, is it actually like legit hot springs? Is that where you're talking about? Like hot springs coming? Okay, so it's like yeah, we have a hot spring, South Dakota as well, and it's the same situation where it's like you got the hot springs coming up, and they do a lot of like soaking tubs and things like that. So that's kind of what's there.
SPEAKER_01Which president was it that that was so frequently went there? Was that FDR?
SPEAKER_02No, I don't think it was. I can't remember off the top of my head. But you know, this was a hotbed for minor league baseball or major league baseball spring training back in the day. So there's major documentation of Babe Ruth going to the bathhouses. Um, this was a hotbed for uh a lot of gangs, mafia type of things. Oni Madden, Al Capone. In fact, my best friend down the street, she owns a cabin that used to be Al Capone, so he would be able to go and hide in when he was here. And it was considered safe space, you know, when the when the people would come here, no shooting, no, you know. So it was, you know, kind of a safe place for them to come and rejuvenate and maybe do a little illegal casino gambling at that time, but yeah, so but it's all legit now.
SPEAKER_01So with with with your show, how many clubs are I mean, because I I you know, in order to make your show happen and in today's environment, how many clubs do you have to actually get in? How many specialties and events go into your cluster?
SPEAKER_02So this will be the first year that we are gonna have four clubs, you know. So the Hot Springs National Park Chemic Club will be doing two all breed shows on Saturday and Sunday. On Friday, the Toy Dog Club of Central Arkansas will be doing two shows, one in the morning, one in the late afternoon, early evening. The Natural State Golden Retriever Club will do their first specialty on Friday morning. And then the Sporting Dog Club will of Central Arkansas will be doing this, will be our first legit show. We did our uh practice show or whatever it is, mentored show last year and got approval. So we are we are full force now. So so we'll do that on Friday, and then we'll run a concurrent specialty on Sunday.
SPEAKER_01So gateway to my question. Can you explain to us the difference between an independent specialty, a concurrent specialty, and a designated specialty? How and and how because I mean when we just see it, we get the thing open, open, go, open the thing, it says, oh, what's a board entry or it's a designated? What all I know is that's more prizes. Yay! You know, I mean, but what what how does that well I mean? How many tiles can I win this weekend? Yeah, right. I mean how many tiles, exactly.
SPEAKER_00But what am I what are my entry fees gonna be? Holy cow. Exactly. Exactly.
SPEAKER_01So how does that how does that work for the clubs and for the cluster? And how does it affect the exhibitor?
SPEAKER_02So luckily for us, we're only doing concurrence, one concurrent on Friday, excuse me, one concurrent on Saturday, which will just be the Natural State Golden Retriever Club. So they'll be able to do that. And it just it what happens is with a concurrent specialty is it kind of rolls into the same show that's going on, same show time. So like Golden Retrievers on Saturday will be able to show twice. They'll show once for the allbreed show, and then they'll show again separately for their concurrent specialty. So they they will actually be able to show twice, earn points twice. You know, you'll have two best of breeds, but they'll only be able to compete in the group with that one dog because, of course, with the other. But then let's go like to Sunday, where we're having the allbreed show and the sporting dog show. So on that day, all of the sporting dogs will be able to show twice within the same show times. You know, we'll start our show at 8 a.m. So, you know, we'll go through and we'll show everybody, you know, throughout the morning and in the afternoon, they'll start showing again while the hot all breed show is still going and show sporting dogs again. Which sounds like a logistical nightmare to make all that.
SPEAKER_00I was gonna say, who who sets up all the logistics on that? Like, how does that get determined?
SPEAKER_02I know, you know, we all like to throw superintendents under the bus. You know, we have a bureau, I am guilty of it, but uh they are the ones who work out the logistics of it. And you know, if it wasn't for them, we would be like, no, we're not doing this. There's no way.
SPEAKER_01You know, so with the concurrent, does the actual club get to keep the proceeds of their specialty? So we do okay.
SPEAKER_02So yes, the club, so like Sporting Dog Club will keep their own entries, their own entry fees. So we're working out a deal. I think, you know, these first years, we're not charging any of these clubs anything to participate with us. Um we're hoping that you know having them there will increase our entry to help us stay alive. I think starting next year, we're gonna go to a $3 per dog, you know, is what you owe us just to kind of help offset some cost. But you know, Sporting Dog Club, they don't have the bankroll yet. I mean, they're you know, this is their first show.
SPEAKER_01So, but by you, by being able to step into your contracts with the with the with with the city, with the Coliseum, with the emergency services, even probably down to the point of the cluster maybe picking up their judge. Absolutely. They can, yeah, they can go ahead and have a really high-end specialty that they could never afford to do themselves. Correct. And and really what you guys get out of it is hopefully those people will enter the all-breed show as well, and you're gonna see a boost in your entries.
SPEAKER_02Yep. So, you know, and you'll see because golden retrievers are here, we're hoping to hit, you know, entries of 75 to 100 with Goldens because they have their own independent specialty. So that's you know, it's kind of the draw that if they get if they get 75, you know, hopefully we'll get 60. You know, some people are gonna want to show in the specialty, and you know, and luckily for us, you know, usually we only get maybe 20 to 25 Goldens. So if we can up that last year, um the Italian Greyhounds hosted their national on Hot Springs, and they did it on uh Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. So, you know, all those IGs stayed, you know, and we had entries of 40 or 50, 60 IGs in our Aubrey's and toy shows, which was just you know bonus for us, and it it just helps. So we we try to do our best to help clubs come with us because we know in the long run it's only going to do us do us better.
SPEAKER_01So does so by having the I mean, does your club just make a tremendous amount of money for doing the show? I mean, uh does your does uh I mean, because you know, like back in the like in the days, like pre-Tyson days, where the clubs would just get the big fat check after the show and then we just figure out ways to spend it. How how what does that look like today?
SPEAKER_02Well, define tremendous because uh no, actually, we previous to being to get it all these clubs together and started and and working with us, we would actually sit and tell ourselves if we only lose a thousand to fifteen hundred dollars in a year at our show, that was good for us. I mean, occasionally, occasionally, yes. There were years that we made money, you know, and it wasn't buckets full of money, you know, maybe we'd come out, you know, a thousand or three thousand a head. But on a on a typical basis, we would probably lose between a thousand to fifteen, two thousand dollars a year on our show. And that was for us kind of a victory.
SPEAKER_01And how many how big a show are we talking about, numbers-wise?
SPEAKER_02Our show I would say probably typically runs, you know, six to seven hundred. So and that was, and that's and we'll and uh hopefully we'll go come back and kind of cover that a little bit too, is is I think you know, numbers are so diluted. So we can, you know, let's come back to that. But so we would have obedience classes throughout the year. We do obedience classes in the fall and the spring, and we would do two sessions, you know, two one-hour sessions and get enough dogs doing that that would offset our cost, and we were able to make money throughout the year by having the obedience classes. And it was kind of our give back to the community as well. You know, it was something that you know we as a kennel club could, you know, offer the community is like help, you know, let us help you train your dogs, and you know, we all you you roll your eyes when you see the backyard bred, St. Bernard come walking in with bad hips, but you've got to love it. You know, if you can help them, you know, make that dog the best dog they can and and uh it have a good life for us it's a success, you know.
SPEAKER_01So I guess we uh look at Tyson, didn't you get started with local kennel club stuff with we're in Rapid?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely. Local kennel, small kennel club, yeah.
SPEAKER_01It's uh so I mean they these clubs are like our front line to the public as far as like this is what purebred dogs are, we're we're your purebred dog source of information, and maybe kind of I mean, it's like having been to your show, it's so open to the public and so very encouraged. I mean, I think a lot and you get a lot of spectators coming through there seeing dogs, it probably makes such a huge impact for people to get a chance to go and see these, not just on Facebook reels like in the flesh.
SPEAKER_02And you know, with with a town the size of Hot Springs, you know, we're not a gigantic metropolis or anything like that. So I I'm friends with people at the radio station. So I get to go into the radio station, you know, like the week before and like, hey, the dog show's back in town, and and tell every encourage everybody to come out and watch and see. And, you know, please, please don't bring little Fido with you, but come look, and you know, and if you're interested in another dog, it's a great place to to meet breeders and owners and and learn what works for you, you know. So, you know, we've we kind of pushed that route. And back in the day of newspapers, if you know, I don't know if Tyson remembers what a newspaper is.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I'm not that young. Yeah. I used to deliver newspapers, man. Like that was the gig when you turn, you know, when you're young. This is like we deliver some newspapers, you know, slide on the newspapers.
SPEAKER_02We'd always put a picture picture in the local newspaper and encourage people to come out. So so that was kind of our deal is is you know, to help the community is come see dogs and let us let us let us teach you, let us, let us get you educated so you're not, you know, taking a dog and then just taking it back to the pound if you if it doesn't work for you.
SPEAKER_01Well, you you knew enough to make the choices to get what would work for you, right? It's like I live in an apartment, maybe I don't need a Siberian husky. But so what would you say the high point of your entries were for your circuit? And where are you at now? And aside from like making this into this huge conglomeration, what are the things we're doing to try to keep those entries? Were they, you know, at a break even or just slightly lost? What what were we doing? Yeah, well, what was your high point? Where are you at now? I mean, and and why do you think we're heading that direction?
SPEAKER_02So, and it's funny when I I say I've been in our club for probably 25 years, uh, and we've got members who've been in a lot longer than me, and they tell the stories, you know, the old back-in-the-day stories. Um, there used to be the Razorback, Razorback. Yes. They call it the Pig Trail, the Razorback Pig Trail. So there were shows like they would start in Hot Springs and then move to Little Rock and then up to Fort Smith and then to Fayetteville. So that that cluster has broke down. And I mean, and there's not clubs in half of these cities anymore, you know. Unfortunately, Arkansas has lost like two or three shows in just the past five years, I think. And it's sad. Camden's gone, Celine County is gone, Pine Bluff is gone. So, you know, these shows are dropping, and and but unfortunately, our numbers aren't going up. You know, uh it's sad, you know. When I'm, you know, I'm almost to my 60s, not quite there, but I'm the youngster of our kennel club. You know, that's you know, that's something we've got to figure out is is trying to get more youth involved and wanting to do this. So, you know, if if you know, it's the saddest thing is if you know they start, if numbers start dropping, what are we gonna do? Well, you're gonna be able to do that.
SPEAKER_00I feel like that's one of those, the one of those questions we continually keep talking about and asking. And I find myself, it's actually as a I don't want to class myself classify myself as a younger person, but I'm going to for this scenario. As one of those younger people in dog showing and dog breeding, it's actually almost kind of scary as one of the younger people to be like, why is there no other younger people in this? Like, what is it gonna look like when I'm 60? You know, like because it just seems like everybody's retiring, people are getting out of it, you go to the dog show, and it's like 60 plus, you know, type of scenario. So it's like, where are these younger people? How do we get them involved? Have you seen this in the past in your tenure? Like when you were, you know, in your 40s and getting into it, like was it the same scenario where everybody was so much older? Or are we at this weird roadblock, like where everybody's getting out of it, we're not bringing enough people in?
SPEAKER_02I I think it's kind of a little bit of both. I think a lot of people, you know, we put up our shields, and I think that's one thing dog people do real quick. I back when I first started in Papillons, it contracts were ridiculous, and they made it super hard to get involved. Like you'd buy a dog from somebody and you could not sell a show dog for three generations. They'd write these contracts that you were just locked down. So I'm like, what, you know, what am I? I'm gonna have a litter of puppies, you know, of six, seven puppies. What am I supposed to do? And of course I'm in Arkansas too, which I'm now in a breed Tibetan terriers where nobody here knows what they are. You know, they're gonna look at me like, oh, that's nice, nice little shitsu you got there, you know. Super tall lassa. Exactly. So I think that you know, education isn't the biggest thing right now, is I think is people just don't understand, you know. And we're also living in a world of of where mutts are the popular thing. And it's sad. They're you know, you're seeing doodles sold for four or five thousand dollars and people don't the general public doesn't get that that is not a purebred dog. You know, they think they're buying the next greatest thing. So it's it's it's gotta take education from our side to get people interested and and want to stay in and preserve these breeds. I mean, you know, Dale, we were talking earlier that you know, fifty-one per 51% of the dogs are on the low end right now of injury, you know, low number injuries.
SPEAKER_01Well, and you know, when did it become because I mean, because you've been in the dealing with which has been part of part of your superpower, is dealing with the public at all these events, bringing in the public, getting people in. When did the purebred dog people, when did we become like uh pageant moms, douchey label wearing, like, oh, they they they dress up their dogs and win prizes? You know, when did we become like the weird little eclectic bunch over there and not like, hey, made in America, cool purebred dog, purposely bred for for what you need, you know. I mean, and how did we lose that to the doodles? Because it's not money, because they're buying those dogs. How did we lose our cool edge? How did we become the weirdos in this bunch? I mean, aside from the fact that we maybe are a little bit, but I mean, but you know, how did we lose the public? How did we lose them?
SPEAKER_02And I think a lot of it was as misconception and and and downright, and I don't want to say lies, but it basically is. You know, people think, you know, because you've got the word doodle attached to it, it's hypoallergenic and it's not going to shed, and everybody wants that, and it's going to be super smart because it's a poop, you know, half poodle. But they don't think about the half border collie that's also involved in there, or the half Bernie's mountain dog, you know. So they're There's there's the the misconception of what they're getting is not 100% what they're being told it is. I've gone through that with a lot of a lot of my coworkers who have doodles and they're like, but it doesn't shed. And I'm like, yeah, it does. You know, you know, if you know anything about genetics, you know, just the name itself tells you what's gonna shed.
SPEAKER_01So I think I have to wonder if they're a little bit shocked when they get their first grooming bill.
SPEAKER_02I yeah, probably, and I hope they are, you know. I want them to understand, you know, this is this was your choice. You chose to to propagate this and make it, you know, more popular.
SPEAKER_01So report yourself. So, all right, when you know we were talking about shows and the number of shows, and we're talking like even with your event where you're gonna have four additional clubs into your into your show. How how many miles do these shows have to be apart? What's the time frame? I mean, because I know as a judge, I have to be so many days, so many miles before I judge here or there. How does it work with the show chairs? And because I, you know, and the and your dates, because I can see that, you know, there's only so many people. And you, if you have two, three events and they're all within the there, how does anybody get any entries?
SPEAKER_02Well, and that's one of the things I laugh about is I'm like, if if I drop dead before this show happens and someone has to read my notes, good luck. I mean, because my my notes are a bunch of lines and and circles and doodles and arrows that go back up to here to this date. And all of a sudden you got 2027 and 2028 written down and names underneath there. So it is it is a gigantic jigsaw puzzle to get it all figured out. And you know, what and just and frankly, the easiest thing to do is call AKC, hey, can I do this? And then, you know, they usually have an answer. But long and short is is typically it's 300 miles, is the the range. So, and I and don't quote me on this 100%, but because I think and actually, Dale, it's you that I found out about because you know, we tried bringing you in for something this year, but you're too close for one of the shows, and it was by two days. So it's I think it's 30 days within 300 mile radius that you can't judge another show. So you almost have to, you know, get out your your your old school compass and have a you know a map and draw the circle on and say, okay, you know, where have there's been shows within this range for 30 days, and who's judged there within that time frame? So, you know, and you missed it by I think it was two days. I literally think it was two days. You were too close that you couldn't do it. And I'm like, come on, man, it's two days, you know? Two days. Yeah. And and they they would not budge. So, and that's one of the things we ran into, and it's why we're, you know, we're so thrilled. And thankfully, Belton didn't go under it. I think it's syntex was the club that was in Belton that was up against us for a lot of years. I mean, we've been on our same show since I've been a same weekend since I've been a member. And one year syntex applied for a show the same weekend, AKC approved it, and that's when we saw a drastic turn in our numbers. Because all of a sudden, all these Texas people that used to come here, like, huh? We got a show in our backyard. You know, we, you know, we don't have to drive six hours, we can drive two and be at a show. And that's when, but it also hurt them because you know, we're both drawing six, seven hundred dogs. It's you know, when those numbers come out, we're always cheering, like, yeah, we beat them by 50 dogs, or right. So, um, so this year, and you know, for us, we could not, we can't change weekends. Availability at our convention center is slim pickings, especially on a weekend. So we're, you know, we're like, we're locked in. We can't, we can't go another day. So thankfully, this year uh Belton has moved to Wake Up, I think it is in August. So we're hoping that's gonna help us, you know, we and with these uh independent specialties and um concurrence, we're we'll hopefully be back on the right track again. And you know, and our clubs have gotten creative at making money. You know, we've done other things as well. I don't know if anyone who's ever been to our show knows. Hey, I'll put our facility up against anybody in the country. We have one of the nicest buildings you'll ever, ever get to show in, and we have a tremendous, amazing raffle. I mean, it's one of those things. The lady that works on a raffle, yeah. I mean, it's uh people save money year round, so they have raffle money to to come to our show. You know, we're we're giving away, you know, dog trolleys and big screen TVs, and so we we found ways to make money throughout the year to be able to get prizes. And and if it wasn't for that raffle, we wouldn't make it. We would we wouldn't be able to have a show. It it bails us out every year. Um, this year we're gonna have a health clinic, we're gonna do heart clinic. So the sporting dog club is being able to bring that in. They found somebody who can come in. So you just gotta get creative. And uh last year was the first year we started doing reserved grooming. Luckily, you know, we work out a deal with the conventional center that we don't have to charge astronomical money for electric. They give us electric in what they call bulk rate. So uh so this year, you know, last year we started. And you know, most people that come to our show knew that, you know, we really don't have to reserve enough space, but there's not, but there's always that feel of comfort to know I've got somewhere to land. Right. So I mean, and it it's I don't show until two o'clock. I can just show up at 1 30. Yeah. And set up and go. So, you know, we've we've gotten creative and it's you know it's what we do.
SPEAKER_00And and you charge up to with a lot of that stuff to get creative to to create money for for the Kennel Club because you know, a lot of things that people don't think about when you're talking about convention centers is like they charge for electric. Some of them charge for how many tables you use, chairs you use, and all the things. And their rates, it seems like every year, just from the little bit that I've been involved, it's like, you know, planning, I guess being a part of planning three dog shows. And it's just like we're, you know, rent's going up this year at the convention center, and the electric rates are going up this year, and RV spots are going up this year. So it's like the the rates keep going up for the Keno Club having to continue to put on the show. So if numbers are declining, there's that much less money coming in, the rates are going up. So you have to get creative, right? I mean, that's that's the way to stay afloat.
SPEAKER_01Now, do you guys charge a gate charge for the public? We do not.
SPEAKER_02We don't. So that's pretty much. And that becomes that becomes the other thing, is is when you start having those other things, do you have enough people to cover those, you know, those deals? You gotta have somebody who can sit at a raffle table all day, and you gotta have somebody who can, you know, check people in for the health clinic, you know. So, you know, you're you're stretching, you know, if you start stretching out your dollars, you're also stretching out your clubs thinner and thinner. So, you know, you've you gotta find that little sweet spot.
SPEAKER_01Well, I think it's kind kind of huge as like one of the South Texas shows, the parking was $30 a day per time through the gate. And if you wanted to do it, if you were gonna go through more than three times in your say they had a parking pass for a hundred dollars to, you know, for unlimited in there. And I just kind of thought, you know, if you're just like kind of interested and want want to go see, I mean, that might be a deterrent, you know. That might be, you know, you know, we're for for the public. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. It's a deterrent for the exhibitors. No exhibitor wants to pay $100 a weekend just to park. I've been to shows like that. And it's like, can I park a little bit further away and walk? You know, like 30 times to go in, you know, $30 to go in in the morning and park near the convention center is like, I mean, that takes your expense up a little bit more every every time. We're already complaining about if they raise entry fees two dollars a fee, we all throw a hissy fit. So, you know, it's kind of like well, I'd rather a two dollar entry fee than a thirty dollar parking per day fee. You know, it's it all adds up really quick. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So what would you say like the the judge fees on just as a you know, for for a weekend that long? What what what kind of I mean, what's that look like that the club is gonna have to put out to get that? To have people come in and judge seven groups, you know, seven owner handler groups, seven regular groups, you know.
SPEAKER_02We used to be able to go through and say every judge and would have to judge at least two groups to be able to come to our show. We've now gotten to the point where we're like, most of the judges, it's gotta be a minimum of three, you know, and now a lot of times it's got to be at least four for us to be able to afford to do that. And you know, it causes some some issues sometimes. People are like, well, I'd really like my friend. She's got provisionals. And I'm like, okay, well, she come for free. I mean, if if she will come for, we'll be happy to help her with her provisionals, but I can't pay her, you know, mileage and you know, a hotel room and everything else for you know when I've got to pay, you know, seven other judges. So not when your raffle is paying for your show. Exactly. Where I, you know, and I think typically now you can look at judges, you know, with their fee and expenses. You're lucky if it's a thousand dollars. You're you're lucky if you get a thousand dollar judging bill. I mean, it's nothing now to have a twelve to fifteen hundred dollar bill per judge. It's you know, and it and you know, you look at it and it's it's like, okay. I mean, it is, you know, when you figure in, you know, airline and you know, their hotel and park, you know, it's expenses are expenses, yeah.
SPEAKER_01It is, you know, and it's yeah. So one thing I've noticed on the last over this last year, the panels that I have been on have been hugely influenced like foreign judges, which are all all breed. You know, because then a lot of the countries like say Canada, you know, they are all breed status in 10 years. And you you'll be doing good if you get three groups in 10 years.
SPEAKER_02Exactly. Exactly. And you know, that's another, I think that's another thing AKC needs to look at is you know, there's there's people out there, you know, we know the people who are good dog people, but they don't want to become judges because it takes them, you know, 10, you know, five years to get one group. So, you know, sure. I think you know, you gotta look at who it is and and kind of look at their background and their, you know, what what they've contributed to the to the to the purebred dog show world. I think it's it's hard for, you know, you know, one of my best friends, a brilliant dog guy, you know, and I think right now you could hand him the toy group, but he can't because yeah, but he can't because he, you know, he's gotta go through the process.
SPEAKER_01But but even at at handing him the toy group, your club couldn't hire him. No, he would still have to come for free. Well I mean probably hire, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I mean, yeah, I mean But right, exactly. Right, yeah, because you know you can do 175 dogs in a day, you know but still though, I I think there used to be when when the when at one point if you had a group, if you had a whole group, you could go judge a weekend at a show. And then that somewhere along the way that became two groups, you either you could do you could do all one group one group one day and the next group the other. And then now with everything, a two-show weekend's pretty much a rarity now. I mean, who has two shows in a weekend? Yeah, I mean does not happen much at all. So now it kind of w scooched up from three and probably four, really, because you need them, you need them to be able to do four to to to be uh to be of of of value to your cluster.
SPEAKER_02And and then you you start running into seeing the same judges over and over again because you, you know, the how many how many judges are out there that have five, six, seven groups? I mean, there's you know, you're very I think there's maybe eight all-rounders. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I I might be wrong on that, but I think it's it's not many.
SPEAKER_02So it's you know, you've got you're gonna start running into that then is like, you know, you're gonna go to the same show and you're gonna see, you know, John Smith judging here and the next week in, you know, Louisville, Kentucky, and then a week after that in Pensacola, Florida.
SPEAKER_01So it's how much do you have to shake it up before because if you get the same people every year, unless they have multiple personalities and do something entirely different the next day. I mean, you know, because uh we see we see you'll begin, you'll get, well, I'm sure Tyson has his list of people. Oh, they like my dog. I'm showing my dog. I'm gonna find this judge, or they hate my dog, I'm not showing that dog to them again. I mean, that that will that can kind of like affect your industry, right?
SPEAKER_02We try as much as we can to keep judges, you know, at least to like four years before we, you know, have them back if we can. It try. It doesn't always work that way, but we do the best that we can. And you know, there's you know, there's certain judges out there who have helped us. So, you know, granted, we're gonna we're gonna help them back. You know, if they you know, they've they've helped mail us out when we've had a judge cancel or you know, taught us ways to work through things. So, I mean, every club has that, that certain judges are gonna get some priority because they help you.
SPEAKER_01So it it, you know, keep your friends close. Well, there there you go. There you go. Yeah, I I was kind of the uh in in your judges' selection. I mean, how much does it cost to with your foreign judges? Is that is that a is that a money saver for for the cluster? Typically it is.
SPEAKER_02We've we have had uh we haven't had a bunch of foreign judges. We've had maybe two or three, and typically they've been judges. So like last year, um I just went blank on his name from Japan. He judged for us, but he was already here for the IG Nationals. So, you know, he worked out a deal for us since he was already here. He's like, Yeah, I'm not gonna charge you for this. And, you know, very simple, like, all right, give me three, you know, I've don't quote me, but I think it was like, give me $300 a day. And we're like, perfect, you know. And so and he covered everything else to be here. A good friend of mine from Australia, he came over and judged for us. And, you know, the only thing I could do for him is I'm like, I can't get you from Australia to here, but if you get to LA, I can get you from LA to here. You know, I can't I can't afford to do, you know, foreign airfare. So typically we need somebody that's going to work with us like that, that'll be like, okay, I'll get to the States and then try, you know, you try to help him get at least another assignment on, you know, the weekend before or the weekend after, so it helps offset some of his cost.
SPEAKER_01So it really does run that close. I mean, I think that that's kind of when you start talking about we're down to the counting the money for the raffle to before this comes out to be a whether our event come makes or not. How do you deal with it when like a show chair, you've got your panel set and somebody messages you and says, Oh, I can't do these breeds because I'm doing either the garden or national. So you have to take me out of that. Or bet or even worse, someone gets sick and can't come. How do you what do you do then? How how do you how does the show how does the show go on like that?
SPEAKER_02First you hang up the phone and you cuss because that's like you always like, you know, we just had everything put together. And so yeah, yeah, honestly, you that's what you do. You get off the phone and you're mad and you're like, okay, we got to figure it out. You don't have any choice. I think usually your first, your first like for us, the first thing we do is kind of go through that list of friends. Hey, are you available? You know, we just had a judge cancel, we need somebody to cover, you know, this one particular breed. And then you kind of start looking, you know, as local as you can. You know, how who can you get here? And it kind of depends on how far out they let you know. You know, if you know, you know, we we just had a judge tell us for this one, I forget there was like three breeds, you know, and we were like, we're four months from the show, and you're just now telling us that you have four breeds, we had to, you know, we had to make a punt and and be able to figure out. And you know, and and this year we're knocking on wood that it's gonna work because of having all the extra, you know, we're we're hoping our entry is gonna be bigger because of Belton not being on the same weekend. So this year we're kind of praying that everything works. So um, yeah, so you I think you first your first thing is to just kind of start looking local to see if you can figure it out and whether or not you can arrange with what the other judges have to make it work. It just, you know, again, you go back to that graph, that gritting it in their your jigsaw puzzle of putting it together. It's you know, who's who's friends of mine that I can count on to help me out and who who's close enough that I can get them here overnight.
SPEAKER_00And one of the things that I keep seeing is is you know, a lot of people talking about entries and declining. Like, what have you seen for declining entries and like what do you attribute it to?
SPEAKER_02Money. Everybody, you know, the whole world is is insanity with you know things going up in cost, you know. You know, when you're looking at almost in this area, almost four dollars a gallon for gas, you think long and hard before you know you're gonna look at that judging panel hard. If I don't know that I've got a really good shot, I'm not doing it. I'm not driving, you know, you know, it used to be nothing for me to drive 12 hours on a on a Friday night to make it somewhere to show because I knew I had a good panel that would that that would appreciate my dog. But now, you know, that panel, uh you know, you're not guaranteed anything. So, you know, four dollars a gallon for gasoline, you know, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna risk it as much as I would have. You know, it kind of depends on you know how badly you need that point or how badly you need that championship or or your ranking. So I think I I think finances is number one. I think that's that's the number one contributor. I don't know, Dale, is that you kind of think this I think that I see the same thing too.
SPEAKER_01I think that I think that really there if if we can go to the Hot Springs National Park cluster and park there and you know for four, you know, and do four for free and and have that many days, yeah, that's gonna definitely that's gonna be a bigger draw. It's like I can go over there, uh, you know, and and I have a shot at majors, and I have and it's gonna be it's a it's an easy venue to work, and the club is easy and they're welcoming. I think that that's you know, I go, okay, that's that's a nice club, you know. I'll I'll go there. That you know, that's a good place to go. But you know, back in back in the the olden days when we would get the premiumless mail, and Anafreo sent out bulk mail. And and you know, with like the closing dates, and you'd lay them all out on the table and sit there and go, I'm gonna go here, though this is there, this is in this point schedule, and you had like the strategico thing. Now none of that's mailed out. How are we reaching people today for an event if you don't already know? Like so, or or if your club changes superintendents, because it's kind of like how are people finding the shows where, I mean, are there, you know, other than because it's kind of like we're having these shows for people that already know that they're having them, where they're at, where the venue is, and probably their date. But the is what what is the what is the way of how do they you're doing outreach?
SPEAKER_02Is that social media or is that power of social media, baby? That is that is the number one thing, is everything is driven by social media. Um, and I and we find that with our business as well, you know, with with me working in in hospitality, uh, a manage of resort. We don't buy ads hardly anymore. You know, we you know print ads used to be a big thing, you know, for the convention center. We would be getting in magazines. We don't have to. You know, you get one influencer to come up and stay with you for a weekend who has, you know, 250, 300,000 followers, they can come up and stay. You get more out of that than you do anything else. So I think clubs have gone that same way. You know, most every club nowadays has their own social media page or pages. Um, and that's the biggest way to promote is is social media.
SPEAKER_01Do we feel that our clubs that are I put maybe a description of a lot of our clubs could be ancient grains? Uh do we do we find that that those are the people that are really rocking it out on Instagram? And um, you know, are they are they shooting the great videos that are drawing the people in?
SPEAKER_02No, but you know, it's you take what you get, you know. It that's the hardest thing of it all is trying to get the people who have and try to get people to have the time to do it as well. You know, you you know, I'm I'm a member of four, four different kennel clubs, and it's just one of those times where you ever you get a meeting announcement, you're like, oh God, it not it's not time again, is it? But you know.
SPEAKER_01Is that something that AKC could do more on a national level? Like, you know, because I mean, in a little bit of a way, everything that goes wrong, we kind of go, AKC, you know, take us away, you know, come save us. But don't they actually have the brand recognition and maybe the multimedia fastening? I mean, aside from the fact their website sucks super bad. Yeah. You know, breeder toolkit. But I you know, I mean, could they do a lot more to you know get it out there? Uh uh people go, hey, you know, you know, there's a really cool show in Arkansas. You could if you're thinking about getting a dog or training a dog or or winning an awesome raffle, you know, check out these dates. There's no gate charge. Come see, you know.
SPEAKER_02You would think that, you know, they would push a little bit more of that, but you and I get that they're pushing for the things that are gonna make them money, and I get it. You know, we all have to do that. But that would make them money. Well, yeah. Hopefully in the long run it would. You know, we all, like I said, we all want to criticize criticize AKC for the things that we feel that they should do. But you know, it's also the same thing as when, you know, when someone cancels on me and I'm like, hey, I want Dan Martinson to judge for me, can he do it? No, he can't. He just judged and blah, blah, blah. He's you know, too close, can't do it. You know, thankfully they're there to help us, you know, and they do help when we need it. You know, they so I I see the give and take, but but I think the branding, the branding and promotion could be something that they could really do.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. I I I've learned so much from Tyson as far as like you know, getting getting uh getting it out there and having it being or found on organically on Google. And I I actually entered a couple of shows as an exhibitor, and it was hard. I mean, I was struggling. It's like, yeah, like, oh my god, and then this, I've got my readers on. I'm like, I just got knocked offline. I mean, it's like this could not have been more difficult, you know. That's why you have Jane.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, the the entry systems, I mean they're not all they're not super user-friendly at all. They're they're they're they're considered the ancient grains too. The superintendents need to step that up a little bit, in my opinion, with their with their websites. I don't know.
SPEAKER_02I've never used I've never used an entry service. Are they still a thing? Do a lot of people still use entry service?
SPEAKER_01Not they're really not entry services anymore. I think there's I'm sure they are some, but I think most people go directly to the superintendents. But that's what we're saying is like we had the the very delightful people that are doing for the for our chin specialty. Thank you all. But I had to enter in my card number and everything, one thing at a time. For each entry I placed, along as I entered in all, because it's not interfacing with AKC, and I had to put every like grand champion, gold, platinum, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, I and here we go again.
SPEAKER_00And then you have to pay for one at a time. And you know, you can't pay for all your dogs at the same time. You have to pay for one at a time.
SPEAKER_01And then I've got to go.
SPEAKER_00Like it's a simple math problem, you know, for a website to handle.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. But but and then I got an email today saying, you need to send us more money. I'm like, well, you got my card information nine times. Yeah. Just charge it.
SPEAKER_02You should be able to figure it out. Yeah. And you know, you talk about that coding is like a seventh grader could code it and make it all work, you know, and why is it yeah. I it it back.
SPEAKER_00That goes back to where's all the young people? Because when we have we when we have such, you know, for lack of better terms, when we have such old people even running the websites and doing all this stuff, it's good it's not like you said, a seventh grader could do the coding. We need younger people. And it's that I I think is we gotta figure out how we can get younger people involved, even on the superintendent side, AKC side, breeding, showing, being involved in the clubs. Like I we gotta figure out how to reach the younger people and get them involved because they can benefit a lot of this, even just on the technology side of things. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01Well, and I mean, because these events I mean, a show like Brian's, that's not just for people who are just going to show their dog because they want a ribbon. I mean, that's for people to get to see our dogs. This is a chance for people to get to see judges to get breed education is like, if I'm free, I'm coming up to watch that golden retriever specialty, you know, because that's yeah, they're gonna be majors, there'll be breed mentors, that's gonna be an opportunity. And Jane likes to shop at your in your town. So it's a win-win, and she gets to hang out with you. So I mean, the uh I mean, these are opportunities for people in the community, people in the sport. All of this happens, and I think that I think that we need to do a better job of getting the word out there. It's like, hey, this is really cool, and this is a really great activity. And it's not just, we're not just dressing our dogs up and walking them in a circle. I mean, there are there's some there's great performance, great all everything. I mean, there's you know, stuff for your kids with juniors and peewees and all of that stuff.
SPEAKER_00What about so here's a question that I've thought about a lot that I'm sure other people don't even understand too? And it's perfect opportunity for a show chair. So eye clinics, heart clinics, having a vet on hand, things like that, does that, first of all, does that cost the club money or do they come and they make their money based on how many people sign up? And then the second question off of that would be like, does that draw more people in if you have a like an OFA eye clinic or a heart clinic that people can take their dogs to? Does that get people actually to your show?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think so. We uh we're doing a heart clinic this year. It's the first one, first time we're gonna have a specialty clinic. So, and you know, the guy told us this is what I charge for, you know, this and the just so we basically. Do you remember how much they charge? Do they you remember what the cost is for I I think it's three for $300 or $325 for the the and luckily my brain didn't have to have heart stuff done, so I can't remember exact terminology on it. Is and then there's one that's like a hundred or one hundred and seventy-five. And then so what we did was we just tacked $25 onto it. We've been getting interest from people asking about it, so uh hopefully it will you know work out. He's agreed to come in and do one day, he's doing Saturday, and he said if it fills, he's willing to come back and do Sunday as well if we need to.
SPEAKER_01Now, do your does your club reach out to the local vets? Because I'm gonna tell you, like, I have a breed that has heart issues, and a cardiologist appointment can take eight weeks. And uh, and I mean, and the the it would be like three times that for one. So that's a super huge opportunity that the show is bringing to have to have uh not just the OFA for the breeders and all that, but for people because people who don't aren't showing their dog, they could bring their dog that might need to see a cardiologist to the sh to that clinic, right? Yeah, they could.
SPEAKER_02And I think in and we're seeing that that it's a lot of people like a friend of mine with German short hairs. She's like, you know, how many can I bring? And I'm like, bring them all, you know, call, get on the appointment list and bring them all. You know, so I think there's gonna be a lot of that, a lot of breeders or people with litters or something they're gonna bring in. Super helping. Yeah, you know, because we're gonna be at the show anyway. Let's just do it. So excellent. And we just had a cardiologist move to the state, so that's how we're being able to get this done. Is he it's and it's gonna help him too than not rage. Yeah. So we just this guy's just opening up a brand new clinic. Um, and I I don't even remember where it is. So we've tried eye clinics. The other thing we run into is space. You know, we've you know, we've got to have, you know, like the eye clinic has got to be in a room that they can, you know, make it dark enough to do. So finding those spaces without having to rent more space.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02You know, so um, you know, the the poor overnight security guard, he's you know, he's gonna have to be worked sleeping with a whole bunch of equipment in his sleeping quarters for that night. But, you know, it is what it is.
SPEAKER_00What about adding things into the show like fast cat, dock diving, you know, other events? Do you do you see that that can bring more people in, or do those people tend to be separate entities of like we do that, but we don't do confirmation?
SPEAKER_02I think it's kind of a little bit of both. Unfortunately for us, we don't have the space to do dock diving and fast cat. We don't have places to do that at close enough to our show. Um, you know, we're basically downtown hot springs.
SPEAKER_00So if we're I would imagine doing dock diving would be a a huge expense to bring in a pool and set it up and and get that done. Fast cat probably not as a as a big expense, but yeah.
SPEAKER_02But I think, you know, I think they've seen at shows like in I think Texarcana has done it where they've they've had fast cat going on while they're you know, so people are done and like, well, hey, let's just go run a Lego FastCat. And I mean, I don't know if you know anything about FastCat, but these FastCat people are ratted about about it. I mean, they like their titles. They like their titles, and man, they love their $25 ribbons. I mean and the pictures of their dogs are amazing. It's I mean, they are amazing pictures. But I don't know if you know, but there's a Facebook page dedicated to the ribbons of FastCat. So who's offering, oh yeah, who's offering the prettiest ribbons for I'm I'm about to get my FCAT three? Who's got the prettiest ribbon? You know, and my toy dog club does fast cat as fundraising. And we had one lady who wouldn't enter because she didn't want our ribbon, she wanted a prettier ribbon. I'm like, okay.
SPEAKER_00I'm like, they are pretty big ribbons, like they're pretty big rosettes. That's like, oh, my dog just ran this and got this this big rosette that's better than a group one, you know, like it's crazy ribbons.
SPEAKER_01I could totally see Jane going, oh no, we're not doing that. They have way better ribbons over here.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So as a show chair, and you know, with I mean, because your date, you do have a summer date. Has there been anything different that you've had to do as far as like, I mean, your your vet your venue is so good and and there's room to bring dogs in. Are you doing anything differently with the with the heat restrictions that are coming up or dogs being in vehicles? Well, how what does that look like from your from where you're sitting?
SPEAKER_02We as of right now, we haven't changed anything. Luckily, we're the end of September where it's starting to come down on temps outside. Don't get us wrong, we could still hit some pretty hot weather then. Typically, we're good. So we've, you know, since that those restrictions have come out, our first club meeting is gonna be this next week. So I think we'll tackle it then to kind of figure out what we're gonna what we're gonna do. Man, I I that's such I've got such back and forth thoughts on it. You know, a lot of times I won't go to shows in July just because I don't want to take the chance. You know, I don't I don't want to be driving to, you know, Dallas, Texas in 100 degree weather and have my car break down, you know. Uh it just it's a reality.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah. You know, and it's I mean, Dale gets a flat tire every other day, you know. So it's just like it's legit for him of like, I'm probably gonna the chances of me getting a flat tire on the way to this show are very, very high. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So I, you know, I I think I think long and hard before I hop into a car in July or, you know, even first part of August, whether I'm gonna go to a show because of the heat, you know, and just getting, you know, look at look at Houston, you know, those shows we used, I don't know, I haven't been to Houston in a long time. But I mean, you had like a two-mile walk from the parking lot to the building and you know, a hundred percent.
SPEAKER_00I mean that's something that we're thinking about right now, because we're going to Houston in three weeks for the national, you know. It's like it's gonna be hot, you know, it's something that we have to consider and think about is going down to Houston in the middle of August. It's going to be warm.
SPEAKER_01And how fast you can get the dogs out of the van into the venue, you know. Once you're in the venue, and of course our dogs are small, we're in, but you guys have, like say, a great venue and very welcoming, and people bring them in. I've never, of all the shows I've been to, and most I've not heard seen any show chairs ever say, are those enter dogs? If they are, put them out in the parking lot in the hot van. You know, I've never I've never heard that.
SPEAKER_02You know, I mean it's the the animal welfare comes first. You know, if it's too hot, we're not gonna kick you out. You know, you're gonna you're gonna have to do something. You know, we've we've actually had you know stray dogs come up during our show that we've had a you know try to catch and get animal control to come help us and take the dog, you know. But it comes you you don't want to see any dog, you know, in a stressful situation. So yeah, it's it's gonna be interesting to see how this all shakes out. I think it comes down to um AKC is putting, I think they're putting too much responsibility on the clubs for this, you know. Valid. It's ever everybody everybody has the right to come whether they want to or not. If you choose to do it, you need to have a plan in place. You know, when I would drive to Longview, Texas, you know, the last weekend of the month for a show, I packed a cooler of ice. I had a cooler with nothing but ice in it. So if I needed to, I could throw it in the bottom of their crate and, you know, you know, I'm sorry you got to sit on ice for a little bit, but at least you're gonna be cool, you know. If and never think price lower it never happened, but you know, I had a plan in place.
SPEAKER_01How many people comprise your club? How many working members do you have that actually are going to be at the Hot Springs National Park show cluster?
SPEAKER_02How many As far as the Hot Springs Club itself? Probably we probably have 10 to 12 that are the worker bees. When you add in the other clubs, you know, and and they'll help. We'll probably have about 20 or so people that are able to work and actually do the things that need to be done.
SPEAKER_00So which really isn't a lot when you consider everything that goes into it, stewarding all the things that have to go into all this.
SPEAKER_01Do you have a steward's club come in or do you do the stewardship club?
SPEAKER_02We do have a for confirmation, we do. We steward our own rings for obedience, which you know, three rings of obedience is just about the same amount because you know, you've got to have some of those require three. Oh three. Yeah, some of them require three. Like if you they got a post and all that kind of stuff. I mean, it's so you, you know, and thankfully we got one club member, she invites all her friends to come ring steward for us, and we have a raffle. We have a raffle for them, you know. One member wins a hundred dollar Amazon card because they come and help us for a day. Nice, nice, yeah.
SPEAKER_01So and so so and so, like, I mean, doesn't AKC require you to have a certain number of your working members at your event? Yes, yeah.
SPEAKER_02So, you know, we our club's not that big. I would have to look, but I think, you know, if it came down to it, we probably got about 30, 30-ish members. But act active wise, you know, it's it's it's and we're not unique. It's that way with every single club. There's the ones who do, and you know, the ones who like, oh wow, we uh, you know. Oh, my dues are due. Okay, let me send you a share at this time. Exactly. Years ago, and and and I'm just gonna name drop real quick. Angela Pickett is a really good friend of mine. And we used to do the Papillon National together a lot, and we always joked about the magical show fairies because somehow every night the room was reset and the ribbons for the next day were all put put out and displayed properly, and the right trophies were out, and people like, wow, you know, and I'm like, Yeah, the the fairies did it, you know. So it it takes those people behind the scenes to do it, and and and I guess people just don't realize what goes in to making it all a success. And and you gotta have those people, yeah, and you gotta have those people willing to do it and sacrifice, you know.
SPEAKER_01So well, but you're doing it for your community, your sport, your breed, everything about the whole everything. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely, absolutely. Everyone, everyone, everyone in town knows me as the dog show guy. So it's always like, hey, you know, we want a do you know somebody who breeds basset hounds? I do. Do you really want one? Let me let me explain to you what you're getting into. So I'm always getting those calls or emails or text messages, so and so once a, or you know, my daughter got a dog and she can't keep it. Can you find help me find someone to take it? You know. So when you become the dog guy.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we see that. Like last weekend over at the Longview Club, that's Nancy Millot, and she's and she does she she is the the face of the club and and and does all of that, and and then some. And it's like, and you look at all of that and you go, wow. The you know, these people like yourself included, they're irreplaceable, you know. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So and and it's not to say that the non-workers, what we call the non-workers aren't important, you know, a lot of them will bring, you know, a covered dish for the judge's hospitality room, you know. Right. Sure. It's not it's not nothing, you know. So, you know, you don't want to discount what little bit, I don't want to say little bit, but what what they do consumer. What they can do, right? Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. You know, every every little bit helps. You know, I've got members who are old enough that they can't even really come to the show anymore, but I'll be damned, they're sitting at home typing up labels for bags and ribbons, and you know, they're you know, they're doing things that I don't I don't want to do.
SPEAKER_01Right, right. Well, I mean, just even like organizing, uh picking up and dropping off the judges, getting them in and out, uh, you know, you know, airplane hotel arrangements, everybody's, you know, everybody's stuff. I mean, it's a it's a lot, you know. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02You know, it's one of those things is uh and I I kind of got thrown into the showchair realm for a lot of years. Our show chair Deb Johnson and and she's still, you know, we work side by side. It's like, you know, decisions are are the two of us. But you know, we had somebody who had a stroke, so that's how I got thrown into the toy dog club show chair spot. You know, it's somebody had to step up and do it, and I'm like, well, it's it's gonna be me, you know, so let's just let's just get it handled. So you sacrifice to make it happen because I don't want to, you know, you worked hard to have a club exist for 20 years, you don't want to see it go away just because people don't want to work.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, 100%.
SPEAKER_01Brian, thank you so much for c you know coming and and sharing some of the behind the scenes stuff for us. I mean, it's like I I always feel like I learned so much when I, you know, get a chance to talk to you. That's pretty, pretty amazing stuff, and and it's really it's quite a service to the the sport and the the fancy as whole.
SPEAKER_02Well, I hope I contribute a little bit. Hope some, you know, people have learned things. I'm always I'm always willing to help. If somebody wants help, ask. I mean, I might not know the right way, but I I can tell you how I do it. And we do need you to judge, so just put that on the list.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_02I need I need some I need somebody to do my paperwork.
SPEAKER_00All right. Awesome. Thanks for joining us. Uh thanks everybody for checking out this episode of the Tack Box Podcast. Don't forget to subscribe on YouTube. Give us that thumbs up and and and follow. Uh, you can check out Brian Leonard. Uh the the do you uh recommend people follow your your personal Facebook page or what are your socials for the Kennel Club?
SPEAKER_02I think it's Hot Springs. God, I think I don't do it, so I'm not sure. I think it's Hot Springs.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so we're just gonna recommend people to do, yeah, search up on Facebook or or Instagram, the Hot Springs National Park Kennel Club. You're gonna find it, Hot Springs, Arkansas. Yeah, absolutely. You'll find it and give them a follow and follow along with their show. So thanks for being on with us, and uh, we'll talk to everybody all next on the next episode of the Tack Box Podcast next week. Have a great day now. Well, thanks. Bye bye.
