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Originally Posted by diamond  With gas prices getting crazy and our economy under pressure I was wondering how it has affected people who are currently showing. Has the number of dogs entered decreased? Are handlers raising their prices to compensate for increased travel expenses? Will this eventually impact breeders ability to place show puppies or even any puppy for that matter due to economic hardships (e.g., housing crisis, increased food costs, etc)? I like to remain optimistic but I can't put my head in the sand and pretend things are not going to change. |
This topic is coming up on all the lists and boards. I'll have 50 years in showing dogs next year and I've watched dog shows and showing change over the years.
I think that the number of dogs being shown is definitely down. Frankly I've never been able to afford to show dogs and have always done it on a shoestring. But I've continued to show dogs over the years by rebudgeting and cutting out this and that and spending the money on entries and gas and hotels/motels instead.
The falling entries have been going on for quite awhile--you could actually say that that started when the last of the huge surplus of dogs that started in the 70's and continued through the 80's disappeared. As costs have gone up the number of new breeders as far as the show quality dogs has slowly gone down. Dobes went from the ridiculous #2 spot in AKC registrations back down to the around #22 spot which is where they were when I got my first Dobe in 1959.
I don't think most handlers are raising prices but since most charge for expenses (usually fuel and lodging) and split the cost between the owners of the dogs they show I think that IS going up--so overall, handling expenses are increasing.
I suspect that rising prices of everything will knock out some of the breeders who shouldn't be breeding anyway. Vet costs, cropping costs, food costs etc are all up--the better show breeders factor all those costs in and there will always be people with enough discretionary income to afford to show and afford to buy show prospects.
I've thought for some while now that breeding, showing and owning dogs is going to change dramatically. When I started out there were far fewer shows--about 25 shows a year between Washington state and Oregon. I can't even think what the count is now--at least three times that I think--and probably more. There were also far fewer breeders--at least when it came to Dobermans. But it was also not a problem to get homeowner insurance or renters insurance. I was never asked what kind of dogs I had. None of the communities where I lived had "bad dog" lists which inevitably include Dobermans. No one really expected to see an uncropped Dobe (or Boxer or Dane or any other breed that was normally cropped).
I watched shows go from a single show on a weekend to at least two shows a weekend in one location. And from a very few show circuits (where you drove miles between shows to get to the next location)to clusters where there were often three to five shows in the same location on adjacent days. (That started in the gas crunch of the 70's). I've seen it become more and more difficult for show giving clubs to find locations for the shows.
I suspect that some of the smaller clubs that have been very marginal anyway will end up not being able to afford to give shows. I suspect a good many show giving clubs are going to end up reverting back to one show a year formats.
I think you are about to see the end of cropping and docking and it's going to be increasingly difficult to find places that allow dogs (especially big dogs).
It's not any one thing--it's a combination of the very real possibility of a recession, the rising price of fuel and everything that is fuel dependent (like food, electricity, cost of heating, etc) that will cause a very big change in dogs/dog shows/breeding.
I'm very glad I finished my youngest dog and can now do performance stuff with him locally and share fuel costs with friends who go to the same places--I'll soon be retiring and living on a pretty fixed income which would probably have put paid to my showing on a shoestring anyway but I just put in entries for some Rally trials which averaged $27 per entry. That means I'll probably be training longer and shower later even for the performance stuff.
It's going to be all about change in the next few years, folks.
maybe some income potential there for you.
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