Sunday, May 28, 2017

The AKC Dog Show is Dying


Back in September American Kennel Club Chairman Ron Menaker wrote a piece entitled "The Show Must Go On" but his numbers were less than optimistic:

The sport of Conformation is the flagship AKC event, and is the sport that is at the very foundation of our Registry....
[T]he trends over the past ten years show us that Conformation is in a tenuous position. “The graying of the Sport” has become something of a buzzword in recent years, but we know that the issue is far more complex than the simple fact of an aging population.
... The numbers show a pretty clear picture.

All-breed and conformation entries have been falling over the past ten years.

Fewer conformation championships have been earned.

Every year, fewer dogs are exhibited in conformation.

2 comments:

Peter Apps said...

Despite Menaker's misleading labelling, conformation shows are not in any sense of the word a sport.

dp said...

Good news!