The March Madness Cluster Never Disappoints!

By Amy Fernandez

The annual Edison, New Jersey shows opened Thursday afternoon starting with Group shows sponsored by the Non-Sporting Group Club of the Garden State, the Big Apple Working Group Club, the Herding Group Association of New Jersey, the Delaware Valley Toy Dog Fanciers Association and the Big Apple Sporting Society.  These shows are just the appetizer for a long weekend of shows with multiple opportunities for points.

This weekend features specialties and supported entries for Setters,  Cockers, Bostons, Dachshunds, Shelties,  Bichons, Pointers, Bull Terriers, Pekingese, Boxers, Bulldogs, Australian Terriers,  Dalmatians,   Borzoi and Black Russian Terriers. Of course, all of this is structured around the New Brunswick Kennel Club’s back-to-back Friday and Saturday all breed shows followed by Bronx on Sunday.

The Bronx/New Brunswick partnership, which has endured for almost 15 years, has proven to be the way forward for both of these clubs. Combining their resources and expertise they have dodged bullets and jumped hurdles–most recently the Covid lockdowns.  These clubs understand the sport. Their members have the “been there, done that” kind of expertise that only comes with years of experience. As a result, when you arrive at Edison for the shows everything is easy. There are no parking lot tyrants, no overbearing committee members, and none of the nonsense that adds needless stress to a long weekend.  They understand what’s important. For example, grooming areas are blocked off alongside the rings for those breeds; and the space around Ring 15 is reserved for Irish, Gordon and English Setters.

On Thursday, New Brunswick’s president, Marjorie Martorella–who has done this thankless job since 1976, was on site personally supervising the show set-up and making sure that all the handlers were getting unloaded and situated without problems. That’s the kind of preventive management that keeps everything running efficiently and creates a good vibe. And that level of dedication really matters during that hyper-stressful, pre-show countdown.

English Setter breeder Lourdes Fernandez has likewise been part of this deal forever. The shows have been at the New Jersey Convention Center for years and as she noted, “the arrangement has worked well for both clubs. The facility really welcomes the dog show. When we arrive the site is always nice and clean and we can start laying out the show.”  She is not overstating the case. The facility is right off the turnpike. You can drive right into the building to unload, and there is ample parking, water and electric. The only drawback is the rent–a hefty $26,000 per day. Lourdes admits, “We really had to beat the drums to bring in specialty clubs after Winter Garden went down the drain.”  Multiple specialties generally mean plenty of majors. Even so, these clubs are struggling to attract support. As Lourdes explained, “When AKC set that limit of 200 miles for events on the same weekend, people simply didn’t travel as far for shows. Now, 200 miles is an easy day trip” and there are a lot of shows competing for those entries this weekend.

New Brunswick totaled 1371 entries for Friday and 1661 on Saturday. Bronx, on Sunday, topped out with 1509 dogs. These are respectable numbers, but it would be nice to get those numbers back to 2000+.

The Edison group has gotten creative, offering new events like the Supreme Specialty Challenge. Judged early Sunday afternoon, all of the weekend’s specialty winners face off in a giant group. It’s like a flashback to AKC’s earliest shows prior to the introduction of the group and BIS format that ended the chaotic fun of five Pekes, 18 Pointers and 22 Boston Terriers competing for BIS.  This year they’re also inaugurating the Bullyganza, a competitive showcase for all the Bully breeds.

And as usual, they’ve lined up a great judging panel. This year, for something different, they have Mr. Rui Ollveria from Portugal and Francisco Chapa from Mexico judging. In case you can’t make it to the show, AKC TV will be filming the show on Saturday.

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Posted by Liz on Mar 22 2024. Filed under Current Articles, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.