From The Publisher

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10 – June, 2026

By Tom Grabe

The four-plus day show cluster has become the staple of today’s dog show scene in the United States. A quick glance at our events calendar at www.caninechronicle.com shows how clusters of shows held in one location has become a normal, weekly occurrence in most regions. Heck, we even have a button titled “Cluster View” on our events calendar that groups the shows by cluster each weekend.

There are individual locations around the country that host more than 50 dog shows per year. A bit of investigation shows that many shows are held far from their geographic area. At the risk of sounding like an oldster clamoring for the way things were, I think that clusters are affecting participation in our sport in a very negative way.

I recall things being quite different when I was a professional handler in the ‘80s & ‘90s. We had our share of circuits. The difference is you relocated every couple of days at most of them, hence a circuit NOT a cluster. The Florida Circuit was a travelers dream–or nightmare–with the circuit beginning in Jekyll Island, Georgia and finishing in Tampa. Many other circuits across the country mirrored this routine. Most shows were held at fairgrounds with minimal facilities or small convention-type buildings. We all survived. It proved that we didn’t need a huge convention center in which to show our dogs. The important thing was we exposed purebred dogs to the territory in which the host kennel club resided and controlled.

Click here to read the complete article
10 – June, 2026

Short URL: https://caninechronicle.com/?p=363266

Posted by AnthonyA on Jul 8 2026. 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.