This weekend

As you know I show my cats. We have a show this weekend for the first time since December. The shows have been getting fewer and fewer here in the New England. I am excited about being out again. I just hope that Jack (my avatar cat) will do well since we are working on a new title for him. He is going for Grand Premier of Distinction. That requires that he be picked for 30 finals a year for 3 years. The years do not have to be consectutive. This is his 2nd year. He needs 11 more for the season, but I am not sure we will achieve it this year. His sister, Cami only needs 33 more points to get her Grand Championship title. Both are going to the show this weekend. Wish us luck!! If anyone is in eastern Pennsylvania near Matamoras, stop by the show and say hello.

Good luck to you@!

posiepurrs said:

 
As you know I show my cats. We have a show this weekend for the first time since December. The shows have been getting fewer and fewer here in the New England. I am excited about being out again. I just hope that Jack (my avatar cat) will do well since we are working on a new title for him. He is going for Grand Premier of Distinction. That requires that he be picked for 30 finals a year for 3 years. The years do not have to be consectutive. This is his 2nd year. He needs 11 more for the season, but I am not sure we will achieve it this year. His sister, Cami only needs 33 more points to get her Grand Championship title. Both are going to the show this weekend. Wish us luck!! If anyone is in eastern Pennsylvania near Matamoras, stop by the show and say hello.

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good luck to you and of course Jack and Cami. Jack is a very handsome boy. What a sweet face. There was a TICA show in Cocoa Beach this past weekend. I was tempted to go but DD and I were at Disney for her birthday. The cat show probably would have been more fun. 

View media item 188331All paws crossed here for you.
It looks like it's a 6x6 show, so she has a chance to make her 11 finals. If not, I hope there's another show she can get to before the end of the season.

GoldyCat said:

All paws crossed here for you.
It looks like it's a 6x6 show, so she has a chance to make her 11 finals. If not, I hope there's another show she can get to before the end of the season.

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Technically, Jack could get his 11 finals but knowing the judges that will be there, I highly doubt that will happen. Some very rarely use him in their finals.

posiepurrs said:

 
As you know I show my cats. We have a show this weekend for the first time since December. The shows have been getting fewer and fewer here in the New England. I am excited about being out again. I just hope that Jack (my avatar cat) will do well since we are working on a new title for him. He is going for Grand Premier of Distinction. That requires that he be picked for 30 finals a year for 3 years. The years do not have to be consectutive. This is his 2nd year. He needs 11 more for the season, but I am not sure we will achieve it this year. His sister, Cami only needs 33 more points to get her Grand Championship title. Both are going to the show this weekend. Wish us luck!! If anyone is in eastern Pennsylvania near Matamoras, stop by the show and say hello.

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Ouch, so it demands not only to be NOM  a stunning amount, but also demands you DO participate at least 30 times a year, typically more.  Are there even so many shows to participate in?   I suppose you must travel abroads too to get so many.  They must gather you are doing it semi-professionally, travelling literally like in a travelling circus as in some professional sports...

Although I gatther most shows are "two days events", ie in practice, every Show is two different competitions and you can with both of these if lucky.

Still, it makes it a ridicolously difficult effort.   It may be true, not many do affords this, not in money and not in the amount of time and work put in.   So there is not many contenders for THAT title. But you must win every time over these local boys anyway.  Experience does helps much, both for the you the exhibitor and for the cat... So you do have an edge over the local boys.

Still, a tremendous demand, a horrible burden to put on people and cats.

Perhaps luck our boy our oldest resident got enough after he did won the Champion title.  So we never needed to bother to fight also for the higher titles.

He is a shy boy, so we are more than grateful he managed as much.

Typically I only get to about 8 or 9 shows a year. With each show having at least 6 rings per show, that is a possibility of 6 finals per show so the 30 really is a reachable goal. I am not a big time exhibitor, nor do we campagain like the big name catteries do. Some of those are out every weekend, traveling all over the US and Canada. I think that would take the fun out of it - it would become a job instead of a hobby. We only do the fairly local shows, within a three hour drive time radius. The one exception to that is the silver and golden specialty show in North Carolina ( a 12 to 13 hour drive). It is much to expensive to show every weekend and stay in hotels. This weekend alone is costing me close to 1/2 of my weekly pay and I am not even staying overnight.

The clubs have started do 'back to back' shows in an effort to save money. They have 2 shows in the same venue - one Saturday and another on Sunday. Unlike in Europe and the East, the clubs are not thriving in the U.S.

I also have cats who are to shy to show. One of my girls should have gotten her Grand Championship title easily, but she was to shy to show well. I gave up and retired her. I wasn't going to make her miserable just for some title. Her happiness is more important to me.

posiepurrs said:

 
Typically I only get to about 8 or 9 shows a year. With each show having at least 6 rings per show, that is a possibility of 6 finals per show so the 30 really is a reachable goal. I am not a big time exhibitor, nor do we campagain like the big name catteries do. Some of those are out every weekend, traveling all over the US and Canada. I think that would take the fun out of it - it would become a job instead of a hobby. We only do the fairly local shows, within a three hour drive time radius. The one exception to that is the silver and golden specialty show in North Carolina ( a 12 to 13 hour drive). It is much to expensive to show every weekend and stay in hotels. This weekend alone is costing me close to 1/2 of my weekly pay and I am not even staying overnight.

The clubs have started do 'back to back' shows in an effort to save money. They have 2 shows in the same venue - one Saturday and another on Sunday. Unlike in Europe and the East, the clubs are not thriving in the U.S.

I also have cats who are to shy to show. One of my girls should have gotten her Grand Championship title easily, but she was to shy to show well. I gave up and retired her. I wasn't going to make her miserable just for some title. Her happiness is more important to me.

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Ah, I see. So its organized partly differently than in Europe in our Fife.   We too have several judges simultaneously, but they are judging different classes, so this will still be usually just one class per cat a day.   Although I suppose, a female can be with her kittens in one class for the litter class, and later on for adult fertile females.   Or adult spayed females, if she is already spayed....   So I gather its possible to squeeze both two and perhaps even three different classes a day.   And thus, two-three different NOM. =finales.  But no way to get several wins in the same class each day!

But what we usually have is these two days events as you mention.  If it is a very popular event, they have different breeds each day.  Say the shorthaired one day, and semi+long the second day.   But often they have simply two Shows on two consecutives days, sometimes with the same judge, but sometimes with different judges.   A mere amateurs as we did usually participated in just one of them.  But the "sharks" do often participate in both...  Doubling up their chances of course.  And with greater experience, in reality more than doubling.

I remember, one of the most succesful in our breed, with lotsa of wins and best in Shows, told us he began to win firstly after over 20 shows... So experience do counts and helps in competition against local amateurs.

Good luck! Little paws crossed for you here too.


It must be so hard to judge these things. I've never met a cat I haven't fallen in love with. How can you choose one when they are all so perfect?

Do your cats enjoy going to shows? I've heard some cats love all the attention. None of mine would be any good at it, they all run an hide under the bed every time the postman comes.  

Norachan said:

  
Do your cats enjoy going to shows? I've heard some cats love all the attention. None of mine would be any good at it, they all run an hide under the bed every time the postman comes.  

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Yeah, so you see why we were so proud of our oldest resident, who actually did managed into the champion title, being so shy as yours.

Although it was more than once, where the judge gave him the Ex2, to spare him from being showed up once again - as its only the Excellent1 who goes on to next round.

But he didnt minded to sit the the cage feeling safe there, so he could rest nicely in between the examinations.

Just a quick note before we dash out the door to start day 2 of the long drive (3 hours) back to the show. Jack did okay yesterday with 3 finals a 10th best place, a 4th and a 2nd. They pick the top 10 cats in each final. Cami did nothing. Yes, my cat seem to enjoy it. I thnk giving them a special treat aftere each ring helps.

We ended up with 9 out of 11 finals this weekend. Still short of what we need for Jacks next title. I have until the end of April to try for the 2 or 3 we still need. If we don't get them this year we have to start year 2 all over again, next year. I had a lot of fun at the show. I showed my two, plus helped a friend of mine agent a Siberian cat another friend owns.  A friend I haven't seen in quite awhile came with one of her new cats. She is trying her best to talk me into taking a kitten from her to show and breed, but I have given up breeding (for now) and really I am about at my threshold of the number of cats I can manage.

It sounds like a lot of hard work, but I bet it's fun too.

Good luck getting that 2 or 3.

Gorgeous!

They definitely are gorgeous!! Cami has such an angelic little face. So pretty!! 

So pretty!

I would be a useless judge.

"First prize to everyone!" 

I wouldn't be able to judge either - they are ALL beautiful to me. I have noticed that Jacks coat needed attention in the pole photo. He sat a long time waiting for the judge and managed to mess it up. He looks poorly groomed in that photo.

posiepurrs said:

I wouldn't be able to judge either - they are ALL beautiful to me. I have noticed that Jacks coat needed attention in the pole photo. He sat a long time waiting for the judge and managed to mess it up. He looks poorly groomed in that photo.

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He looks like a lovely cat to hug! What a handsome fluffman!

pushylady said:

He looks like a lovely cat to hug! What a handsome fluffman!

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They both do. I'd love to cuddle either or both of them.