Bonanza Kennel Club dog show begins Friday at Fuji Park

A few years back, former Carson Mayor Bob Crowell would ride on a golf cart around Fuji Park to view the Bonanza Kennel Club’s dog show amazed by the number of dogs and people gathered at the park, Candy Roper said.

“He had never been to a dog show before,” she said. “We had 800 dogs for a lot of years.”

The BKC’s numbers have dwindled this year to 600, but the club still looks forward to a good event, Roper said.

The club’s annual show takes place Saturday and Sunday at Fuji Park with specialty shows on Friday for six breeds: German shorthaired pointers, Shetland sheepdogs, papillons, Belgian Malinois, Belgian sheepdogs and Belgian Tervuren.

“There’ll be lots of variety, and then there’s going to be several other activities with citizen testing and trick dog testing,” she said. “Those are where any dog can compete if they’ve got the AKC’s partner number … and a lot of people have started doing that kind of competition because you don’t have to have a purebred dog. We don’t offer agility itself, but we’re doing a precursor to agility. It’s called agility course testing and it’s broken down into different segments.”

There will be obedience and rally trials, canine good citizen testing, trick dog testing and a jumpers segment, or an agility course test, which is a partial agility course run for owners to test their dog’s athletic ability.

The Pee Wee class for children 5 to 9 years old is a pre-junior showmanship group encouraging youth who are learning training skills with the aid of a responsible adult. Last year was the first time Bonanza offered the opportunity to kids and it had 15 participate, she said.

“They’ll come in with their dog and go through the whole routine like everybody else does, and then they all get a rosette and a book, and one of our club members has made toys for the dogs,” she said.

Membership also isn’t exclusive when it comes to owning a dog. Anyone can join if they want to be educated or want to volunteer.

“It’s a fun group of people, it’s a knowledgeable group of people, and if you’re interested in dogs at all, there’s so much to learn,” she said. “Our dues are only $15 a year. It’s not like it’s a bank breaker.”

She said the club also likes to incorporate other local groups and volunteers in hosting its shows, such as Carson High School’s Naval Junior Reserve Officer Training Course students.

“Those kids have been unbelievably helpful … and we get nothing but compliments on them,” she said.

For dog owners who are not taking part in the show but want to come out, Roper discourages bringing their own pets.

According to the American Kennel Club, a show of Bonanza’s size brings about $1 million to its community in meals, lodging and fuel sales with about 1,500 people and about 750 dogs.

Roper said many people seem to find Carson City is one of the more pleasant venues for a dog show, and she takes pride in that reputation.

“It’s heartwarming to see the members all pull together and be able to pull off a successful show like this,” she said.

For more information, visit www.bonanzakc.com.