Having grown up "Labs" in CA, I remember the days of huge specialty shows. I attended my first specialty show in Southern California (LRCSC) in September of 1985. I can't believe that was 26 years ago! The following spring in March 1986, I attended the GGLRC in Northern California. Back in the day, there were only 2 Specialties in CA. They were huge as I remembered and were 2 day shows due to the number of entries. Looking through my old catalogs I find that they were on average a 300+ dog entry. It took more than 125 bitches for a 5 point major. I remember breeders coming from far and wide to attend our specialty shows. Some the West Coast's finest dogs were in attendance.

Now CA has 7 Specialty clubs, 6 of which are licensed to hold shows. All of the clubs hold back-to-back shows, so there are 12 specialties a year in CA. It now only takes only 42 dogs and 59 bitches for a 5 point major.

I'm not saying this is a good thing or a bad thing, just making a observation and remembering the good ol' days. I just wanted to share a little history.

Same here. There are more clubs & more specialties. I remember one specialty ending after dark with cars' headlights providing enough light so the judging could be completed. Those were the good old days for sure.

Back in the 80's the people who traveled from the east to the California Specialties were looking for those hard to find majors. 125 is a ridiculous number to get a 5 point major.

Well, we could think that it is caused by the economy. We could also think that with so many specialties that are now not (1) but (2) separate shows, that people are only taking their best out on those 2 days, still making as many entries (counting the 2 days) , but with fewer dogs from their kennel?

I have a book from the Boston Specialty from 1997. It was (1) Specialty held over two days. There were 402 dogs entered, with 562 entries, most of which are conformation. But - the majors in 1997 were lower. For dogs (3 pt, 4pt. 5 pt) it was 19-29-48 and for bitches it was 23-42-78. Now for boys this year it's 24-40-70 and for bitches it's 30-57-107.

This year the Boston show had 201 dogs on Thurs and 194 dogs on Friday. The total entry for the (2) shows combined was 517, including Obed.

The question we should be asking AKC, is - how can we have specialty shows with this many entries and only hit 3 and 4 point majors? I think that the issue should be addressed. This is not the only Specialty that is not hitting the 5 point majors. Is there something wrong here?

Here in the northeast we still need 107 bitches for a 5 point major. Our specialties usually have 200-300 plus, though in the past year or so there seems to be a decline in entries. Hopefully our point schedule will go down, though it went up for 2011!

I live in zone I myself and am personally disgusted with the points schedule.

Retrievers (Labrador) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1 point 2 4
2 points 13 17
3 points 24 30
4 points 40 57
5 points 70 107

Really? I mean come on! There are vitually NEVER majors at AB shows and specialties are coming in with 3 and 4 points instead of 5!

I have cut way back on my showing this year partially because of this, gas and entry fees that went UP too!

AKC is crazy if they really think this tactic is going to be beneficial to them.

I am very disenchanted by the whole thing especially when I see the quality of dogs in other points zones who are winning majors and finishing.
Many of those dogs wouldn't even place in a class here!

Basically, if AKC doesn't want to play fair, I just won't play