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It is exciting to work the NADKC booth at Pheasant Fest! It is also exciting to see all the other exhibitors. I just wish there was more time to see some of the programs.
Rick Hartle’s ten week old puppy really brought people to our booth. Pearl is a striking Schwarzschimmel. The older DKs were also an important part of our educational outreach. On Saturday, I introduced Gunner (Utah vom Riverwoods) to hundreds of Pheasant Fest attendees. I thought about saying ‘thousands’ because Pheasant Fest drew 22,654 over three days. Scott Vickers is a new member, and he let us have Gunner at Pheasant Fest. Ulfric vom Riverwoods, a littermate, was at Pheasant Fest with John Calandra.
It seemed that water and retrieving were common questions. It was good that our slide show had lots of pictures of Kurzhaars swimming so people would believe me that ‘these dogs are water capable’.
When I introduced Gunner, I always included that he was just 7 months old. That really brought out comments like “he is so calm”, “he is calmer than my seven year old dog”, “how did you train him to be so calm?”. After the last question, I would point out that this was someone else’s dog and that I just met Gunner. The temperament questions were always a lead into a discussion about DKs.
It seemed that water and retrieving were common questions. It was good that our slide show had lots of pictures of Kurzhaars swimming so people would believe me that ‘these dogs are water capable’. That was also an introduction to the Kurzhaar testing and breeding standards. The slide show also had pictures of field and water retrieves. Every pheasant hunter has lost wounded birds, and they liked hearing about the Kurzhaar standard after the game is down.
Rick Hartle with Pearl
NADKC has a wonderful booth. It combines function and beauty—pretty appropriate for our DKs. It was great that we had a double booth because we had enough people that one booth would have been inadequate. We also had a great location. Because we were between the two exhibit halls, everyone walked by. Most people stopped because of the dogs. I noticed that some booths just had their people sitting in back. We were out working so people would stop.
Dave Henderson had a work conflict and he was literally sick about missing Pheasant Fest. Rick Medina did a great job with coordinating everything that goes into the planning and execution.
NADKC has a very nice brochure. Thanks to Cheryl Medina for updating for 2015 Pheasant Fest. We stressed that more information is at our web site or facebook. We encouraged people to check our web site for information, breeders and some of our litter listings.
Pheasant Fest is a long term marketing program. There were some people looking for a new pup. I was told by a few that they came to Pheasant Fest to help made a dog decision. The Bird Dog Parade on Friday featured over 70 breeds. However, most people could be years away from a puppy decision. Our DK introduction could be a difference in their decision since most people would comment that they didn’t know about Deutsch Kurzhaars.
Pheasant Fest 2016 will be in Kansas City. Please consider coming to help at the NADKC booth. You will enjoy showing off the finest hunting breed in the world!
