The North American Deutsch Kurzhaar Club had a successful booth at Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever’s 2017 National Pheasant Fest & Quail Classic. Pheasant Fest is the country’s largest event for upland hunters, sport dog owners, and wildlife habitat conservationists, and this year it was held February 17-19 at the Minneapolis Convention Center. The event drew a record crowd of over 30,000 attendees.
The NADKC booth was prominent in the ‘German Aisle,’ with its hunting theme and slide show of many DKs in action. The booth was part of the ‘German Dog’ aisle again this year, set up by Dave Henderson, Rick Medina, and Steve Remspecher, Joe Gallo. Additional members that supported the booth were Lana and Mike Hamble, John Kreuscher, Jim Dannehy, Chris Fritz and Bob Brearey, Dan Arndt and Gary Berggren.
The highlight, by far, was helping in the NADKC booth with fellow members and talking to people about our love of the DK and why they are an outstanding breed. The genuine interest and affection shown to all the DKs in our booth was overwhelming and very rewarding.
Of course, the biggest attraction at the booth were the DKs! Our group had 8 dogs that took turns interacting with the attendees and the dogs all did fantastic. We handed out hundreds of brochures and received a lot of interest about the DK.
The NADKC booth was right across from the Bird Dog Bonanza Stage where Rick and Ronnie Smith and other renown trainers provided various training seminars. Rick Smith used two of the young DKs for his seminars which were very well attended.
This was the first time Jen and I had experienced this exceptional show. We truly enjoyed the experience. Participating in the dog parade was a wonderful opportunity. There were over 100 dogs and 48 breeds represented. We attended some excellent seminars and visited many of the other booths as well. The highlight, by far, was helping in the NADKC booth with fellow members and talking to people about our love of the DK and why they are an outstanding breed. The genuine interest and affection shown to all the DKs in our booth was overwhelming and very rewarding.
More photos and video can be found on the NADKC facebook page or photos in the NADKC 2017 Pheasant Fest gallery.