Over 1,000 dogs will compete at SF arena
Christian Gammon-Roy
Tribune
The weekend of May 10th will bring quite a bit of attention to West Nipissing as the Nipissing Kennel Club hosts its annual dog show at the Sturgeon Falls arena for the first time. As a Canadian Kennel Club sanctioned event, the local club’s dog show is estimated to bring in people from all over the country, and beyond. Local dog breeder, exhibitor, and board chair for the dog show, Kerry Bauer expects just over 300 people and nearly 1,100 dogs will be present. The event will have several shows starting on the evening of Thursday, May 9th, and going on until Sunday, May 12th.
Kerry and Ramona Bauer have been operating their own business breeding whippets here in West Nipissing for the last 15 years. “Both my wife Ramona and I have always had dogs growing up, and I think we were watching a dog program on television and it kind of got us interested in the whippets that we breed and show ourselves, and it kind of just went from there,” recalls Kerry when asked how it all began. Today, the pair operate Shetara Whippets in Verner, breeding both pets and competitors of their own. “I think we’re in the neighbourhood of over 40, maybe 45 champions that we’ve produced over those 15 years,” estimates Kerry, who still remembers doing local shows for the first time and how competing “becomes highly addictive.”
Their passion eventually led them to become involved with area kennel clubs. “We were involved with the Sudbury District Kennel Club for years, and then became involved with the Nipissing Kennel Club, I would say, 5-6 years ago, and in the last year I became president,” recounts Ramona. As such, this is her first time organizing the club’s annual dog show as president, and it is the perfect opportunity to bring it closer to home.
The Nipissing Kennel Club has typically hosted its annual dog show in Trout Creek during Thanksgiving weekend. As the Bauers explain, the last few years have not been ideal in terms of weather conditions, and amenities for the attendees. “Trout Creek, on Thanksgiving weekend, I can’t remember the last time it didn’t snow,” says Kerry. Last year’s show saw attendees and organizers having to deal with 6 inches of snow, cold weather, and an arena that isn’t heated. That accounts for the change of date, but the change of venue to Sturgeon Falls is also a calculated move. “There’s a lot of amenities in Sturgeon Falls, and I think we’re going to be able to get a lot more public interest. Trout Creek is a fairly isolated little community with the bypass now,” points out Kerry.
The Bauers also hope that public interest for this event will translate into more public interest in the Nipissing Kennel Club as a whole. “We’re hoping that we can pull this off, and the town is happy with us, and then find other sites within West Nipissing where we can set up things where it’s very visible to the public, instead of hidden away on someone’s farm outside of town,” Kerry explains. Ramona adds that those other events would be for the benefit of locals looking to gain more knowledge on their own dogs and how to train them. At the top of their list are dental clinics where anyone could bring their dog to get their teeth cleaned. The pair also hope to have various training workshops. As Ramona puts it, “every dog is bred for a purpose,” and she hopes to show people how to train their dogs based on the breed.
