Gerbil Shows in Canada?

[cheetah]

Anyone know of any? Small animal shows are fine too since just gerbil ones seem rare. And on the topic of shows, can anyone find the Canadian gerbil standard? Or is there even one? >>

[crazy4gerbils]

That's a really good question... Depending on where you are, you might be able to go to one in the US maybe?

[MoonstoneGerbils]

There is no recognized Canadian club/society for gerbils, so no one has ever made a Canadian standard. though Canadians are welcome to join the AGS.

[johanne]

There's just a francophone gerbil society that includes Quebec among its members. But that's just for french speakers, of course.

[cheetah]

Too bad =/ Anyone know how a society is made/recognized? Maybe all us Canadians can group up =P (doubt it...)

Hmm.... Francophone? Doesn't that mean you need french parents and not just speak french? There 2 Francophone schools in my town and that's the case with them. If you just need to speak french its not too impossible, I've been considering learning french for awhile since there's so many french speakers in Canada =)

(The following is semi-outloud thinking =P)
I wonder if we could make a website called "The Unofficial Canadian Gerbil Society". Fill it with gerbil info, get a "standard", then contact AGS and see if we can get their support ^^ If we could, perhaps they could help us organize a gerbil show here in Canada to see how it goes. And maybe the "CGS" wouldn't be so nonexistent. ..... But then maybe I'm just CrAzY!!

[johanne]

I imagine any francophone anything can make whatever rules they want. I believe they specified France, Switzerland and Quebec, so it might be language and location.

Canada has some unique challenges that make it remarkably hard to operate small animal clubs for most species, especially something less common like gerbils. Most such organizations die soon enough. We have a tenth of the population of the US spread over a much larger area. Physical shows are just not practical. Would you travel to, say, Toronto or Moncton for a gerbil show? Another problem is that gerbil people so rarely remain involved for any length of time.

Now if there happened to be enough people who wanted to do Canadian virtual shows, that might be possible.

We have our own legal system here so I'm not sure the AGS would be able to help much. There are gerbil clubs around the world that might have general advice if we wanted it.

[cheetah]

I figured there would be a problem with actual shows. If there were virtual shows we could send rosettes to the top 1-5 ("we" is a general term by the way, I'm not referring to me and you making a gerbil society xP Just in case you were confused) I'm not sure if they normally do that or how to make them but it would be nice as the winners to get them. Well maybe one day ;P

[MoonstoneGerbils]

How far are you willing to drive is the real question.

I've driven 24 hours straight with only pitstops for fueling/eating/coffee to go out to the MidWest Show. Some 2800 miles roundtrip, or 4500 kilometers round trip.

The AGS started as nothing more than a group of people with a common interest. they got their standards based off the UK standards. The trick is getting people to make that drive. Thats the hard part. For instance there are enough breeders in the south to warrant a southern show, however no one will commit to going. There is probably also enough interest in the northwest of the US to have a show out that way, there is even a judge that would be local(ish).
The thing is most people are hard pressed to even consider driving more than an hour away, never mind 7 or 8.

[johanne]

There are lots of good reasons people won't drive long distances to a show, including expense, time, stress on their gerbils and risk of illness and more. Sample round trip driving distances in Canada:

Vancouver - Toronto, 8800 km (5500 miles)
Edmonton - Moncton, 9200 km (5800 miles)

Number of people willing to make either of those trips to attend a gerbil show equals approximately zero. I'd find it hard to fault anyone for deciding not to go.

[cheetah]

24 hours straight? My butt would fall off Interesting history on the AGS thanks =)

I guess I'm a rather strange person (as if you guys haven't figured that out already =P) Next year I'll be going with my friend in April to a convention (No i'm not a comic nerd not everything thats called a convention involves comics and dressing up in tights) and staying in a hotel for 2-3 days, its a 2 hour ish drive there, then I'll be going again in May for most likely 3 days. And at a different time in May we'd like to go to Toronto, thats for 4-5 days in a hotel. And in June we'd like to go to Florida about 4-6 days. (No traveling this year as she's in Europe for a year) Traveling is no problem for me ;D (I am unsure how all this is relevant to the conversation....)

[paddingtongerbil]

I would love to participate in a Canadian Virtual show!

[Feeona]

Me too but I just don't know enough gerbil owners or breeders who'd commit. :/ And QC is like it's own country unto itself, I'm lucky if I get a reply back in an email let along organizing something.