I will shortly start voluntary work for a charity offering aid and community services to the needy in a designated area.
I am also gonna help with fund raising ideas. I suggested a Fun Day incorporating a Fun Dog Show. Now I would need some logistics and help in how to organizes this.

Thinking about publicity, I had in mind letterboxing the area, plus trying to get a free couple of lines in the local paper, noticeboarding and local radio's events listings.

I believe there are various dog food companies, that will help by providing rosettes plus the tapes and poles needed to form the show ring, or at least they used to before the recession started to bite. As for venue - I was thinking in contacting Roeder (http://www.r-zs.com/en/) - I have read they chip in for a good cause, are more often than not.

I am unsure whether trophies should be on offer, but in any event will personally donate an innexpensive glass one for the best veteran and a nice looking but innexpensive cup for B.I.S.

I will of course liaise with my local C.S. in the hope of getting some help and advice there too.

I am posting this to ask if anyone here has any experience of the fun or companion show organisation that they could advise me about, in particular what I can get for free, who from and contact details if poss.

Don't forget you will likely need to sort out insurance

Im not organising a fun dog show but am in the middle of organising an Agility Show. I would make sure you get in writing which companies will provide rosettes and how many as although it seems cheap to but rosettes at £1.20 each for example but by the time you have bought 'hundreds' as in our case it soon mounts up. I think dog food companies usually offer sample bags of food as prizes which might mean you dont need trophies?

A marquee for keeping paperwork etc (Esp if its raining)
A big enough venue
Toilet facilities
Trade stands
Insurance is a must (our clubs insurance covers us for 10 shows a year but i think you can buy 'show specific insurance')

We run a dog club and quite often i get emailed posters from local groups doing fun dog shows asking me to let our members know or to advertise on our website/facebook page. This will save your printing costs. Just have a look at local KC clubs (You can usually get email addresses off the KC site)

Hope that helps :)

I got insurance for my rally trials by googling '1 day event insurance' and you can get it for only £46.

I used to run a fun dog show every year and my No.1 bit of advice is keep it simple for you and for the competitors.

Joint No.1 bit of advice is pick the right judge! The turnout at fun shows usually includes serious show exhibitors who want to get some ring practice in; serial fun-day prize-hunters (no, really, they DO exist - more of them later) and proud owners of pets who are beautiful in their eyes, no matter what anyone else thinks. A good judge is someone who knows how to go over a dog properly and make sensible observations about the dogs he / she is looking at. However, this is useless for a fun show unless he / she is also great at putting people at ease and making everyone feel welcome, whether they are awarding CCs next week, or have just popped in as they were passing with a 3 legged Heinz 57.

2) Start looking for prizes well in advance. Lots of dog food companies and pet stores are happy to send a few goodies and it's also asking larger pet stores if they have any rep's samples they could give you. Pound stores are great places to find odds and ends that will help make up the prizes.

3) I always ended up with rosettes for 1st to 4th place, but the best value ones I found were by a lady who operated out of her front room. She also let me choose some really pretty shades, so we had traditional red, blue, yellow, green, but in unusual shades and they were really popular. However, you could just as easily but a lot of doggy goodies, some plastic bags and some lengths of coloured ribbon and make up goody bags with the appropriate coloured ribbon round them for less!

4) I tried to find a 1st prize for each class that was appropriate. For example, Best Puppy one year got a little pastel coloured basked that I picked up for pence in a charity shop, filled with a puppy blanket, a puppy chew toy, some training treats and a book that someone had donated called, "Diary of Puppy"

5) People usually end up surprising you with their generosity and a few days before the show, you may well end up with a room full of random objects. Don't panic! Do allocate a whole evening to sorting out which are class prizes, raffle prizes etc.

6) Keep a note of what you spend in the run up. If you are answerable to a Committee, establish up front whether you need to produce receipts or not.

7) Ask the Committee for a sum up front in change, so you have a float on the day.

8) Keep class entry simple. We always had a flat rate to get in and then all classes were free therafter. That meant no crowds of indecisive people around a small desk, all with dogs in tow (a recipe for disaster) and a lovely atmospsher around the ring as folk egged one another on to get in the ring and have a go!

9) Be strong when delegating tasks: most people won't say 'no'. Beware aware of what your limitations are in terms of time, budget and manpower and don't let anyone try to impose 'bigger - better' ideas if you know you haven't got the resources to cope. It's far better to have a simple, small show where everyone feels they are welcome and their support is valued than a bigger event, where all the helpers are just stressed and grumpy! Be clear about the experience you want to offer your exhibitors and stick with that vision!

10) Don't get upset by negative comments. You can't please everyone and some people are only happy if they are moaning about something! I had a couple of ladies storm out of one of my shows because it was, apparently 'Just like Crufts and full of serious dog show *****s' In actual fact, the day was for breed rescue and a few show exhibitors had come along with beautifully groomed dogs and their grooming tables and were giving free advice and assistance with proper coat care. None of their dogs entered any of the 'Best Puppy / Veteran / Rescue / Best Conditon classes, but they had a blast doing sausage-catching, waggiest tail, potato balancing etc.

Finally - make sure you've got enough volunteers to tidy everything away at the end :)

Been there done that for 10 years............
Can I add 2 more points...........make sure you have a very firm but tactful ring steward who can point out to anyone that their :-
Lab oodle shouldn't be in Sporting ...Yard-type JR shouldn't be in Hound/Terrier, ....3 month is too young to enter, ....This is handsome DOG, Pretty B is next class............yes, had all 3 plus more similar ones

Also plenty of spare poo bags and some rubbish sacks in VERY obvious places for people to put them.

I had a couple of ladies storm out of one of my shows because it was, apparently 'Just like Crufts and full of serious dog show *****   We had the complaint that we shouldn't have let 'the profesionals enter'............they had got placed behind a couple of locals who used to enter open shows!!!