The tourism department in Minot, N.D. is reporting a roughly 20 per cent decrease in Canadian tourism at the end of the year that was branded by “elbows up” messaging and anti-United States rhetoric.

Minot definitely saw impacts to tourism compared to a normal year, said Visit Minot executive director Stephanie Schoenrock. The impacts are seen through a variety of data, including border crossings, web traffic, visitation, hotel data and some cellphone metrics that the team tracks.

“It’s probably about what I would have expected,” Schoenrock told the Sun recently. “I would have expected somewhere between a 20 and 30 per cent reduction.”

The tourism director said there is a major reason that Minot was expected to be resilient this year. The city, which is southwest of Brandon, has decades of relationships built with Canadians in the area, and that seems to have played a role in keeping things level, she said.

It’s going to be wall-to-wall and nose-to-tail dogs at the Wheat City Kennel Club All Breed Show at the Keystone Centre next weekend. From Nov. 6 to 9, dog lovers will be showing off their best friends in conformation (appearance), obedience trials and rally obedience trials. It’s a great time for some family fun, and to learn more about dogs and their behaviours.

Scheduled for the Saturday is the Canadian Kennel Club (CKC) Canine Good Neighbour (CGN) test, which evaluates dogs on well-mannered behaviour while out in the community among people, dogs, and distractions. Its purpose is to encourage responsible dog ownership and to ensure that dogs remain welcome in the community.

The CGN test has no prerequisites and is open to both purebred and mixed breeds who have prepared for the test.

“Any dog is eligible. If you’ve got a dog and you want to train it for the test, absolutely. If you’ve got a blind dog, a three-legged dog, they can all do it!” said Stephanie Inkster, this year’s CGN evaluator at the Wheat City Kennel Club dog show.