Agility at Sheltie nationals-thoughts?

[ClantyreSheltie]

That is sad to be happening at a local level. I am fortunate that our club does everything, and lots of it. There is no infighting, because everyone has something to do.

But for the parent club to send everyone to the local clubs for "education", then for the local clubs to tell them to go away, is indicative of the problem.

That is probably a windmill I can tilt at. Why do we have specialty clubs who can't be bothered to do their jobs?

 

[k9kreationz]

I didn't think and know about voting so that would make sense why they want to limit the numbers. Thanks for explaining that.

 

[DogIsMyMantra]

This is a pet peeve of mine, but not a windmill I am willing to tilt at right now. I choose to work for my local club, putting on awesome shows and making the local exhibitors happy.

Thank you for sharing your experience on this matter with us. I find it very interesting....very interesting indeed. Kind of helps explain some of what I have seen, but not been able to connect without more info.

Unfortunately this isn't the first time I've heard about the performance people getting the short end of the stick and being treated as second class to confirmation folks. Heck, we got a good picture of that at AKC Nationals a few years ago when the agility folks were left, literally, out in the rain.

That wasn't agility nationals. That was the agility invitationals. Huge difference. The invitationals is really all about conformation folks and agility is structured as a way to showcase different breeds, regardless of competition level.

Agility nationals is solely for agility folks. It's pretty much put together and run by agility people and is the culmination of competition for that year in AKC agility. There is no debate on who gets treated best there...it's all about the agility. (and why I'm so excited to be going this year!)

 

[DogIsMyMantra]

You don't have anyone like one of the Cranks coming to talk about handling skills, or maybe Nina Plail to discuss what to look for in a top agility prospect, or even Chris Zink to talk about structure as it pertains to agility (which given what is being offered up as an agility prospect by many breeders would be beneficial for them to know what we actually want in an agility dog... many seem to think anything that isnt show quality must be an agility prospect because it's a sheltie ).

Okay, you have me drooling right now just thinking about the prospect of these seminars. ::sigh:: 1 day of agility + a seminar with any of those people would be more than enough to get me to a sheltie national within a couple of days driving distance.

 

[HopeShelties]

I'd sign up for a national on the other side of the country if our national offered those seminars. I'm fortunate to have the Cranks within three hours, but seeing Chris Zink, or something from someone like Nina Plail... I'd be all over getting there to be part of a seminar with them. Shame our parent club is never likely to take notice and offer seminars from them. I think it would really be a huge draw.