It's really interesting reading the responses on here and although in many ways, obedience differs depending on which side of the Atlantic you are on, it does seem generally the issues are pretty similar.
In the UK, we have 'Companion Shows' which used to be called 'Exemption' because although licenced by the KC, they are exempt from the normal rules. These are run for charity, anyone can enter on the day with any dog, pedigree or not - registered on not. When I started out just over a decade ago, there would be Companion shows with fun obedience classes held locally on a regular basis throughout most of the year. This was the initiation ground where beginners learned the ropes and where hopefully, new people would have a go and become encouraged to take up the sport. Now, there are probably 2 or 3 Companion shows with obedience in the area during the whole year and generally speaking, the entries are poor - particuarly in the higher classes. It's not the standard being desperatly high here which is the problem. I think it is that most people literally have better things to do with their time than put in the considerable effort that is required to train obedience above a basic level. Even if they do try, as soon as they enter a 'proper' show and see the reality of even the lowest classes, they usually quickly become demoralised, give up and find something more fun and achievable.
The whole image of obedience needs a bit of an overhaul. When I was competing reguarly with Revel I used to stay over sometimes camping and about 7 in the morning there would be the 'top folk' strutting around with their collies, up and down for almost an hour - "close, close, close!" often clipping the dog under the chin to get it to look up, or pulling it tight to their leg by the collar. Is this what many people really want to do with their dogs?
Contrast this with agility shows where people are sitting round eating breakfast with their dogs looking on an anticipating a fun game or chase about later - which do you think looks more appealing?!
Rally is not as big here as in the US but it is gaining in popularity all the time and the comments I hear over and over again is that it is more fun and less demanding than traditional obedience. Our dog club, which until recently has been purely obedience, has adopted rally in a very big way and although I don't think it's for me, I can certainly see the appeal. It requires a well trained dog but not a robot, you compete against yourself and try to attain a target rather than trying to beat other people, the 'style' of working doesn't matter so any breed theoretically can compete sucessfully, the awards are realistically achievable with reasonable effort - and I could go on.
Even the obedience derivitaves of Heelwork to music and Canine freestyle are very popular now and I think this is because it is fun!! You still have the very highly trained dogs, you still have the heelwork and certain criteria which must be met but there is none of the regimented presicion which comes with formal obedience. It is also crowd pleasing which counts for so much these days.
Agility, heelwork to music, flyball etc draw huge crowds who can see the obvious fun the dogs are having - win or lose. Obedience competitors silently walk stiffly round with poker faces and dogs which do not appear to show any evident signs of usual doggy fun - barking or bouncing about -even at the end. Every round is more or less like the one preceeding it to the casual onlooker who cannot appreciate a minutely crooked sit or a fraction wide. It has all the interest of watching soldiers being drilled.
I was also personally very much put off by the physical damage which the more extreeme style of working does to the dog. No dog is designed to walk with it's head at a 90 degree angle to the floor and it's hindquarters in a permanent crouch. The hours that these dogs spend in this unnatural position must cause permenant damage and I have seen too many retired collies, which are not particuarly elderly, with crippled hindquarters at obedience events for it to be a coincidence.
I have also seen plently of people using eye watering methods to train for obedience and I confess, I did use some 'harder' methods when training Revel - for example the forced retrieve where the mouth is physically held shut around the dumbell until the dog accepts it. For Revel it worked, he will retrieve just about anything and still enjoys it. But I will never use that method again, especially for a sheltie, which are such a 'hands off breed'. Epic had learned the basic 'sit' 'stand' 'down' by 10 weeks after a very few, quick sessions with the clicker and for me that is definitly the way forward. I know that people like Mary Ray are immensely sucessful in all performance sports with clicker training so the results do speak for themselves, but equally there are plenty of top flight traiers very sucessful with old fashioned techniques and their dogs appear just as motivated so I don't think the training methods are really an issue in contributing to the lack of popularity.
Another mark against obedience is that to have any chance at all of sucess, you have to demonstrate incredible dedication to training and it almost has to exist to the exclusion of anything else. Very, very few people have dogs which compete, let alone are titled in more than discpline here. There is no incentive at all for confirmation exhibitors to even try at achieving a basic obedience qualification (other that the Good Citizen Scheme).
I think it does matter a great deal that the sport/hobby is appealing to fewer and fewer people as this will gradually mean dwindling numbers of people to run shows, judge and train others. Eventually, it could well be pushed out by more popular activities which draw bigger entries and crowds as this ultimatly means more money.
I am quite jealous that at least you have two forms of obedience in AKC and UKC so have a choice. I wish we had something similar here. I still love obedience, in spite of everything I have said. I love the training and yes, even the formality to an extent. Dressage is my favourite equestrian sport for the same reason. It's not about control, or domination, it's about forming such a close bond with your animal you can virtually read each other's minds and put on a performance so subtle it looks magical to onlookers! I just wish that each partnership could be judged on individual merit to a standard achievable by dogs of all shapes, sizes and types and that a good performance acatually resulted in progression and reward....
I was thinking that I didn't even have a chance to read the sign out loud because I was encouraging my pup.
