Westminster Agility
- Thread starter Sharon
- Start date
Justicemom
Forums Celebrity
I am with you. It is quite the acomplishment when you place in Masters with the big boys and girls.
I was disappointed in the level of competation that I saw in the finals. Around here most excellent Masters dogs run better than that in all heights and that is a regular every weekend show. I do think there is a place for people who ran the slower dogs or are not used to the international courses but it is not in an event billed as "championship". Ember could have beat the majority of the dogs running in the 8" group
I was also very upset with the placement of the chair in the ring for the leader. That poor Rottie handler! She did a great job of keeping her dog under control but seriously they need to make a winners circle outside the ring. NO need for that dog to be sitting in the ring. Guess no one was thinking about anything but TV.
Since overall, I felt it was a joke at who was running.
I also disliked that it looked like they were running on Astroturf on the concrete ground of the building.[/QUOTE]
You felt it was a joke who was running?I am not sure how to take this because one of those jokes you are calling is a friend of mind who was the 12 inch NAC Agility Champion and the number one sheltie in the country couple years ago Sparkle.Actaully she was the number one sheltie couple years in arow if not longer.They were running on Astroturf the BC Glance that got hurt in the weaves belongs to another friend of mind and I don't think she was a joke either.
I also disliked that it looked like they were running on Astroturf on the concrete ground of the building.[/QUOTE]
You felt it was a joke who was running?I am not sure how to take this because one of those jokes you are calling is a friend of mind who was the 12 inch NAC Agility Champion and the number one sheltie in the country couple years ago Sparkle.Actaully she was the number one sheltie couple years in arow if not longer.They were running on Astroturf the BC Glance that got hurt in the weaves belongs to another friend of mind and I don't think she was a joke either.
My rationale for recognizing Professional & Amateur is not to separate anything but the recognition. i.e. you run the same courses in the same classes on the same day etc.
So for local trials there would be no difference over what we have today.
It is only when it comes to higher profile events, such as USDAA Regionals/Cynosports & AKC Nationals. There are many awesome teams throughout the country regardless of pro/am status.
I contend that at competitions of that degree then placements be awarded to those that are not professionals in the sport as an adjunct to the existing placements.
Sure, professionals aren't winning everything but they sure do dominate the finals. Not taking anything away from anyone, just wishing this sport would expand the recognition of top performers against their own peers.
k9kreationz
Forums Celebrity
I honestly believe if they want to call it a Masters Championship, they need to vet out better teams. Granted, maybe they wanted to give it a go this year, so they did it this way, who knows, but I was sorely disappointed in some of the teams.
To see a dog refuse a teeter, and worse, a jump, just made me shake my head. To see top handlers running their "baby dogs", well, okay, but I'd rather see them run their veteran dogs. Granted, I'm sure their baby dogs are better than my veteran dog. LOL.
However, Westminster is supposed to be the cream of the crop. What I saw was worse than what I see at a typical AKC trial. In fact, it's more what I see in an Open class - a big variety of levels with a variety of issues.
I mean, would we be okay with it if we saw teams like this on the World Teams? I doubt it.
I suppose though....it's more about what Westminster was trying to do. If it was more about showing what it is, and that anyone can do it and have fun, regardless of how good you are, or not, then great. That absolutely shows that. But if it's supposed to be on the same level as the conformation, they got some work to do.
All in all though, I still love seeing it on tv. I love sharing agility with people and getting them involved. I think it's such a great thing to do with your dog and it creates such a wonderful bond. All assuming your dog doesn't hate it. Of course, I'd rather watch the "championships" of all the other venues on tv, because that typically is watching the best of the best.
Just my two cents....take it for what it is.
To see a dog refuse a teeter, and worse, a jump, just made me shake my head. To see top handlers running their "baby dogs", well, okay, but I'd rather see them run their veteran dogs. Granted, I'm sure their baby dogs are better than my veteran dog. LOL.
However, Westminster is supposed to be the cream of the crop. What I saw was worse than what I see at a typical AKC trial. In fact, it's more what I see in an Open class - a big variety of levels with a variety of issues.
I mean, would we be okay with it if we saw teams like this on the World Teams? I doubt it.
I suppose though....it's more about what Westminster was trying to do. If it was more about showing what it is, and that anyone can do it and have fun, regardless of how good you are, or not, then great. That absolutely shows that. But if it's supposed to be on the same level as the conformation, they got some work to do.
All in all though, I still love seeing it on tv. I love sharing agility with people and getting them involved. I think it's such a great thing to do with your dog and it creates such a wonderful bond. All assuming your dog doesn't hate it. Of course, I'd rather watch the "championships" of all the other venues on tv, because that typically is watching the best of the best.
Just my two cents....take it for what it is.
In recent memory I do recall one dog at a local USDAA trial repeatedly refuse to go through the tire as if it had never seen anything like it before. Afterwards the handler commented something about not being used to such a small tire or whatever the setup was that differed from what it was used to (AKC larger tire lower height perhaps I don't know).
What was strange though was that this same dog had just earned it ADCH the week before!
SheltieChe
Forums Sage
Official division of the sport is not matter of If but When. Another trend that will be apparent soon enough it will not be about most trained dog but the fastest dog and fastest most fit handler which will shift professional agility handlers into athlete category as well.
ClantyreSheltie
Forums Sage
I don't think so. Conformation is set up the same way, as is obedience. You have to beat the best dogs with the best handlers to get the placements.
HopeShelties
Forums Enthusiast
That is the way it's run in Saddlebred show horses. We have classes specifically for amateurs and junior exhibitors, and then they have the open classes for the trainers/professionals, and the occasional amateur who is talented enough and has a nice enough horse to compete in the open classes.
However, I am with Clantyre. I don't see AKC dividing it into amateur/professional classes anytime soon. I also don't see it making too much difference even if they did do that. There are nonprofessional handlers with dogs who are good enough to compete with the professionals. For example around here there is a Sheltie named Visa with her handler who is just a very skilled amateur. She won the first couple of rounds at nationals last year. There aren't many dogs out there who will beat her when she qualifies, and that includes dogs being run by the professionals. Another is Felony. That is a hard dog to beat even for the professionals. There is Dillon who is run by a good amateur around here in the 16" class. He's another tough dog to beat. What I am seeing is though the professionals continue to get better, the quality of their students has also gone up as well. Areas with really good teachers seem to have really good students who are very competitive at any level as well. Where I find the biggest difference is when you have amateurs from an area lacking a really talented instructor and put them up against the pros. Where I live there is a shortage of top professionals, and it shows. We are fortunate to have a long time student of the Cranks who is good, but the rest are much more average and it shows. Their students aren't as good and are not competitive against the pros. They aren't competitive against the better amateurs either.
However, I am with Clantyre. I don't see AKC dividing it into amateur/professional classes anytime soon. I also don't see it making too much difference even if they did do that. There are nonprofessional handlers with dogs who are good enough to compete with the professionals. For example around here there is a Sheltie named Visa with her handler who is just a very skilled amateur. She won the first couple of rounds at nationals last year. There aren't many dogs out there who will beat her when she qualifies, and that includes dogs being run by the professionals. Another is Felony. That is a hard dog to beat even for the professionals. There is Dillon who is run by a good amateur around here in the 16" class. He's another tough dog to beat. What I am seeing is though the professionals continue to get better, the quality of their students has also gone up as well. Areas with really good teachers seem to have really good students who are very competitive at any level as well. Where I find the biggest difference is when you have amateurs from an area lacking a really talented instructor and put them up against the pros. Where I live there is a shortage of top professionals, and it shows. We are fortunate to have a long time student of the Cranks who is good, but the rest are much more average and it shows. Their students aren't as good and are not competitive against the pros. They aren't competitive against the better amateurs either.
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