Agility Competitions

[Jhemphill]

I saw on the AKC site that there is an agility competition in Mockville NC this coming up weekend. I would really like to see some Corgis in action. Is there anyway to find out if there will be any Corgis competing at this event? The website has contact information on it, but I did not know if they would give out that kind of information or if it was proper to ask.

Thanks
Jodi

[glencorgi]

Don't think you'll be able to get a list of breeds entered from the contact person. I'll ask around and let you know if any of the corgi people will be there.

Debbie

[Michael Romanos]

I'm certain it will be ok to ask the organisers how many Corgis are competing. I've never had any cause to do this with agility, but I have done so (and so have many others) with breed conformation shows. There are no real issues involved - afterall at most championship level conformation, agility, obedience etc a catalogue is produced for distribution well before the event ie after closing date for entries, so I can't see any problems. If there are, I'd like to know about them

[glencorgi]

Jodi,

As it so happens the trial secretary is a corgi person and should be running her corgi, most likely her black-headed tri girl. I can also think of at least a couple of other corgi people who might be there - one from Raleigh more than likely and maybe one from Winston-Salem. So chances of seeing some corgis run are pretty good.

Michael comments:
"- afterall at most championship level conformation, agility, obedience etc a catalogue is produced for distribution well before the event ie after closing date for entries, so I can't see any problems. If there are, I'd like to know about them"

Catalogues are published, but in the case of AKC events are NOT available until the day of the show. I'm not certain about agility trials, but I do know that for conformation and obedience trials; counts are all that are available. For example with conformation, once all the entries are in a judging program is sent out and available on line from the superintendent in charge of the show. They give you the total number of dogs of each breed, break out how many class dogs, how many class bitches, how many dog specials and how many bitch specials have been entered. They also tell you which ring and at what time the breed(s) will show. This is all the information that is available before a show.

Many of the obedience and performance and even specialty events do not utilize superintendents, rather the trial secretaries and other club members compile the information and produce the catalogues. In either case, all that would be allowed would be the counts of how many dogs are running in which height division and which classes - but not how many of each individual breed.

Debbie

[Michael Romanos]

It sounds to me like a load of officious nonsense.

Thankfully, we are a bit more laid back in NZ - though there are people here of a certain gender who hide behind the Privacy Act (or Law) and will create a situation where they say that information cannot be divulged when in fact it can. But this aspect has not filtered through to dog clubs or their competition secretaries/managers.

[glencorgi]

Originally Posted by Michael Romanos

It sounds to me like a load of officious nonsense.

Maybe so, but those are the AKC rules at least. A part of the reasoning I believe has to go to avoiding the appearance of impropriety. UKC, conformation wise at least, there are no catalogues as entries are still taken on the day of the show. The other agility organizations, I cannot speak to how they handle catalogues as the only venue I've watched run in person has been AKC.

Originally Posted by Michael Romanos

Thankfully, we are a bit more laid back in NZ - though there are people here of a certain gender who hide behind the Privacy Act (or Law) and will create a situation where they say that information cannot be divulged when in fact it can. But this aspect has not filtered through to dog clubs or their competition secretaries/managers.

Pretty sexist to attribute that to one gender or another. I'd feel relatively safe to bet that those feelings and/or actions cross gender rather liberally. When one is participating in an organization, whether it be a dog club or a quilting circle or even a book club there are certain rules one agrees to abide by regardless of how officiously nonsensical they may be. IF one doesn't like the rules, then one doesn't have to participate in that particular organization.

-------
Jodi, the answer to your question is yes, more than likely there will be corgis running at the agility trial in Mocksville. If you call/e-mail the contact person for information, I find it extremely doubtful if they will/can tell you how many corgis will be running; but they could probably give you a time the 10 and 12" classes may be running and that's when the corgis would be.

Let us know if you go and what you think.

Debbie


Debbie

[Michael Romanos]

What improprietry could there possibly be in asking for numbers of competitors in total or by breed or indeed if a particular breed was scheduled to compete - by a competition handler, or in this particular case, by one who is not even involved in competition. The AKC should get real.

It's no different to attending a basketball tournament and beforehand knowing how many teams are involved, who are the players in each team, total rosters for each team and how many of them are imported or foreign players.

[glencorgi]

Originally Posted by Michael Romanos

What improprietry could there possibly be in asking for numbers of competitors in total or by breed or indeed if a particular breed was scheduled to compete - by a competition handler, or in this particular case, by one who is not even involved in competition. The AKC should get real.

But that isn't what you originally said and I quote: "I'm certain it will be ok to ask the organisers how many Corgis are competing. I've never had any cause to do this with agility, but I have done so (and so have many others) with breed conformation shows. There are no real issues involved - afterall at most championship level conformation, agility, obedience etc a catalogue is produced for distribution well before the event ie after closing date for entries, so I can't see any problems."

And I did explain how it was possible to get counts before a show and I told Jodi it was most likely possible she could get numbers and times for the different class divisions. What she is likely not to get is which specific breeds are entered.

It's no different to attending a basketball tournament and beforehand knowing how many teams are involved, who are the players in each team, total rosters for each team and how many of them are imported or foreign players.

But these aren't basketball tournament rules. Evidently exhibitors/competitors aren't as hardcore as some of the ones here and prior knowledge of whom was competing could/can be used to unfair advantages.

Debbie

[Michael Romanos]

Debbie - get it right. I never said for anyone to know who is competing in dog competition prior to a catalogue being produced - and here in NZ you can usually get hold of a catalogue well before the day of the event - just numbers and what breeds. The AKC should get real - there is nothing unfair or can give someone some kind of advantage after the closing time of entries. Can't you see the wood for the trees?

The dog world wants to call their dog competitions sports and have them recognised by Governments etc as sports then they should act like sports people/organisations.

[glencorgi]

HERE catalogues DO have who is competing in them and they are NOT available before the day of the show - PERIOD! Judging Programs offer the break downs of breeds and counts and those ARE available, as I said, roughly a week prior to a show.
Quoting:
"The dog world wants to call their dog competitions sports and have them rercognised by Governments etc as sports then they should act like sports people/organisations."

Where in left field did that come from? I know of NO push in the US to have the sport of purebred dogs recognized by the government, quite the contrary there is a big fight in California now to get government OUT of a field trial type event. We don't WANT government involved in our sport and the dog fancy here is livid because of the political beds AKC has crawled into.

Why don't we make a deal? I won't attempt to explain dog events in New Zealand and you leave explanations of dog events in the States to those of us who live here. I believe that should be a fair compromise.

Debbie

[Michael Romanos]

No Debbie, you don't get off that lightly.

Stupid rules, regulations and practices are stupid anywhere they appear. There are no boundaries.

You obviously know next to nothing about dog sports or Governments involvement in sport.

Currently, there are efforts by the respective world controlling bodies to have agility and sled racing recognised by the IOC (Olympic Games). I could expand considerably on this if anyone wants.

Governments worldwide each pour millions and millions of dollars into sport in their particular country. It is therefore in the interest of dog outfits such as the AKC to put forward their dog sports in front of Governments to attempt to gain some of this cash as well as all the other benefits that Governments and their agencies can offer or provide.

To this end, the two world dog organisations and all their national (nation) members proffer all the dog competitions as sport. This includes conformation and obedience along with upwards of twenty other types of competition events

I suppose conformation showing and obedience are a little like dressage in equestrian events. But the term sport can also be applied to games like chess and ballroom dancing.

[gailkate]

I was taken aback by the intensity of this discussion, because I'm just a doggie loving new Corgi fan. A lot of what breeders and show people take seriously seems kind of artificial and picky to me.

But then you might think some of what I get heated about is artificial and picky.

What I'd like to know is what agility competitions are like for Corgis. Are they like what I've seen for larger dogs only on a smaller scale? How high is a Corgi supposed to be able to jump? We've been thinking about setting up a few little challenges in our yard, mostly because opur pups are so loaded with energy. But I'd like eventually to take them visiting to hospitals and nursing homes, and I've thought agility would be a way of teaching them discipline so they'd be good therapy dogs.

Or would some other kind of training be better?