In the wake of several blog posts regarding the decline of participation in competition obedience, I received an email from a long-time astute observer/participant in the sport. Her comments dealt with misconceptions and lack of awareness that she felt might contribute to keeping people out of the sport. I'd like to share a few of those comments. The sentences in italics are my comments about her comments.
1. Some people assume that since their dog is spayed, neutered or not AKC-registered it does not qualify to show in obedience or any other performance class.
When the AKC began allowing mixed breeds to compete, a lot of us thought we'd see an immediate increase in Novice entries. I've seen precious few All-American dogs coming into the sport. That may be because the message is being preached to the choir -- to those who are already tuned into the AKC, dog sports and purebred dogs. The everyday mixed-breed dog owner may not even be aware of the channels through which the message is being sent. Much less the message itself.
2. Others assume that to train obedience you have to be mean or to hurt your dog. Still others believe from wives' tales or experience that obedience training is not fun for man or beast.
And why wouldn't those notions still persist? Our world is still filled with "old school" trainers, too weak to train, retardates who can only force a dog to comply. They're everywhere. Last Saturday I was in a city park, working with a student whose dog had fallen into the hands of an abusive trainer before they turned to me. (And how is that dog doing now? you ask. Quite nicely, thank you, and very happy.) During the lesson, we were flanked on either side by electric collar classes. Our distractions that morning were the pitiful yelps of the dogs as they got zapped. The ignorant suckers who had coughed up money to have their dogs abused probably loved those dogs and had no idea there was another way.
3. Pet owners who have shown enough interest to watch a competition in person are a source of potential competitors. But only if obedience looks like fun enough to overcome perceived obstacles and be achievable. Spectators rarely see teams having fun in the obedience ring. Outbursts of joy by the team in the ring are discouraged, and in some classes touching the dog is penalized. Isn't petting your dog a basic enjoyment of having a dog? Amen.
(Observers) judge the sport by how much fun the exhibitors and dogs appear to be having in and around the ring. Sadly, agility does look like a lot more fun.
Yea and verily.
Willard
I'm not sure where your commenter is from but it can't be around here. We see plenty of dog/human fun interaction in the ring, and while agility may look like more fun at the novice level, the upper levels have just as much stress and non-fun as any other dog sport. So much so that I swear every time I run in an agility trial (which isn't all that often I admit) we are admonished to Have Fun.
ReplyDeleteI suppose it depends on who the "big hat" trainers are in any given area as they pretty much set the tone for what you will see at exhibitions. We have quite a selection in S Cal, so we see something of a variety in "styles" in the ring.