How do you decide what to enter?
 ) How do you decide what to enter - especially for those with more than one performance dog?
I thought it would be interesting fro people to compare notes. |
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| My decision to put Asia into Agility was easy. One of the Forum Members started a business not far from me, so we joined up with her. We had a lot of fun and now Asia will be going on to Agility II. |
| Hmm, good question!
I grew up with Brittanys - and as a family we showed in conformation, AKC field trials, and did upland game hunting. We also had field training at our farm for trialing and hunting - so I always knew how to train a pointing breed for field work. We also did obedience, both in AKC and 4-H. Jenny, my GSD and my 1st dog as a "grown-up": We did competitive obedience, then therapy dogs. A dog aquaintance was starting a TDI chapter as part of her thesis in college, so we were charter members, back in 1984 or 1985. And back then, obedience was really the only other option in our area (besides conformation) for a performance sport  .
Macy - chocolate lab - we did competitive obedience, therapy dogs and dabbled in a couple very beginner agility classes. The classes in agility were real lame, so we dropped out and never did anymore. She also was hunting dog superb - she loved it! I hunted with her, but mostly Todd did. Simon - basset hound - I got him in 2005 as a 6 yr old rescue. We started obedience classes, and passed for TDI. A friend told me about the new sport of Rally, and I thought it sounded interesting. When I found out the 1st title was RN (Rally Novice) I decided to do it so Simon and I could both be RN's!!!  Seriously, that was why I started the sport - pretty lame reason! But, I totally got hooked, and love it. Simon is very athletic - if I would have got him as a younger dog, we definitely would have done agility as well.
Riley - large rat terrier -(feist) he is technically Todd's dog, but LeAnne trained him in his basic obedience. He kind of stagnated then - I was showing Simon in rally, and we then got Chewie and then Maggie. So, belatedly I am trying to find a sport. We tried flyball, but he has no ball drive. He can't hunt with Todd as he is gunshy. So, I brought him with to the agility seminar last month in WI - and I think we have found his calling!!! But, he also is farm-dog extraordinaire - he loves going out and hanging with us doing chores and stuff like that. Maggie - bluetick coonhound - she is a coon hunter!!! She love, love, loves it!!! She is a rescue, and has come a long way - we are so proud of her. 
Tazz - min pin - the old boy. He is my daughter Lisa's old 4-H dog. He was a breeder's return (at age 10 months), after they darn near ruined and killed him. He did obedience in 4-H with Lisa, but he loved Jr Handling - he really strutted his stuff. He also did therapy dog visits - he loved the little old ladies with Alzheimers.  He is now retired.
Chewie - well, he does a lot.....poor dog!... Conformation - because Marnie begged me when he was 6 months old.... Rally - because we both love it.
Obedience - we will start soon! (competitively) Therapy dogs - we both love it. We had a "reading" done when he was about a year old - she said he would enjoy all we the sports we did, but he was an old soul who was put on this earth to heal...and I am agreeing more and more. Sledding and carting - he loves it and loves doing it with his buddy Gabby. They are like two young jocks flexing their muscles!!! 
Weight Pull - again, he just likes it and does so well at it. Also - a new update - I checked with UKC a few weeks ago, and he is the only OES to have any weight pull titles with UKC!!! 
Herding - he is a herding obsessed dog. He herds anything and everything. We need to get going with his training! Agility - we are just starting, but he really loves it (it's in his genes) and he shows more potential than me! |
| I prioritze.
Who is ready to be shown in what venue? Is anything only seasonally available (conformation shows, if you have a limited radius you're willing to travel can be like that) Right now I am told I need to get off my duff and finish Mace's breed CH so that takes priority. Since I don't enjoy it, it's hard to put what you find the least enjoyable at the top of the list, but you have to show when there are shows, which can mean kissing other trials you'd rather go to goodbye. Boohoo. I'm presuming you don't have that handicap. So, you look at the next three months (get a calendar just for this - no, I'm serious) You look at the various shows within your designate radius. You look at your dogs and decide what you want to work towards. Marley ready for agility, Morgan for rally. Hm. You decide WHICH agility venues you're willing to put time, effort and $$$ into. That limits it a bit. Then you look at physical venues. Don't want to jump a dog on flooring X? Trial gets stricken off the list. It's a process of elimination. Let's say your schedule of shows that haven't closed yet looks like this: Weekend 1: rally trial - close to home, great venue agility trial - it's AKC, maybe not in a rush to do that yet, rally wins. Weekend 2: you have a seminar both days, too bad. Weekend booked Weekend 3: not a darn thing going on. Good! You need to sleep in. Weekend 4: CPE agility trial, AKC agility trial, AKC rally trial. You don't like the flooring for the rally trial. AKC agility, still no rush, CPE agility wins. And you just project this forward. On RARE occasions you MAY double enter. Which I am planning to do one day in June when I have promised to enter Mace in a breed show that I don't think will pull an entry, and it's the same day as an AKC obed/rally show, Sybil is really hot right now, should really enter her in rally AND it offers pre-novice obed which is rarely ever offered so I REALLY, REALLy want to enter. So I'll enter both, pray no one enters breed (or I magically find enough shows and enough dogs magically show up and I magically win every time, yeah right, to finish Mace before that show) On the flip side, the littler girls COULD come into season early, which means I can't trial Sybil, but I could show Mace. I rarely if ever do this. It's an obvious waste of $$$ But it's a $25 bet that will make her co-breeder/co-owner happy, so I've decided that's what I'll do. When I have more dogs who are not so green (as in I'll have a better idea of when they are ready to be entered) it gets more complicated and I may look six months in advance and then just adjust as needed (I THOUGHT Sybil would be ready for novice obedience in July, but in late May she was still running around the rally ring kissing judges. Bad bet. Actually, Sybil is generally a hard dog to bet on as she is the least predictable dog I ever worked with. Hour to hour, let alone month to month
Sometimes I'll look at it and say: what title do I want to focus on right now? Or I have certain agility trials that are so good (venue) that I don't want to miss them no matter what. OR, maybe I have three dogs ready in rally but only one in agility, so let's do a weekend of rally. You just look at the schedule and prioritize. Was that what you meant? Kristine |
Mad Dog wrote: So, you look at the next three months (get a calendar just for this - no, I'm serious) Funny my instructor anad I were dreaming the other day of a large (on the wall size e- calendar where you could download all thepossibilities and manipulate entries etc. It would eliminate issues of unitentional overlapping entries Was that what you meant? Pretty much - just wondering how others made their decisions - LOOOOONG afternoon :wink: Kristine |
| LOL - Ok, I did have the thought like Kristine's, but I apparently digressed with all the dogs....
I too have a calendar by my computer that just has dog events on it. I also have the AKC printouts for the next 6 months in our region for rally and conformation, the weight pull season calendar tacked up as well. Then I start penciling in the events and try to prioritize. For example: this was my weekend calendar for the past several months: February 7-8 Ham lake snow pull, NADSR (Chewie) 14 Agility seminar (Chewie) 15 SAMS club fun day sledding - cancelled d/t no snow - so I wished I would have signed up for day 2 of the seminar 
21-22 - Twin Cities Pet Expo - booth for the basset rescue (Simon) 28 - Ely weight Pull NADSR (Chewie) 29 - watched the sled races in Ely March 7-8 Rally trial (Chewie) 14-15 UKC weight Pull (Chewie) April 4-5 Eau Claire show - conformation (Chewie) 11-12 WI OES club agility seminar (CHewie and Riley) 18 - AHBA herding test (Chewie) 25 - Spring into Summer fundraiser - basset rescue - (Simon and Chewie) I was on the committee and did a training presentation during the event. - BTW, we made over $3500 for the rescue!!! Yippee!!! and those were just the event I picked - many weekends there were conflicts. Right now, (like Kristine) I am forced to choose the conformation shows that have any reasonable odds of a decent entry 1st. Then rally, then weight pulls. I also need to squeeze in the basset rescue activities, so I am pulling my weight for the group, because it's important to me. |
| I am just now seeing the conflict issues as we are starting to actually compete.
So here is my priority list: Agility is our first priority (I like beating my head against a brick wall). But I am starting to only enter trials that offer FAST (so we have more than a snowball's chance in hell of gettting a Q). This is a lifetime plan (or until I hit my head on aforementioned brick wall and realize that we are never going to advance in this sport ). He loves it so he is never quitting - me, I am just stupid.
Rally is our second priority but if there is a conflict with an Agility trial than Agility trumps Rally. As of now my plan is to take him only through rally long enough to put one RAE title on him. I do not need multiple numbers behind his letters - my pocket book is being absorbed by wasted entry fees (see above) and can't take unnessecary strains. I am estimating based on the number of trials that are offered within a reasonable driving distance (less than two hours) that this is a two-year plan. Obedience is an outside interest. I am going to eventually try to compete in this at least at the novice level. The problem is that I can't keep quiet enough for this sport (did I mention that Rally lets you talk the whole time to the dog). So if you want a good laugh watch us enter the Obedience ring at Sheepiepalooza. That is a great place for us to practice - I may duct tape my mouth shut - that should keep me quiet and grab Harry's attention. This is a peripheral plan that I hope to coordinate with his Rally entries and therefore will probably be a very limited involvement. Herding is our third priority. However I am going to start pursuing this very shortly. I have taken steps in that direction and hope to give it some focus throughout the rest of the year. No timeline on this plan as I am waiting to see how it goes. The only things that stand in the way of all of our entries (barring any conflicts) is MONEY and DISTANCE. This was an interesting question Kerry and I am enjoying people's answers. Especially Kristine's. |
so Judi (and others) - have you considered other venues in agility to train in? I am a bit "methodical" can we say? I also don't like to waste time or money. Therefore, I worked out a schedule - with input from my instructor and others (hey Kristine ) and I entered CPE and DOCNA trials first. Also I do runthrus whenever available. Right now I think   I will use the St Louis "match" as a warm up for our first AKC trial in June.
But yes distance and money are my two biggest deciding factors- I would rather spend money on a good class than an entry fee. And yes the question came up because my calendar shows Marley in a trial the same day Morgan is in a show and go (luckily you pay at the door for that one) but as an addendum to how you choose what to do, maybe we can add where (venue) and when do you choose to enter? |
kerry wrote: And yes the question came up because my calendar shows Marley in a trial the same day Morgan is in a show and go (luckily you pay at the door for that one) but as an addendum to how you choose what to do, maybe we can add where (venue) and when do you choose to enter?
Hm. Some times it comes down to what's available. If you have several CPE trials in a short time frame and hardly ANY matches or show N gos, some times those take precedence. If you have Morgan entered for the first time in rally the following month, than you may need the show n go more than the trial. If he isn't entered till September and there will be two more show n gos before that, not so much. You weigh every decision in that way. Some are no-brainers, some you struggle with. Sometimes you even <gasp> go with your gut. As for picking what agility organizations to compete in, it depends on your dog and where you live. Some places have NO run-thrus. In that case, you may want to pick one of the more userfriendly organizations to start out in, depending on what you have available. NADAC has games and allows training in the ring and most dogs jump (or can) at a lower jump height than they do in AKC (which is what seems to be where most OES end up). ASCA agility is based on the old style NADAC, and allows, if I recall correctly, training in the ring as well (up to a point, for both of them - and if you switch to training mode, you can't Q) CPE is another good one for green dogs in particular as they have games and easier classes to start out in especially (no teeter, no weaves). DOCNA is another one. For all of these the entry fees are typically lower than AKC, but more expensive than a run-thru (still, you get a true trial feel, and that can be invaluable). So you can use them as glorified run-thrus (to a point) and probably pick up some titles while you're at it, because most are generally easier to Q in than AKC for most of our dogs. Some people pick 2 or maybe 3 organizations that they'll compete in for the life of the dog. Others use other organizations strictly as prep for their main target organization, usually AKC in our breed. I've started three dogs now and started each of them differently and will probably start the next one later this year differently than the three previous. It really depends and there's not clear-cut right or wrong way to go about it. It usually comes down to availability, plus what the dog needs and the handler feels comfortable with. Kristine |
| I try to balance the events Chewie is in. He isn't that turned on by the breed ring, he knows there are lots more fun things out there.
maybe it is my thoughts only, but I like to "reward" him with more fun activities after some that are less fun. I never enter 2 weekends in a row of conformation..... I hate to think what it would do.... he would hate me! Well, he wouldn't be a happy boy, at the very least. I sometimes double up 2 different events, but not often. The last one I did was in St Charles - we entered rally (RA and RE for an RAE leg) as well as conformation. I only entered rally on Saturday, as a calculated gamble. I was hoping the rally would be early (a pretty safe bet, especially for excellent and advanced) and ring times in breed are usually later on Saturdays than on Sundays. It worked out.....but I was a wreck for the 2 weeks waiting for the judging program to come out and see if I just blew $50 away because we had ring conflicts. I really needed the conformation entry, but wanted to enter rally along with Judi and Harry and Val and Heart. So, I did both, and we lucked out - got breed points and another RAE leg. But, I can't say I'm in a hurry to stress me out like that again...and makes an expensive weekend in entry fees.... 
I also had overlap when I was showing Simon and Chewie at the same time. I usually didn't enter Chewie in breed and Simon in rally too often, but I did enter both in rally the same weekends at the same shows. I tried to work out a priority: factors that enter in for me are distance, cost (day trip vs motel), was I car pooling with someone? (I do this alot!) and also venue/location preferences, judge preferences and of course what friends would I get to see at what events! |
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