Is A Club Necessary

[RubyStar]

Very much agree here too, poodlefan!!

Edit: typo

Edited August 5, 2009 by RubyStar

[Seita]

Whether or not you train at a club, I think all active obedience triallers should be members of one.

It's the clubs that conduct trials and club members that do all the donkey work. They deserve support, both financial and practical.

Anyone who sets foot in a trialling ring without having stewarded at that particular level does themselves no favours IMO. You won't get a better opportunity to see what's required in the ring.

I agree!

Me too!!

[BeagleBoys2]

Also by being part of a club and marking your entries POINTS TO... the club gets recognition at the end of the year at the annual presentation here in Qld. The number of no club competitors has been decreasing every year since the first year I went to this event. So that's encouraging.

Edited August 5, 2009 by BeagleBoys2

[Seita]

Also by being part of a club and marking your entries POINTS TO... the club gets recognition at the end of the year at the annual presentation here in Qld. The number of no club competitors has been decreasing every year since the first year I went to this event. So that's encouraging.

I keep forgetting to put this on my entries!!!

[BeagleBoys2]

Also by being part of a club and marking your entries POINTS TO... the club gets recognition at the end of the year at the annual presentation here in Qld. The number of no club competitors has been decreasing every year since the first year I went to this event. So that's encouraging.

I keep forgetting to put this on my entries!!!

Tsk, tsk!

[Seita]

Also by being part of a club and marking your entries POINTS TO... the club gets recognition at the end of the year at the annual presentation here in Qld. The number of no club competitors has been decreasing every year since the first year I went to this event. So that's encouraging.

I keep forgetting to put this on my entries!!!

Tsk, tsk!

Yeah my club tells me off every time too! I will try to remember when I next enter something

[BeagleBoys2]

Also by being part of a club and marking your entries POINTS TO... the club gets recognition at the end of the year at the annual presentation here in Qld. The number of no club competitors has been decreasing every year since the first year I went to this event. So that's encouraging.

I keep forgetting to put this on my entries!!!

Tsk, tsk!

Yeah my club tells me off every time too! I will try to remember when I next enter something

If you forget to put it on your entry tell the Secretary when you are being vetted.

[Tiggy]

I agree you should be a member of a Club if you trial and volunteer at trials to . I'm going to start training back at my club when we're ready to be in the trialling class.

[OSoSwift]

I am a memeber of my local obedience club and also my breed club.

I love being a member of a club, but I don't necessarily want to train with them all the time

[Brad Griggs]

I thought I'd post a new thead on this topic after it came up in another post. I hope dogdude doesn't mind me posting what he wrote below.

An obedience club focus on their bread and butter (pets), and their programs are not designed specifically for trialling (through the grades)

What they do,.....is train you to train a well behaved pet, then the people wanting to go on to trial, find out that what they have actually being teaching all that time,was how to bore the hell out of their dog.

Then you find you have to almost totally retrain your dog to compete with the top trialling dogs, that had their drive nurtured from an 8 week old pup, and have never done 10 minute block heeling let alone almost an hour.(obedience class)

They are first trained "how to learn", then focus, then the rest.

They have been carefully socialised with a few known dogs, but rarely aloud to romp around with other dogs ad lib at off leash parks. When they do go down to the obedience club, their owners don't let just anybody aproach them to "say hello" (a constant danger at clubs)

Their owners generally work them outside of the mainstream classes, to protect their dogs drive levels, and the general boredom of sitting around waiting for a clueless novice to walk up to them with a known aggressive dog, wanting to see if their dog still has agression issues.

Their owners do not practice block heeling at home, and only tend to tie all the part exercises together during a ring run through (trialling class normally) or a trial.

The only reason they go to club is for the distractions (not necessarily in a class)

Their owners know that their dog just needs great focus in a trial, and is not expected to work shoulder to shoulder with another dog (as in a class), except during the stays (probably the only other reason why their owner is at the club).

If you really want to train a high scoring dog, you need to use methods that the top triallers use, and you will rarely see them on display at a club, because the top triallers never expect their dogs to ever learn anything new in that enviroment.

This is why I recommend hooking up with the most sucessful trialler that you can find.

They are not always easy to find, but most are very approachable, and will often take you under their wings if you stroke their egos a bit.

Not all clubs have highly decorated triallers, so be prepared to look outside your club.

Go to a few of the local obediece trials of a weekend, and look for yourself who is doing all the winning (normally the same select few). Strike up a convo and away you go.

WOW! THIS POST IS FANTASTIC! INOFFENSIVE, FACTUAL, INFORMATIVE...The type of post I would have been proud writing myself!!!

I only differ in opinion on a couple of points here:

1- As I have eluded to in my controversial first post (hic!) both of these aims are achievable, however the amount of trainers out there that have the understanding of psychology, drive development, behavioural management, communication skills and of sufficient experience to be able to achieve the 'total' outcome you discuss in this post are few and far between. They are out there however. I could cite numeorus reasons for this, and the types of background experience that more often produces this type of trainer, however I had best leave that to another post.

2- In order to achieve to a very high level in any type of competitive dogsport it is imperative to start with a dog that has the necessary genetic predispositions to perform the functions required of him. A tradesman is only as good as his tools after all (although some can do more with a hammer and a handsaw than others can do with power tools! ha ha ha).

3-"If you really want to train a high scoring dog, you need to use methods that the top triallers use, and you will rarely see them on display at a club, because the top triallers never expect their dogs to ever learn anything new in that enviroment."----I would go one step further and say that you should seek to attain the KNOWLEDGE that top triallers have, and then seek to form an UNDERSTANDING of how that knowledge applies. This way you will not only understand any problems you encounter, or how one aspect of performance affects other positively or negatively, and be able to apply it to a broad range of dogs with very different temperaments.

4- SIDE NOTE...Get involved and hands on with the dogs of friends and family, and even take on helping somebody out who is having problems with their dog at your club or dog park. There is no substitute for hands on experience, not even institutional learning. Even if they are training a dog in a different sport, or with a different end goal, the knowledge you gain will be invaluable and you will forever be thankful for the hard earnt knowledge and understanding you will gain.

ONCE AGAIN TIGGY, AN EXCELLENT POST, I LOVED IT.

[Staranais]

It's a good idea to join a club if you want to trial for all the reasons Poodlefan has explained (in fact, I think it's actually compulsory over here if you want to trial).

But I'll never again go to a typical 1 hour long obedience group class! IMO they're totally counterproductive for trialling, as they bore the dog and actually encourage the dog to be flat and inattentive while you're training. I'm all for short, fun, obedience sessions with maximal excitement and reward.

I will go to club to work around distractions though, or to do a class that allows us to work on our own thing 90% of the time.

[Piri]

Whether or not you train at a club, I think all active obedience triallers should be members of one.

It's the clubs that conduct trials and club members that do all the donkey work. They deserve support, both financial and practical.

Anyone who sets foot in a trialling ring without having stewarded at that particular level does themselves no favours IMO. You won't get a better opportunity to see what's required in the ring.

agree,ive stewarded at obedience,Gundog work test and agility and the amount you learn is invaluable.

[~*Shell*~]

For me joining a club wasn't so much about teaching Zero the things he needed to learn to trial, it was more about teaching me.

I feel like if we were to go into the ring now, I would be prepared for it and know what to expect. Zero's no where near that stage yet but now I only take him to classes because we enjoy them - his training at home is completely different to at the club.

[Blitza]

majority of clubs know cater for all levels of obedience from beginners to trialling level, when i instruct i always break the exercises up as i know myself how easily dogs can get bored and owners alike. I also emphasis on fun during training, as some people come to get out and socialise with others and for there dogs.

Why i enjoy instructing so much,im giving back what others have taught me over the years, and you still keep learning... you never stop really.