New Agility Organization in the US

[Rave]

Check it out, sounds fun!

 

http://www.ukagilityinternational.com/

[IPSY]

I havent read thru much of it , just checked out the courses. They do look like interesting. I havent been doing agiliy because of a hip problem , but once that is taken care of , LOOK OUT ! LOL...I cant wait

I am lucky to have a full agility course at home but when you cant run for long , its torture to look at it.

But that's what distance training is for I guess

I hope this venue will have more trials than AKC . Because NADAC and USDAA , CPE and UKC are never close enough or there is only one or two a season near enough for me. While AKC Agility Trials are a dime a dozen around here. And when I trialed , I went to alot of them , almost every weekend if it was doable.

[Root Beer]

Interesting concept. It will be interesting to see how it develops and whether or not it finds a widespread niche in the US.

[mum24dog]

Must have given up trying to conquer the whole of the UK.

There have been a tiny handful of poorly attended UKA shows in the north of England and none in Scotland.

It is very much a south of England organisation - I'm sure because the shows down there are huge and a lot of people prefer the lower numbers at UKA shows, or they think that KC jump heights don't suit their dogs.

By all accounts the shows are well run and receive good reviews so they do fill a niche in the market in part of the country.

The resistance further north is due in part to the fact that we can just about cope with the numbers of entries we get and also it is seen as more US than UK style. The fact that it is more expensive than KC agility doesn't help either. (Could work out the other way round for you.) We don't see the need for it up here.

I think I'm like a lot of British competitors - using the smaller independent shows to bring on new dogs or address specific issues.

There are some successful handlers using UKA for the same reason as others - they prefer smaller shows. Some of them have been around long enough to remember when KC shows were that small and it's rather nostalgic for them.

They work towards the big events and can still do so under UKA without the surrounding pressure of KC shows.

On the whole though, most people are reasonably happy with the KC and see it as the "real thing" with independent organisations on the periphery. We haven't got the fragmented situation you have over there, nor the segregationist approach of the AKC.

I'm not trying to talk UKA down. I'm not hostile to it at all - as independent organisations go, if I were to choose one to join it would be that one if shows were spreading up this way. It seems to be a professionally run organisation that delivers what its customers want and I'm sure with the Derretts' US connections they won't be stumbling into the market over there blindfold.

 

Pam

[kelpiegirl]

Does the English KC allow mixed breeds to compete in agility?

[mum24dog]

Does the English KC allow mixed breeds to compete in agility?

 

Yes - and in everything else except Field Trials which are only for papered gun dogs.

There are 2 different registers it keeps - the usual breed register and an activity register for all the non papered dogs so they can take part too. There is no difference between the two registers as far as competition is concerned.

Crossbreeds can also get into the KC Stud Book on working merit too. One of mine is a heaven knows what mongrel and she's in there as she won a Reserve Championship Certificate in Agility. Not much point as she's spayed though.

 

If you ignore the usual criticisms on the showing side, our KC isn't bad at all and gets involved in all sorts of matters involving dogs without discrimination against those without papers.

 

Pam