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airbear
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In another thread, there was a spirited discussion about the difference betwixt the stockdog and sport dog communities. A few weeks ago, I had what I think was a fairly unique opportunity to observe both communities at two large competitions, held virtually back to back. I competed with two dogs at the AAC National Agility Championships, and a few days later, competed with one dog at the Kingston Sheep Dog and CBCA Championship trials.

 

Some background:

Number of dogs competing:

Agility: about 460 dogs, of which maybe 20% were border collies. The youngest was 18 months, the oldest, about 14.5 years old.

Herding: 147 Open dogs, of which 146 were border collies. The youngest was about 20 months, the oldest about 12 years old.

 

Criteria for entry:

Agility: Each dog qualified by earning a minimum number of points in its regional championship or in the pre-qualifier competition held immediately before Nationals.

Herding: There is no criteria for entering beyond paying the entry fee by the closing date. To qualify for the double-lift final, though, the dog must be registered with the CBCA.

 

Venue

Agility: The site was a large, multi-use sport field. Competition was spread over 9 rings, each measuring about 75' x 125'.

Herding: The site was a public park. The trial field is an off-leash dog park, and the outrun was quite short - maybe 250 yards, tops.

 

Here are some of my observations.

 

Barking:

The agility dogs barked while actually on course. I myself have two that could be considered "big mouths" when they run. Obviously, none of the stockdogs at Kingston barked while working. For in-activity barking, this is no contest. However, the crating area at the agility trial was quite quiet. There was a bit of barking and/or whining periodically, but nothing of any duration. The handler's parking at Kingston was about the same. Many dogs barked when you walked by their trailer or truck but again, it was nothing of any significant duration. For at-rest barking, I'd have to say this one is a draw.

 

Leashes

All dogs at the agility competition were required to be on leash unless competing, in the designated warm-up area, or at the off-leash area. Everyone adhered to this, except perhaps some of the very small dogs, who were carried in and out of the ring. One was in a baby stroller. <pause for effect> But I digress.

 

At Kingston, most of the dogs were on leash when not competing. There were some like me who had their dogs off leash in the handler's tent (and in Lou's case, pretty much the entire time we were in Kingston). Perhaps because the trial was being held in conjunction with lots of spectator activities, handlers were more likely to keep their dogs on leash so they didn't get in trouble. I, for example, did leash up my dog and tied him under the grandstands at the pig racing, since the announcer asked that all dogs be kept away from the racetrack.

 

Grooming and general presentation

Most of the agility dogs looked pretty clean. There were a couple who could have used a date with an undercoat rake, but I am fussy on tufting. A lot of agility dogs had fancy personalized collars, harnesses, and/or slip leads. Many were wearing cooling coats for the walk to/from the ring. That, I found odd. It was very warm, yes, but the walk to the rings is short, and there were lots of wading pools and hoses should you want to cool your dog off.

 

The herding dogs were relatively presentable too. Again, it wouldn't have killed some of the dogs, particularly the brush coats, to have a rake run through them. but in general, they looked clean. In fact, the judge from Wales, Colin Gordon (author of One Man's Opinion) opined that he was glad to see the dogs in such nice condition. He (probably correctly) ascribed the improvement in grooming and presentation over the years to the rise in the number of woman handlers. Sadly, no dogs wore anything much flashier than a flat buckle collar with perhaps an ID plate riveted on. A few handlers still favour the binder twine leash. smile.gif No dogs wore cooling coats. They made do with the stocktank on the field, and the St Lawrence river, just behind the field.

 

Dog fights

I saw no dog fights at either event. There may have been isolated incidents of snarking, but nothing I would classify as a fight.

 

Loose Dog!!

Yes, there were calls of "Loose dog!" when a dog was spotted walking/running unattended at the agility trial. In fact, one of these loose dogs was my own Wick, who found herself loose when Rex tipped their soft-sided ex-pen. From what I understand, Wick must have panicked at being loose (Rex remained in the capsized ex-pen, completely unfazed), and she was cantering towards the exit, which led to the park's roadways. The calls of "loose dog!" alerted the volunteers, who made sure that she didn't get out of the secured area. She ultimately took shelter in someone else's shade tent, where my friend was able to get a leash on her (I was getting a popsicle and didn't hear the commotion). I can't imagine what would have happened if she had got out, wearing no collar, and in a strange place. I am therefore very grateful that the calls of "loose dog!!" alerted enough people such that Wick could be contained. At agility trials, if a dog is loose, it almost always means that something is wrong. It's not because they can't be trusted off-leash.

 

At Kingston, one dog slipped under the gate and made it onto the field while his handler was using the loo. The scribe shooed the dog off the course in time, so that the competing dog's run was not affected. In this case, there were not calls of "loose dog!" so much as the hissing of "get that damned dog off the field". smile.gif

 

Facebooking

This one wasn't even close. There was orders of magnitude more Facebooking under the handler's tent than at the agility trial. I suspect this is because there is a lot of sitting around, waiting, in herding. Or maybe stockdog people have a more cohesive Facebook community? All I know is that American handlers were drunk with happiness when they found a wifi hotspot. Hey, I can sympathize - roaming charges are exorbitant.

 

Overall

In my opinion, there's not much difference between the stockdoggers and the sportdoggers and their dogs, at least not at these two relatively high-profile events. Sure, there were examples of total weirdness from both camps, but I consider these outliers, and not representative of the overall communities. And before you label anyone weird, please have a read through Jorgen's excellent blog post, I wouldn't call anyone crazy If I were you. He covers the topic much better than I could.

 

No, in general what I saw were people who truly enjoyed their dogs, who all spend a lot of time and money on the activities about which they are passionate, and who all are, forgive me, Jorgen, just a little bit crazy. And me? I enjoyed every minute of it, and I'm probably the craziest of them all, since I crammed both events into 1.5 weeks, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. smile.gif

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Neat post! I look forward to attending a stock trial one day, but I think agility will definitely win at facebook here... All the under 30's will see to that!

Are there many young people involved in stock trials in the States? From what I have seen here it's predominantly 30+ year old men (of which we don't have many in agility)

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Nice post, Kristi!

 

I've only been to an agility match and an agility trial - and found both very enjoyable with polite people and dogs. I've been to a number of sheepdog trials and found the same - an enjoyable time, polite people and polite dogs.

 

I've also been to an AHBA event that was peopled almost entirely by AKC folks, and found that one to be a bit weird with the "no loose dogs" policy enforced by shrieking and the accoutrements (dog, human, and vehicle) that abounded. But it was fun, the people were nice and the dogs polite. The level of noise, where people were not right with the vehicles and dogs, was higher than I've heard at the camping area of any sheepdog trial but there were also "barky" breeds there, too. Since folks were well-prepared, with shade tents, crates, and other setups, things were actually quite nice - and no dogs on chains under trucks to surprise any passersby.

 

The thought of a large agility venue, particularly indoors, makes my ears ring in anticipation, though...

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Vancouver to Kingston - wow. The scale of UK agility shows may be bigger than yours but distances travelled to dog events certainly aren't. I admire your dedication.

 

I've been to Vancouver a couple of times and passed by Kingston on the train to Montreal.

 

I've no idea about large sheep dog trials here since I've only seen smaller ones involving a bunch of farmers in a field, usually in the middle of nowhere (or what passes for nowhere here). I can't imagine any of them glued to FB - phones are used to do business. FB is endemic in agility though.

 

Last year I missed the World Champs held 40 mins away because my old dog ruptured a cruciate, this year I missed the English Nationals held 5 miles away because I was at an agility show.

 

Differences in agility apart, I recognise the picture that you paint and it's very interesting to read a balanced comparison between the sport and working worlds where you live from one who knows both.

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Dear Doggers,

 

I thank Ms. Kristi for her scrupulous report. My experience at agility trials has not been as pleasant as hers but, as noted, that experience is limited to one huge trial (Crufts) and a small (60 dogs?) AKC trial. I'd like to think that Ms Kristi's experience is more typical than mine.

 

Donald McCaig

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Dear Doggers,

 

I thank Ms. Kristi for her scrupulous report. My experience at agility trials has not been as pleasant as hers but, as noted, that experience is limited to one huge trial (Crufts) and a small (60 dogs?) AKC trial. I'd like to think that Ms Kristi's experience is more typical than mine.

 

Donald McCaig

 

But Crufts isn't an agility trial and never has been - it's a multi disciplinary entertainment show/shopping experience/general dogfest of which agility forms only a small part under crowded, noisy and stressful conditions that only the most stable of dogs will bear with equanimity, which fortunately applies to virtually all the competing dogs I have been in contact with there over the years. Performing in an arena under strong lighting with loud music and a noisy audience of up to 6000 people is not for any dog of suspect temperament.

 

Kristi has sensibly compared like with like as far as possible.

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Thanks, Kristi. This is great and a wise example that our similarities are so often greater than our differences--whatever the endeavor (I'm trying to keep that in mind as the US political season ramps up a notch....)

 

And humor and grace are always a trump card and you have them both in spades.

 

ETA: of course you didn't discuss handler attire in the two venues.....

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The thought of a large agility venue, particularly indoors, makes my ears ring in anticipation, though...

 

No need to worry about ringing ears - Just this past weekend, I attended an indoor agility trial - complete with two rings running dogs at the same time, crating space for all the dogs (probably about 200), plus room for ~15 vendors. I have to say that with the exception of the (very) occasional dog barking while it ran the course (and no other dogs joined in), it wasn't any louder than to be expected when a sizeable number of people and dogs gather. Now, the loudspeaker was somewhat irksome.

 

Airbear - loved the post from Jorgen!

 

Jovi

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...but I think agility will definitely win at facebook here... All the under 30's will see to that! Are there many young people involved in stock trials in the States? From what I have seen here it's predominantly 30+ year old men (of which we don't have many in agility)

I don't think there were any under 30s at the Kingston trial, nor do I see a lot of younger handlers in sheep herding in my neck of the woods. I'd say this is a sport of the 40+, but that doesn't mean they don't Facebook! Actually, we don't have that many younger people doing agility either. I'd say the ages of the handlers is relatively comparable, at least here in Canada.

 

Vancouver to Kingston - wow. The scale of UK agility shows may be bigger than yours but distances travelled to dog events certainly aren't. I admire your dedication.

Or craziness. biggrin.gif

 

I've no idea about large sheep dog trials here since I've only seen smaller ones involving a bunch of farmers in a field, usually in the middle of nowhere (or what passes for nowhere here). I can't imagine any of them glued to FB - phones are used to do business. FB is endemic in agility though.

Oh, I think you'd be surprised at the number of UK handlers who are quite addicted to Facebook! Sure, they disappear for the month or two of lambing, but then they're right back at 'er!

 

ETA: of course you didn't discuss handler attire in the two venues.....

LOL, well, that's a whole 'nother topic. Let's just say there is little crossover between my agility attire and my herding attire. smile.gif

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Dear Doggers,

Ms Kristi wrote:" I don't think there were any under 30s at the Kingston trial, nor do I see a lot of younger handlers in sheep herding in my neck of the woods. I'd say this is a sport of the 40+'

 

There are a few fine under 30's sheepdoggers but most are seasoned.

 

Donald McCaig

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No need to worry about ringing ears - Just this past weekend, I attended an indoor agility trial - complete with two rings running dogs at the same time, crating space for all the dogs (probably about 200), plus room for ~15 vendors. I have to say that with the exception of the (very) occasional dog barking while it ran the course (and no other dogs joined in), it wasn't any louder than to be expected when a sizeable number of people and dogs gather. Now, the loudspeaker was somewhat irksome.

 

 

 

This sound exactly like the Carolina Piedmont trial I was at last weekend, most shows I go to are fairly quiet but for a large venue with tons of dogs it was the quietest trial I've ever been to by far!

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Great post Kristi! And I love Jorgen's blog post - spot on! :lol:

 

And, as of this year I am no longer under 30, but I believe that I am still one of the younger handlers that competes in my area. (I can think of three other gals that are close to my age that compete regularly in USBCHA trials.)

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This sound exactly like the Carolina Piedmont trial I was at last weekend, most shows I go to are fairly quiet but for a large venue with tons of dogs it was the quietest trial I've ever been to by far!

 

Christine,

Yes, it was! You came up from Florida? Good for you.

 

I loved that they were able to keep the lights off in the crating area - so much more soothing for the crated dogs.

 

Jovi

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This sound exactly like the Carolina Piedmont trial I was at last weekend, most shows I go to are fairly quiet but for a large venue with tons of dogs it was the quietest trial I've ever been to by far!

 

That's because my dogs weren't there! lol Wish we could have been though!

 

Hype got the loud talkative gene. I'm guessing Truly did not? :)

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Oh my goodness, a while back a friend of mine went with me to the Bluebonnet. She commented on all the nice rigs, trucks, dogboxes....However, she had one very important question for me...she wanted to know "what is up with all the haystring???" :)

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...[My friend] had one very important question for me...she wanted to know "what is up with all the haystring???" :)

 

Don't you think haystring is a little like duct tape around the farm -- an all-purpose temporary fix-it? Haystring is enlisted into service for dog tether/leash when: 1) Handler doesn't own store-bought one, and hardly ever needs it, 2) Leash is somewhere in his/her rig but can't locate it, and 3) Left it home. Haystring...I see a large untapped market. But darn, if you started selling leash-appropriate lengths with a clip on one end in little clear plastic bags, somebody would ruin the low-priced market selling a better one with artistic things attached or in various colors. B) It's a fun thought. -- TEC

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I've heard baling twine, binder twine, redneck leash. Alberta Special ... biggrin.gif

 

Oh, Amanda also included in our handler goody bags fire hydrant poop bag dispensers. I suspect for a lot of handlers, this was the first time they had THAT hanging off their belt loops.

 

Dispenser-Fire-Hydrant-Dog-Waste-Bags.png

 

 

I hook mine onto my leash, but with binder/baling/haystring twine leashes, that's a bit tricky.

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Though I don't live on a farm and didn't grow up on a farm, my father comes from a farming family, and most of that side of my family still farms today. They (and consequently, me) always referred to that twine as baling twine.

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