I'm not anywhere near as old as Bob, but I remember having to lie to get my non-entered dog on to the show grounds. But now, I just walk in.

 Quote: SamanthaTopper

Not sure why people are saying AKC events don't allow non-participating dogs. Every single AKC event I've gone to was held outdoors and the local club(s) that hosted sold vendor spots, had demos and you could talk to trainers in the area, had TDI and CGC testing booths set up. If that's not encouraging non-participating dogs to join in (well behaved and on a 6 foot leash or shorter) then I don't know what it is.

Maybe this is a wink and a relaxation of the rule? Or perimeter booths aren't part of the event? I honestly don't know, but I see mention of the rule pretty often, such as:

"I expect that the AKC rule prohibiting non-participating dogs from being at the show would be strictly enforced " at http://www.meetup.com/The-Jacksonville-Shetland-Sheepdog-Meetup-Group/events/16505109/

But I didn't go to the AKC site and search.

 Quote: steve strom

I'm not anywhere near as old as Bob, but I remember having to lie to get my non-entered dog on to the show grounds. But now, I just walk in.

(1) No one is.


(2) But what you say makes me wonder if what I always thought was an ironclad rule has been modified in the past couple (or few) years ... ?

Or maybe it's certain types of events (agility, obedience)?

I'm curious about the "say hello" command. I have an 18 month old female malinois and have always focused on teaching her to be aloof/neutral. She isn't naturally a social butterfly with strangers and that is OK with me. She is friendly with guests and friends, but wary initially. I think this is a pretty common breed characteristic.

I do understand how the "say hello" command could be useful when introducing the dog to a friend. But I'm a bit confused.

Connie -

I've been going to AKC events hosted by local clubs for the past 7 years. They were all outdoors and they all had conformation, obedience, agility, fly ball, disc dogs... you name it and that's what was there with variations depending on turn out. Perhaps things are different for events held indoors because of lack of space, but I can't comment since the indoor events were ABKC and UKC.

(for the record I never had a dog competing)

"Perhaps things are different for events held indoors because of lack of space."


Oh, THAT might be it! Didn't even think of that.

I saw when I googled "un-entered" and "non-participating" dogs at AKC events about liability, disruption, etc., but these were individual events and not actual AKC rules.

Now I'm a little confused about the AKC rules, too. I was always under the impression that non-entered dogs were not allowed on the grounds. I think my knowledge was simply from hearing it so often from others.

A quick perusal of my current rulebook for obedience and rally shows no such prohibition. It does say something to the effect of the "Rules Applying to Dog Shows" apply to obedience and rally events, too. But looking at that publication online, I can see no mention of it. Of course, I'm not reading these page by page, just scanning, but you'd think it would be plain for all to see.

I recently attended a big indoor dog show held in our area over four days at a convention center. AKC conformation, obedience, rally, and agility, along with vendors and demonstrations, etc. The AKC had a special event going on there called "My Dog Can Do That," or something like that, where members of the public were invited to bring their dogs and try out a small agility course, with people helping them through. There was a steady line all day. It did look like participants were having to sign some type of release.

So now I'm really wondering about that rule.

Ariel, I hope you're still with us! Sorry a few of us have taken your thread in another direction. Please let us know how it's going and of course feel free to start another thread if you have other questions. Maybe we can get back on track.

interesting. I actually talked to two judges. Both of them knew i was just checking things out. and neither mentioned any rule like that
There was two people outside the building as well. I had to pay a fee to get in if we weren't showing. they saw i had her with me too.
I wonder if it just wasn't enforced for this event? good thing to know for the future though

And thank you Cheri. its all still good information to know. I really am interested in the "go say hi" command.

A trainer I know in my area has trained her dog the 'say hello' command. She has a very outgoing GSD though, one that always seems to be bursting at the seems to meet people, he wasn't aloof or shy or anything.

It was many years ago that I met her and her dog, but I remember her talking to my mum about the command and demonstrating it with me - as we had a rather exuberant GSD back then too.

The steps were something like this...

She started off training her dog to be neutral to all people, dogs, cats etc. When people would ask for a pat, she'd tell them her dog was in training. She would instruct the people to ignore the dog (He had a problem with people coming up to him, he would get waaaaay over-stimulated), and she would get the dogs attention back on her with food. After a while doing this, she introduced corrections for any attention given to the person coming up to her.

Eventually the dog learned that people walking up to them meant; look at the owner.

After that, she would instruct people to try and get his attention by bending down, patting him, clapping their hands etc. She would reward attention on herself, and correct attention to the stranger. I remember her saying that he had real difficulty with children; he got very excited and would whine when they were near him. This was the longest step.

After that, she introduced the 'say hello' command by handing the stranger a piece of food, and getting the person to bend down and tap their legs. Because of the previous step, he took a while to understand that she wanted him to say hello, but he got it eventually.

Then she introduced the 'say bye-bye' command, where the dog would shake their hand and return to his owners side. I have no idea how she trained this, but I don't think it would be that hard.

I hope that helps, but again, this was a dog who wanted nothing more than to meet anyone and everyone.

I can't find an actual rule either. I found this on a show premium:

 Quote:

ONLY DOGS THAT ARE AKC ELIGIBLE ARE ALLOWED ON THE SHOW GROUNDS.

Since you can get some type of registration now for mixed breeds, I guess all dogs are ok. They're all eligible for something.

It also mentioned space indoors only allowing for entered dogs.

http://www.royjonesdogshows.com/PremiumLists/CentralIndShelties/Central%20Indy%20Shetland%20web%20email.pdf