Does anybody use infodog.com to register for AKC trials? I just signed up for my very first Rally trial in November. I was going to mail in the form with a check but one of my training buddies, who got a Rally title this summer, suggested doing it online via infodog.com instead. So I did that, and it was going great until the end of the transaction when I see they added a $15 fee to the cost. The trial cost itself is only $25 so a 60% fee seems awfully steep. My trainer says it's better than the old-fashioned paper method because you don't get your confirmation notice until days before the trial, but I'm not sure that this "convenience" is worth it. Does anyone have experience and opinions on this? Is it really that bad if you use snail mail? I don't mind paying the entrance fee but I do loathe convenience fees. And I have plenty of stamps and paper.

Also has anyone used http://www.dogeventsonline.com for trial signup? They seem to be a lot cheaper than infodog but they don't do Rally. I will probably use them when I move to OB, unless someone can convince me of a better, cheaper way.

Many thanks.

If it's Onofrio dog show, go to their site and sign up there. It's like $2.50 per class extra to sign up on line. Works great. I've even put the wrong AKC number down, twice, and they fix it on line. Don't know about non-Onofrio shows. CH

The trial you entered must have been a "non-superintendant" run show. Infodog does their pricing this way:

* A $3.50 per entry processing/forwarding fee will be charged for EACH entry in addition to the normal show entry fees for AKC licensed superintendents.

* An additional fee of $15.00 will be charged for show secretaries and will be displayed to you before the entry is complete.

Dogeventsonline is essentially only for agility at this time with a few obedience trials sprinkled in. It has a 15 dollar annual membership fee (which you get credit for) and than there is a 10% convienence fee (so a 25 buck entry would have a 2.50 convienence fee tacked on).

Most, if not all, of the AKC shows I attend are Onofrio supered so I use their online entry service which costs 2.25 per entry. The fee is well worth it in my opinion.

Infodog will do the entries for other supers, including ones like Onofrio that have their own entry service, but I have heard of some issues with infodog's entry taking for those supers so I would only do the online entry with the super who is running the show but that is just me.

Aaaaahh, now I get it, thank you. I need to familiarize myself with the mysterious ways of the AKC organization. I have no idea what a "super" is vs. a "secretary" but I'll figure it out.

I think $3.50 is a reasonable fee, but I probably could have fedexed my application for less than $15.

Thanks for clearing that up. I checked out Onofrio but they don't seem to have any shows in New England.

No problem!

A Superintendent is a company/group of people whose business it is to run dog shows. They take the entries, make the armbands, send out confirmations to the entries, as well as bring all the ring equipment. Most all breed dog shows are "supered" because of the sheer work involved.

For smaller (usually performance events) shows, the club can have a secretary who is in charge of basically doing all of the above with the exception of the equipment deal. Usually the club owns all the equipment or rents it.

Onofrio doesn't really do shows east of the Mississippi with the exception of some GA/FL shows if that is where you are located. Supers tend to stick in the general region as they have to haul all the ring equipment around. However, MB-F (Infodog) and Onofrio are pretty much the giants of the Supers and are doing more and more shows.

Here is a list of AKC licensed Supers:

http://www.akc.org/events/conformation/superintendents.cfm

Have fun with your rally <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />