Clubs can be very strange......

OK all, the secret is out. I am having a ball in my senior moments. Dan

 Quote: Betty Waldron

Clubs can be very strange......

Amen. The first SchH club that I visited when I wanted to get involved in the sport (Poe was around 2 at the time) was a club that a couple of my friends trained at. The club was around 3 hours from where I lived at the time. The first time I went the helper/training director (who is a UScA judge) played a bit with Poe and told me to come the following week for more training.

So I drive the 3 hours the following weekend only to be told by the helper not to bother getting Poe out of the car. He said he thought about it over the week and determined that Poe was too old, the wrong breed, and would have fear biting tendancies if trained in the sport. Needless to say I was pretty bummed. Well at least for the first hour into the drive I was bummed - then I got pissed.

I knew my dog and knew deep down that this guy did not want to deal with the difficulties of a new handler and an off breed (and there are some challenges with training my breed in bitesports). Which is fine - just say that instead making up sh*t about the dog. Fear biter my a$$.

And yes, I am still pissed at this helper if you can't tell However, I got a bit of satisfaction when Poe got a higher score in the SchHI protection than one of the GSDs that came from this helper's club

With that said, SchH takes A LOT of work. Work on the part of the helper, owner, and fellow club members. In the small club we have here we rarely take in new people (By small I mean 4 adults and 2 kids including the helper that actually train). This is partially due to our helper getting older and working a ton of dogs takes its toll and partially due to the learning curve for newcomers and the amount of time it takes to help them takes away from our own training time. We are always up front with people who inquire about joining and say that our club is closed to new members with very few exceptions due to the above reasons.

I try not to judge clubs too hard because each club is often skewed in favor specific things - be it podium toppers, GSD only, show lines, etc. It is important to find a club that accepts you and your dog for what you both are and at the same time a club that you enjoy spending a significant amount of your time helping out and training with because you will be there a lot :-)