grrrrr. I've been looking forward to running Kira in the GSD National
Specialty in October. It's close to home, and I've never run in a
specialty before. And I never will, if this event's entry fees are the
'norm'. $35.00 first run, $10.00 second run. Absurd. Combined with
everything else I've heard about this club, I think we'll sit this one
out. There's three other trials that month, with more competition, _and
reasonable entry fees.

I dunno, maybe you just have to be a 'breed' person to see the value in
specialties that overcharge their exhibitors.

Debbie

"Debbie S" wrote in message
...
grrrrr. I've been looking forward to running Kira in the GSD National
Specialty in October. It's close to home, and I've never run in a
specialty before. And I never will, if this event's entry fees are the
'norm'. $35.00 first run, $10.00 second run. Absurd. Combined with
everything else I've heard about this club, I think we'll sit this one
out. There's three other trials that month, with more competition, _and
reasonable entry fees.

I dunno, maybe you just have to be a 'breed' person to see the value in
specialties that overcharge their exhibitors.

Debbie

Maybe they did the same as our national specialty this year: book a very
expensive location and now they need to make some money. Ours is at the
South Fork Ranch of the Dallas TV series. I'm excited to go there, but
rumor has it that it cost quite a few bucks.

I'm not sure what you mean by "run", but if it is an endurance trial, $20 is
what they are charging for ours and that includes a breakfast afterwards!

René

From: (Rene)

Ours is at the South Fork Ranch of the Dallas TV series.

I'd pay it to go there. This is at an exposition center.

I'm not sure what you mean by "run", but if it is an endurance trial

This is an agility trial. $35.00 first run, $10.00 for the second.

Debbie

On Mon, 16 Aug 2004 15:21:22 -0700 Rene whittled these words:

I'm not sure what you mean by "run", but if it is an endurance trial, $20 is
what they are charging for ours and that includes a breakfast afterwards!

grin Yeah - you have to know the history to know what she's talking
about. She "runs" her dogs in agility http://dog-play.com/agility.html
Each time you go on course that is considered a "run."

The longest time I've seen given for standard course time was 75 seconds.
Which means in order to succeed "qualify" you must complete the course in
under 75 seconds. But for some kinds of courses 20 seconds is a
reasonable time to be on course if you have a fast dog, and I've seen
plenty of dogs finish with less time than that.

And in AKC (the organization she's referencing) you only get 2 agility
runs a day. So you drive several hours, maybe make sure your dog is the
correct shoulder height for the jump height you have selected, wait
around, wait some more, get to the start line, run your 60 seconds, then
you are done for a while, then you get to run maybe 45 seconds and you are
all done for the day!

And no breakfast! If the club is really nice they might have some muffins
and bagels, coffee and orange juice. You might need to get there at 7am,
you might run your first run at 10 am and maybe your second at 3 pm. At
least if it isn't a really big trial.

People say herding is expensive. A sheep run is $30-$35 typically, ducks
a bit less, cattle a bit more. BUT you usually get 10 minutes to finish
the course, or longer. And typical time on course is 3 minutes. So by
the minute herding is cheaper.

--
Diane Blackman
http://dog-play.com/
http://dogplay.com/Shop/

Debbie S. wrote:

grrrrr. I've been looking forward to running Kira in the GSD National
Specialty in October. It's close to home, and I've never run in a
specialty before. And I never will, if this event's entry fees are the
'norm'. $35.00 first run, $10.00 second run. Absurd.

Unfortunatly that seems to be what the GSDCA seems to charge for any sort of
class, except tracking, which is more expensive.

Beth, debating on going to the 2005 national in NC

From: ojunk

Unfortunatly that seems to be what the GSDCA seems to charge for any
sort of class, except tracking, which is more expensive.

I intended to enter today, now I'm just pondering it. I'd really like
to go and run her, but the idea of supporting that kind of entry fee
doesn't set well. {Sit well?} It _would be fun to run with all those
shepherds, though.

Debbie

wrote in message ...
On Mon, 16 Aug 2004 15:21:22 -0700 Rene whittled these
words:

I'm not sure what you mean by "run", but if it is an endurance trial,
$20 is
what they are charging for ours and that includes a breakfast
afterwards!

grin Yeah - you have to know the history to know what she's talking
about. She "runs" her dogs in agility http://dog-play.com/agility.html
Each time you go on course that is considered a "run."

The longest time I've seen given for standard course time was 75 seconds.
Which means in order to succeed "qualify" you must complete the course in
under 75 seconds. But for some kinds of courses 20 seconds is a
reasonable time to be on course if you have a fast dog, and I've seen
plenty of dogs finish with less time than that.

And in AKC (the organization she's referencing) you only get 2 agility
runs a day. So you drive several hours, maybe make sure your dog is the
correct shoulder height for the jump height you have selected, wait
around, wait some more, get to the start line, run your 60 seconds, then
you are done for a while, then you get to run maybe 45 seconds and you are
all done for the day!

And no breakfast! If the club is really nice they might have some muffins
and bagels, coffee and orange juice. You might need to get there at 7am,
you might run your first run at 10 am and maybe your second at 3 pm. At
least if it isn't a really big trial.

People say herding is expensive. A sheep run is $30-$35 typically, ducks
a bit less, cattle a bit more. BUT you usually get 10 minutes to finish
the course, or longer. And typical time on course is 3 minutes. So by
the minute herding is cheaper.

Wow! So @ $20 for 2 hours and 35 min., (plus breakfast), endurance trials
may the best "run" for the money!

In conformation it's about the same. I think they spend 1.5 minutes per
dog. I will be at the specialty for 4 days and my dog will probably be
looked at for a total of 4.5 minutes, unless she does some winning;-) And I
will be driving 2000 miles....one way! Why am I doing this?

René

"Debbie S" wrote in message
...
grrrrr. I've been looking forward to running Kira in the GSD National
Specialty in October. It's close to home, and I've never run in a
specialty before. And I never will, if this event's entry fees are the
'norm'. $35.00 first run, $10.00 second run. Absurd. Combined with
everything else I've heard about this club, I think we'll sit this one
out. There's three other trials that month, with more competition, _and
reasonable entry fees.

I dunno, maybe you just have to be a 'breed' person to see the value in
specialties that overcharge their exhibitors.

FWIW, I've run at two of my breed's national specialties - got a little
silver bowl at one, bupkus at the other. The entries were pricey - maybe
$25/15 or $30/10, I think they both came out to around $40. The first one
was local, but all the events were spread out so you couldn't really attend
everything easily; the second was a 13 hour trip, but everything was on the
grounds.
I had fun, and I'll do it again if it is like the 2nd time, where I'm not
just attending a trial and leaving like a normal weekend. If I get to spend
time around all sorts of activities and massive vendors while hanging out
with other people who love my breed, it is worth paying a bit more for the
agility runs, as they are just a small part of the whole "experience." OTOH,
it isn't worth $40 to me to just do my 2 runs and be done. Then again, I
have shelties, and watching 75 shelties run agility is something I can
almost do at local trials.
If I had a less common breed, I'd be more inclined to attend and cheer other
handlers on, watch how others handle similar dogs, etc. That might make it
worth the extra $. On the other other hand, you're a pretty experienced
handler of a variety of breeds, so you may not get all that much out of it
in the end. Except if you kicked a bunch of conformation dog's butts with
that Mali-shep of yours!

Christy

Diane said in rec.pets.dogs.activities:

So by
the minute herding is cheaper.

Less than $200 a minute?

--
--Matt. Rocky's a Dog.

On 17 Aug 2004 02:50:55 GMT Rocky whittled these words:
Diane said in rec.pets.dogs.activities:

So by
the minute herding is cheaper.

Less than $200 a minute?

I believe I'm missing a comma, but I still don't get it.

But I like playing with numbers anyway so ...

Oversimplifying it ...
Herding is roughly $3/minute at maximum qualifying course time (10
minutes).
AKC agility is roughly $20/minute at maximum qualifying course time (1
minute)

BUT since you can't buy partial course times direct cost per run for
herding is usually more than for agility.

Obviously that varies since Debbie is reporting $35 for one run in agility
and I'm paying $30 for one run in herding this week-end.

--
Diane Blackman
http://dog-play.com/
http://dogplay.com/Shop/