AKC 2010 Obed Regs

[Samba]

Effective January 1, 2010
Obedience Clubs will have the option of holding two all-breed obedience trials concurrently at the same site on the same day. This changed from clubs only being able to offer two trials of the same event type consecutively.

Trial Secretaries and Superintendents are now allowed to move a dog that has been entered in an "A" class for which it is not eligible to the "B" class at the same level.

Obedience Advanced Teamwork is now a new non-regular class.
(The non-regular classes can be judged by any person who has trained a dog to the Utility Dog title and has been approved to judge non-regular classes. A provisional judge may be willing to judge the non-regular classes for the experience.)

Effective April 1, 2010
Mixed Breeds. Any club eligible to hold obedience trials may offer classes for mixed breed dogs at stand-alone obedience/rally events.

Effective July 1, 2010
Beginner Novice Optional Titling Class. This class is a transition between Rally and Obedience, combining elements from both sports.

[Kayos and Havoc]

Yep some good things from the AKC and it is about time! They are doing things UKC has done for years.

[Samba]

Yes, they had to play catch up on some of this. I was glad to see remarkable change come about.

[Samba]

The mixed breed regulations have already experience changes. The mixed breeds will not be in a separate class with separate awards and titles. It is still optional for a club to have mixed breeds participate in a particular trial, but they will compete with purebred dogs if they do show.

[Jason L]

That makes more sense. I mean ... obedience is obedience whether the dog is a $5000 showdog or a $2 mutt like Obie and Dots.

[Kayos and Havoc]

That is even better!

[selzer]

I am all for the mutts, so long as people aren't crossing jack russels, goldens, and border collies to make the ultimate rally dog.

[Samba]

It was going to be hard for clubs to have all the rings, ribbons, awards etc. There really doesn't seem to be a need for all that duplication... let them all compete together. I am though considering an F1 cross now.....

[Jason L]

Like those Border Staffie monsters in flyball?

[selzer]

Yes. I can see people making the ultimate agility or dock diving or flyball dog. So I think in order to get this pseudo registration thingy (required to enter performance events), they should require the mutts to be altered.

I am sorry, but I just do not see any reason to keep mixed-breed dogs intact. We have always speutered ours. And it is probably because I don't own any that I feel this way. I mean all of my arguments about longevity, etc. would apply to them as well, but 75% of dogs in shelters are mixes. I think that if we are going to use the argument of unwanted dog populations, we should start with mixed breeds.

I am almost afraid that the labradoodle and yorkiepoo people are eager for a venue to show off their $1800 dollar dogs. Ordinary pet owners who got their dogs from the pound will probably not bother paying to get a special number from AKC, and then paying the entry fees for entering them in obedience and rally. Maybe agility and flyball would be a bigger draw because that looks life fun from a spectator's viewpoint.