I went to my 1st SchH event and was left highly dissappointed.

[DolphinGirl]

I drove out to Cocoa Beach on Fri for trails since I knew someone competing and wanted to be there for support. He was looking to title in his SchH III. Anyhow, the weather was crappy and caused a 2.5 hr rain delay. BH was 1st and there were 3 dogs. then SchH1 and the III since there were no II's. Anyhow, after each set the judge and apprentice talked for 15 min before giving the scores. It was truely obnoxious. I left at 11:30pm and thy had only finished all the OB. They were going to start the BH distraction portion and then protection. I guess my aquaintance didnt leave until 2am...

Having trials last so long, doesnt that effect the dog? My friend scored very well, but not as well as expected. I just didnt understand a 15 min chat with the apprentice after each set...sometimes longer then 15 min.

[Chris Wild]

Yes, SchH trials are usually pretty long. Though I'd have to imagine that if they didn't get finished with OB until close to midnight, this must have been a night trial. We tend to have daytime trials here in MI, but to start at dawn and not be finished until close to dinner time isn't unusual. Yes, it's a long day for the dogs but really that's part of the point of a 3 phase sport testing if the dogs can work not just in terms of doing vastly different things on the same day, but in being able to handle a long day with a lot of pressure throughout that day.

As far as all the talking, well I guess I look at it this way. An apprentice judge is one day likely going to become a real judge. And I'd much rather have that person well educated before that happens than have them just go out and start judging dogs. So if the presiding judge is spending time talking with the apprentice, presumably educating that person, on each dog, comparing notes and scores to make sure the apprentice didn't miss anything and gets good training from his mentor, then I'm perfectly fine with that. That's the whole point of an apprentice program. If it were really 15 minutes, that's probably excessive. I've trialed where there have been apprentice judges and it always takes longer while they discuss things, and that's never bothered me. Never taken 15 minutes, but maybe this mentor was being really thorough, or the apprentice had a lot of questions. Either way, I don't see how making sure the next generation of judges is well taught is a bad thing and if that means a little inconvenience to people now, so be it. Anyone who's trialing under that judge in the future will no doubt appreciate that someone took the time to teach them.

[Emoore]

Shutzhund isn't really a good spectator sport. It's like a college film festival: You go and sit through it because your friend has an entry or because you want to learn about dogs/filmmaking, but it's not something you'd just go pay money to see and be entertained.

[Freestep]

Originally Posted by Emoore

The purpose of a trial is to evaluate and train the next generation of dogs, handlers, and judges, not to be entertaining to spectators.

True that! For spectators, the best thing to do is purchase a video of the trial, with the boring parts edited out.

[Emoore]

I edited my original post. I thought it sounded snarky. I'm on an endless quest to sound less snarky on internet forums.

[lhczth]

As someone who has sat through long 3 days National events , 12 hour training days and a 4 day world event, I don't find SchH boring. Of course when I showed horses I used to drive 1.5 hours back and forth each day for 3-4 days to watch an event.

[DolphinGirl]

I knew it could be boring, but the debriefs were much longer then the actual dog activity. Even people who have competed said it was extremely excessive. We broke out the stop watch on 2 fairly clean runs and they took 15 min. The problem runs, the judges talked for 20+ min, meanwhile causing the competing dags to lay in the wet grass that had red ants b/c it rained so much. The judge was good and observes a lot, but knowing the event was already delayed 2.5 hours, I would think the apprentice would do more observation, since there were 2 more days of trials still to come and learn from.

[Fast]

Originally Posted by DolphinGirl

I knew it could be boring, but the debriefs were much longer then the actual dog activity. Even people who have competed said it was extremely excessive. We broke out the stop watch on 2 fairly clean runs and they took 15 min. The problem runs, the judges talked for 20+ min, meanwhile causing the competing dags to lay in the wet grass that had red ants b/c it rained so much. The judge was good and observes a lot, but knowing the event was already delayed 2.5 hours, I would think the apprentice would do more observation, since there were 2 more days of trials still to come and learn from.

I was hoping that Chris and Lisa's excellent posts would get through to you, but you obviously need things explained to you in an explicit manner. So here we go...

** comments removed by Admin**

Finally, please do yourself a favor and the next time you go to a trial. Sit down and be quiet. Watch the trial. Then ask questions to those involved. Ask the apprentice about the processes to become a judge. Talk to the judge about your concerns about the ants. Ask other spectators about dogs. But let go of the way you think things should be, and try to figure out why things are the way that they are. ***** comments removed by Admin**

Have a nice day.

[onyx'girl]

Really Fast, could you have explained it any sweeter?

[GSDElsa]

It's amazing how much you can learn from LISTENING to what people have to say. If you know nothing about SchH, there is very little you will discern from watching. It is the conversation about the performance (in training and trial) that will enhance your knowledge.

It might make some good "ooohing and awwiiing" to watch a long bite, but unless you know what just happening it's nothing more than that.