OKAY, all you SchH Snobs!

[Carriesue]

I'm sorry, you're right... I'm not trying to judge the sport as a whole. It's mainly my fears of what it COULD be. I would love to be involved in something with my dog. What I was trying to say and got across rather poorly is I don't think I could handle that type of environment, if people were cold to me it would hurt my feelings and I would feel like I wasn't wanted there and it would probably affect my performance. It would probably also hinder me in bothering to try other clubs. So that's my reasoning why I don't think it's the right sport for me.

But I'm sorry if I offended anyone and I'm not trying to bash the sport. I just got frustrated with wanting to do something with my dog but feeling like I don't fit anywhere, next time I'll wait until I cool down before I post something. I try to never post in a negative way on this forum, I don't want to contribute to that so again I apologize.

[onyx'girl]

No worries.... I guess you'd be considered higher in defense temperament wise? LOL

[mandiah89]

I have not had this problem... The one and only club near me (which is an hour away) and I have been going to this club for 3 weeks now... They are very welcoming, and supportive.

[robk]

I think some of you are interpreting what you perceive to be a cold shoulder the wrong way. I think that many people are very serious and dedicate a lot of time to training and working their dogs towards their goals and at training its all business. I see how it could be off putting to the new comers but think about the people that are there training week end and week out plus are training on their own every day. When they go to the club to train many times they are there to work through problems that they cannot fix on their own and are kind of in the "zone" mentally.

[Liesje]

I've done a few flyball drills at my SchH club on SchH equipment. Sometimes I will do a few turn drills off the bottom of the A-frame if it's set really steep and no one else is working on retrieves. We train on private land and no one else does flyball or cares whether I do it or not (or at least if they care they keep their mouth shut).

[KJenkins]

Originally Posted by robk

I think some of you are interpreting what you perceive to be a cold shoulder the wrong way. I think that many people are very serious and dedicate a lot of time to training and working their dogs towards their goals and at training its all business. I see how it could be off putting to the new comers but think about the people that are there training week end and week out plus are training on their own every day. When they go to the club to train many times they are there to work through problems that they cannot fix on their own and are kind of in the "zone" mentally.

Gotta agree with this one. I go to club to work my dog. I save the chit chat for after training.

I cannot count the number of times through the years new folks come and once they figure out how much work is involved they ride off into the sunset. After a while it gets very old so I'm not going to apologize if people aren't automatically on my Xmas card list after the first time they visit.

[onyx'girl]

& don't go to a trial expecting friendliness! Thats when stress levels are higher and people aren't in their right frame of mind.

[Konotashi]

Before too long, I'll visit all of the local clubs and watch them train. I don't care when people are focused and in the zone (obviously - they need to concentrate on what they're doing).
It bothers me when they're rude and hateful.

Hopefully, when I go to visit other clubs, I can come back and share positive experiences.

In defense of dog sports (and anything, really) there's the good and the bad.
In flyball, there's snobby, hateful, cold people too. I've seen someone yank their staffie up by the collar, punch him in the head and scream bloody murder at him for going around jumps at a DEMO. Someone I was sitting next to in the crowd said something along the lines of how abusive dog sports are.... I looked at him and told him that person has no business being in flyball, I'm on another team, he loves it, etc. I made it clear I was also disgusted and horrified at her behavior.
There's bad apples in everything.

I just hope there's one club in the area I can mesh with.

ETA:
Being in a dog sport, I can completely understand that they're focused on the task at hand. Flyball tournaments can be chaotic, stressful, and exhausting, but I always have a BLAST. I want to be able to experience that same excitement if/when I pursue SchH.
I like dog sports, not to prove that my dog is awesome (because I already know that), not to prove anything to anyone... I do it to have FUN with my dog. To strengthen our bond. To give him something HE loves to do, besides fetch. To channel that drive and energy into something great.

I want to be competitive, but I want to have fun doing it and my dog have even more fun.

[harmony]

I took the post all in good fun lol. I don't think the red carpet is rolled out in any dog sport but, I never went for the people just the dog. Most new people work their dogs last, just like when you start a job you don't start out as the CEO but work from the bottom up. If you are really serious about working a dog you can and will and yoiu will meet some really great people and will learn the ones to stay away from.

[lhczth]

I guess I have been very lucky. While I have met some not so pleasant people in my 21 years in SchH I have found most of those to be the people that have done nothing. I have met people like that, though, in many of the dogs sport areas (30 years total) and even more so in the horse show world (30 years). The majority of the people I have trained with and the clubs I have trained with have treated me and my dogs very well. Funny, in all these years not a single person has ever tried to sell me a dog.

My club does its best to be welcoming to all visitors and new people interested in SchH no matter the breed or type of dog (well, other than dogs that are totally unsuitable). Most never come back because they see the length of the day and realize there is no way they could dedicate that kind of time. Or they would rather pay to play, show up for their time and leave.

I know there are groups out there that are not so good. I have seen the clubs where everyone owns dogs from the TD and if they don't they soon will (because the dog they currently have isn't any good). I just haven't found them to be much of a problem because I never allowed them to be (and I was very shy when I started).