Seattle Kennel Club - Dog Agility - and a Lesson Learned....

As some of you may know, my wife runs our Mini-Schnauzer Scooter in Dog Agility.

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Scooter in her first Clean Run of the weekend.

Due to a back problem, she has not run in a couple of years and decided to enter the Seattle show last weekend. I generally shoot parts of the shows she is in, and do some haphazard selling. This time I decided to do a bit more, so I spoke with the secretary who was doing the registrations to ask about shooting the show. I was told "no exclusive", which is fine with me, and we chatted about some other shows she works as well. So I show up bright and early Saturday, set up and start shooting. A bit over 1100 images. Sunday afternoon, along about 3PM, one of the show officials comes by to tell me I can't sell anything I have shot. I explain that I had spoken to one of their people, at which time I was informed I spoke to the "wrong person" and we had a "mis-understanding" but that they would try to work it out. A bit later they wander by with the lady who runs the whole shebang, both the Agility side as well as Conformation and she says "no sales, we invited this other person to shoot". I asked if I could shoot a special that someone wanted for their breed magazine which I would then give the gratis, and was told no, the Seattle Kennel Club premium specifically states that they own copyright to all photos taken unless you have express written permission, which presumably the "invited" photographer has. I am trying to work a deal through him to sell, I should know on that score in the next day or two.

Lesson learned, be sure to "get it in writing". Second lesson learned, women running these things are just as unreasonable as men. "Mine is bigger than yours" transcends gender.

At any rate, it was still fun shooting. Let me know what you think, and if anyone has questions regarding Dog Agility, ask away. This was an indoor show, lighting was certainly not great. As you can see, the overly-noisy D2H truly sucks...........yeah, right....... :wink:

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Chris, #1 St. Bernard in the country in Agility. As you can see, all sizes compete.

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The Eyes, it is all in the eyes.....

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Yup, a Corgi, lots of them compete. Such concentration....

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Another Large Breed, the ever-graceful Afghan

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And more of the "small", a Papillon

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Announcing her presence. You often here Beagles howl as they run.

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A Papillon leaving the Tunnel.

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And last, but by no means least, our Scooter, on her 4th qualifying run of the weekend, which also finished her Open Agility Title in Jumpers with Weaves :lol: :lol: :lol: Yeah, Scooter, and Nancy as well. This was her goal, to get both Open Titles this year.

As you can see, all breeds can compete and the obstacles are varied. The only bad part is 2 runs a day, and usually several hours in between.

 

Re: Boy, I would'a been steamed at that 1st lady

Steve, yeah, I spoke with her and she said that she was speaking more in "general", about all the meets, and not just specifically about Seattle. I don't really want to rock the boat too much as I will need her for some of the others. Just another lesson learned, luckily I don't need this for "food on the table" money :lol: .

I think that we could have worked things out except for the "head lady, petty tyrant" who wanted to show her power.

Next time I'll just read more closely, I think......

 

For some strange reason I thought you'd like the "jowls" on the St. Bernard :wink:

I'll be adding more to my web site over the next while as well, more breeds and what not. Some of them are pretty darned funny.

Thanks,

 

This is a good point that you bring up, Frank. The dogs really do have a ball. One of the things that will get a handler tossed off the course is any harsh talk to the dog, and if someone actually hit a dog, they would just get killed on the spot :!: :lol:

It is quite a thing to watch in person. Especially other dogs around the ring. Now and again you will see a run get disturbed by a barking dog, or even one poking it's head through a fence, on the periphery of the course.

 

Re: Wonderful shots

Thanks, Ed, it is a lot of fun. I started doing this as a way to not be bored when my wife was talking "dog" with the other Agility folks. Turns out that when I don't really try I make a couple of hundred dollars a day. So this time I figured I really give it a go and look what happened  . Oh, well, at least it didn't cost me anything but time and maybe I'll still be able to salvage something if the other guy is decent.

It really takes a while to figure out how the dogs react, and I still miss more than I like to admit. Throw in the lack of light indoors, and it is a pain. They are real picky about "no flash".

 

Thanks, Gale, I'm not sure which of the breeds surprise me the most. When Nancy got started with Scooter she qualified in her first 3 runs for a Novice Standard title. Funny part was that in the first one she came in first against a Boston Terrier. Then in the next 2 Scooter was #2 and the darned Boston was #1 :x :x . Even funnier, the Boston's were run by a couple who are both over 6 feet tall. Pretty funny to see 6 foot people running with a dog that ain't much taller than your shoe :lol: . Then again, watching a Mexican Hairless or a Chinese Crested run Agility, or a Standard Poodle in full "Show Cut", what a hoot. If you ever get a chance to watch a whole meet you should go. The handlers are funnier than the dogs..... :wink:

 

Neil, thank you for the high praise. I'll have to dig the one out of the Aussie that is saying "No, I don't WANT to do a 'down' on the table today", that one is pretty funny as well.

Beagles seem to be "howlers", Australian Sheperds and Shelties seem to be barkers, most other breeds are usually pretty quiet. One of the Beagles that was running in the Excellent class, any mistake at all and you don't qualify, had 2 very bad days. This dog must have just loved the smell of the carpet, because all he did for 4 runs was to walk around sniffing. It was pretty funny to watch the frustration of his handler.

My wife and I were commenting on the fact that a very large percentage of the handlers in Agility are women. She thought that it was because women are more "nurturing" and spend more time training. I figured it was because more men are into hunting and things more like field trials with the dogs. Who knows, we are probably both right, eh?