Tell me about your local obedience club!

[Labradorks]

As the title says, tell me about your local obedience club!

Do they own (or lease) ring space that you can rent?

Do they rent space weekly or monthly for drop-ins?

Do they offer classes?

If they do offer classes, what kind? Performance only? Pet and performance?

If they rent space weekly, what type? Horse arena? Armory? Church basement?

What is the culture like?

And, anything else!

Thanks!

[dxboon]

My club leases space from a church longterm -- large fields that are designated for agility, obedience and rally mostly. I've never tried to rent space, so can't speak to that. There are a variety of classes -- some geared toward pet people, and others for various levels of expertise in rally, obedience, agility; along with special sections on nosework, treiball and other endeavors. There are weekly drop-ins and you can pay for 6-8 week units for certain classes also. The club has been in existence since the '50s so there are lots of people that have been members for decades, yet I've found them very welcoming. There are super hardcore obedience/agility people and then more casual people who are either pet people or compete at lower levels. A lot of people who belong to the club are also members of their breed clubs, so you get a wide range of folks who compete in conformation with their breeds, as well as whatever performance activities they do.

[Labradorks]

My club leases space from a church longterm -- large fields that are designated for agility, obedience and rally mostly. I've never tried to rent space, so can't speak to that. There are a variety of classes -- some geared toward pet people, and others for various levels of expertise in rally, obedience, agility; along with special sections on nosework, treiball and other endeavors. There are weekly drop-ins and you can pay for 6-8 week units for certain classes also. The club has been in existence since the '50s so there are lots of people that have been members for decades, yet I've found them very welcoming. There are super hardcore obedience/agility people and then more casual people who are either pet people or compete at lower levels. A lot of people who belong to the club are also members of their breed clubs, so you get a wide range of folks who compete in conformation with their breeds, as well as whatever performance activities they do.

Being in LA, are most of your events outside? It sounds like the space you rent from the church is all outside.

[dxboon]

Being in LA, are most of your events outside? It sounds like the space you rent from the church is all outside.

Yes, mostly events and trials are outside here. Sometimes we use the church's inside space for meetings also.

[Sam I Am]

I love my local club! We had our 40th anniversary last summer. They offer several classes for obedience, agility (little dogs only for now as the building isn't that large), rally, puppy classes, and whatever else a member wants to start a class for. Some classes are drop in/open, and others are for a certain number of weeks. We have two obedience/rally trials and two agility a year (rent a larger venue for those). As with any club, there's some drama between certain members, but mostly everyone is friendly and encouraging.

[Annette47]

Well, I can tell you about my local club (they rent space in a firehouse for classes, don’t have any ring rental options, do offer a range of Obedience classes but are mostly focused on Agility which is at a different location - it’s the same few people that do Obedience, and according to the trainer who is a friend of mine, they mostly come to class, train how they want and completely ignore her advice), but clubs aren’t really big around here any more, which is a shame because they are the ones who hold trials. Which is why I still belong to that club even though I haven’t trained with them in years - I like to support them for that reason.

What we have quite a few of instead of clubs are training centers where there’s no membership - you just pay for classes. Now in reality, most of them end up acting a lot like clubs where people volunteer to help out at events and things anyway. Most are very similar and I can think of at least 3 within 40 minutes, and another one (where the woman who won at Westminster teaches) about an hour away. The one I go to has its own building full-time that they rent (It’s a space in a strip mall - you can fit one full size ring and one slightly smaller ring with some crating; building is fully matted and the area with the full-size ring has mirrors along one wall). You (or anyone - there’s no preference/discount for people who train there) can rent ring time whenever you want (except if there is a class being held). I think most places are about $20 an hour, so if you train with a couple other people it’s not bad.

Classes are by 6 week sessions, but if there is room in the class the instructor will allow drop-ins. They also run regular show-n-go matches every month or two. They offer a wide range of classes - Pet classes (not sure exactly what as I’ve never used them), Performance classes (all levels of Obedience), Nosework, and Conformation Handling, some Rally. I think the Competition Obedience classes are the most popular - they offer them on 4 different days with two different instructors, both AKC judges. The other stuff is pretty much when there is a demand for it, but there isn’t always.

Not sure exactly what you mean about culture. I have only done the competition classes, and since our instructor is one of the best around, she tends to attract very competitive people (in terms of their goals for their dogs - quite a few AKC judges, OTCH handlers, etc), but every one is always nice and supportive of each other both in class and at shows. She doesn’t have a lot of patience for people who don’t want to train her way - her feeling is if you don’t want to do what she says why are you paying for her advice and she’d rather focus on people who are interested in what she is saying (even if they are completely inept at it, LOL). She is open to variations though, as long as you can show a good reason and as long as they fit with her methods - it’s more the people who don’t even try to follow her advice and then complain that it isn’t working that she gets annoyed with. That might be a difference from a club situation though where you choose to join the club and the instructor is more secondary.