Problem at last weeks trial in Mich.?????? - Page 1

Heard a rumor that there was an issue at a trial in Michigan Last week. To the point that someone received an unsportsman like notation in the book. Anyone know who's trial this was or what the situation was?

I don't see a trial listed on the USA calender for last week.  Was it a DVG trial do you know?

The USA site takes it down the following monday. Not sure which organization it was. Just heard about this the other day.

It was Capital Area Schutzhund Club. All the SchH3's failed their tracking. There was a request to relay the tracks as they had aged for so long, but it was denied. The person in question struck a blind out of frustration during the protectiuon phase. Nothing too big or serious, but still an offense. It was a shame too, alot of nice dogs/handlers were trying for 3's that day. Would have liked to see at least one of them to have passed.

Thank you. I had heard that there was very foul language and kicking of blinds on the field and the language was continued off field. Which got the person an unsportsmanlike conduct notation. Was this someone from the club or was it someone that just showed up to trial there?

 It was not a club member of Capital Area, to my knowledge. I am almost certain that the party in question is a member of another Michigan club.

Ramgsd:  I was told the same thing today from a member of Schutz but not a member of this club...He is a trainer in Michigan and trials but said he did not know what the final outcome will be.

It seems the rumors run wide on this one. lol. I read on another thread that the 'guy kicked blinds and then cussed the helper out' which is entirely untrue. Nobody said a bad word to that helper all day. He did an amazing job and even those that failed their 3's were happy that the dogs received honest, fair and consistant helper work. It will all come out soon enough when the USA mag. hits the mailboxes. However, this person has trialed in this area before without incident. I have a feeling it was a very bad day and just happened to be caught at a bad time. Not an excuse, but a consideration.

 Yes, I agree the rumor mill runs strong in Schutzhund.  It appears some people have way too much time on their hands.  Unfortunately, from the information out there, this incident did occur, and was more ugly than Artillery had guessed.  This was a major temper tantrum and a display of lack of self control.  More unfortunately is the fact this has also happened in the past with this handler.  The host club/judge chose not to do anything about it.  Not sure why.  The judge was an SV judge who was disrespected and maybe why nothing became of it.  The handler also allegedly kicked the dog on the way back to the car.  There may have also been some of this same abuse a couple of weeks ago.  I guess the saying goes, where there's smoke there's probably fire.........  Hopefully more information will come out so people can stop speculating and relay good information.  This type of action from handlers only gives fuel to the animal rights folks.  We all need to be respectful of each other and the animals we are so fortunate to be able to team up with........ 

I agree with michshepherd, we are not experts on why the handler acted in the manner that he chose to. We are only experts on ourselves.  Please let me stress that our dogs needs during trail season be kept in plain view for all to see.   In Mich there was cool to cold weather training , then all of a sudden they had warm to hot day for their trial.  Dogs along with handlers need time to adjust to the environmental conditions.  Most human athletes if they have competition in 90 degree they will travel to a country  that has that condition and train there. In the real world,  our dogs have to be able to compete and keep a clear mind in any environment.  Here is were the needs of our dogs come into play .....  Hydration, good shelter, good food, good sports medicine.  There are several vets now specializing in sports medicine for our animals  if keeping them well hydrated is a problem on the  physiological level.

I just hope that the handler is made to understand that they have an issue that needs to be addressed,  when our animals do not perform ( they are not machines)  and this stress is too much to handle, there are people that can help.  They should not be asked to give up the sport .