This is a placeholder text
Group text
by chvdberkt on 30 October 2013 - 17:10
The stadium was beautiful
Food and drinks were overpriced and the concessions closed very early
the organization could have been better but the event itself was on time
A print of the results was hard to get and there were mistakes in the results
The website was not up to date
There were very few vendors. In Europe there an 3 - 4 times as more.
Very kind people in the stadium and in Philly general.
We stayed in The Residance Inn near the airport. and it was ok.
Training facilities were difficult to find.
Overall:
we had a great time
Food and drinks were overpriced and the concessions closed very early
the organization could have been better but the event itself was on time
A print of the results was hard to get and there were mistakes in the results
The website was not up to date
There were very few vendors. In Europe there an 3 - 4 times as more.
Very kind people in the stadium and in Philly general.
We stayed in The Residance Inn near the airport. and it was ok.
Training facilities were difficult to find.
Overall:
we had a great time
by Ibrahim on 30 October 2013 - 18:10
Enjoyable posts, interesting views, one can see the event itself was a success ,,,,,,, and all who attended have no regrets.....
Thanks Q Man for this nice decent Topic and interesting exchange of varying views and thoughts.
Ibrahim
Thanks Q Man for this nice decent Topic and interesting exchange of varying views and thoughts.
Ibrahim
by SitasMom on 30 October 2013 - 21:10
im laughing about these comments.............
its not about you, the spectators...........its about the dogs and their handlers. The trial and how smoothly it went.
were the helpers good, was the judging fair, were the hander/dog teams welcomed, was the atmosphere positive for the best possible scores?
whining about the food being expensive......not enough vendors............
you guys kill me.
its not about you, the spectators...........its about the dogs and their handlers. The trial and how smoothly it went.
were the helpers good, was the judging fair, were the hander/dog teams welcomed, was the atmosphere positive for the best possible scores?
whining about the food being expensive......not enough vendors............
you guys kill me.
by hexe on 30 October 2013 - 22:10
Honey, when you're paying $20 a day to attend so you can admire and appreciate the work of the dogs and their handlers, it is a LITTLE bit about us, the spectators, too.
Thought the venue itself was pretty damn awesome for the purposes. Was it in the swankest area around? No, but the city of Chester is working to rebuild and renovate, with the waterfront area being one of the starts. There's a Harrah's Casino nearby the stadium, for example. The mayor of Chester was quite emphatic about pointing out that the event was NOT taking place in Philadelphia, despite everything associated with the event billing it as such. [Same thing went for the GSDCA National Specialty the previous week--it wasn't in Philly, either, and the venue for that was fabulous for conformation, obedience & agility events.] To have actually held either of these events IN Philadelphia would have run the ticket prices WAY up, without a doubt...never mind the lodging costs for the teams and out-of-town spectators.
It would have been nice if there had been more vendors, though I spent enough money with the ones that attended. There were a fair number of vendors @ the Specialty the week before, though most of them would probably not have made enough in sales to made staying on for the WUSV worth their extra expenses. There were a couple of vendors that did do both events, though. I know I ended up shipping a box of stuff back home rather than pay for an extra suitcase for the flight back to MI.
I believe there would have been more spectators if the event had been marketed better to the general public--on Sunday, my friends and I were sitting next to a couple who happen to be season ticket holders for the soccer team, and they decided to check the event out after seeing it listed in their ticket packet as 'dog show'. This couple weren't familiar with SchH/IPO at all, but were fascinated, and everyone sitting in that area happily explained the exercises and the scoring and what the dogs were [and were not] supposed to do, and at the end of the day this couple expressed regret that they hadn't come to check the event out from the beginning. Not saying that they're going to go out and get their own sport dog, but they had a great day watching the teamwork between dog and handler and would attend again if given the chance. There wasn't ANY sort of signage in the area surrounding the stadium that would suggest the event was happening and was open to the public for the price of a ticket; I saw no media coverage in the 'stuff to do this weekend' sections of the largest local newspapers that would have likely brought in more spectators, either.
The event itself did stick tight to the published schedule, so that absolutely is to the credit of everyone involved. I could have done without the entertainment performances during the closing ceremonies--at that point, I think everyone just wanted to hear the winners announced and then head somewhere out of the wind that had been there for all four days. But I've never been a fan of the Mummers, so don't go by my impression on that part.
Thought it rather rude that the obedience judge gave the critique in German, considering he speaks also English and neither is his native tongue. Also found it a bit, um, dodgy, shall we say, that three of the four dogs on the Japanese team were bred by the obedience judge, and when the scores for all four of the dogs didn't seem to reflect the extremely telling jumping 'technique' that team displayed on both the solid hurdle and the A-frame, it didn't make things feel any less, um, dodgy. [Approaching the obstacle anxiously and hesitantly, [with one dog even crawling, complete with whining and yelping], and then launching the body into the air at just about one stride before the obstacle, and returning back over the obstacle in the same fashion, certainly did not present a picture of a dog that was happy to comply with the direction to retrieve over the obstacle.]
My only comments re the helper work is that the front half helper sometimes seemed to have some problems with the presentation for escape prevention after the hold & bark, so some of the dogs seemed to catch him nearer the elbow end of the sleeve, and the back half helper looked to have some difficulty at times with solidly 'locking up' after the dog gripped during the attack out of motion phase, but some of those dogs were pretty heavy freight to have clamped onto one's arm, and both guys certainly had to be exhausted just from the sheer amount of work required of them. For the most part, it appeared to me that both helpers did everything possible to give each dog a safe catch with each exercise.
One of my favorite dogs on the back transport was the Finnish dog, Aissan Caruso, who snuck up on the helper, and when the helper turned to make the attack, the dog did a lovely "SchH turn' around him to surprise him on the bite. Clever boy, that one. [Click here for Mr Ready's video of this...the sneak starts at around 4:32 into the clip]
Another team well worth watching work was the Irish pairing; the dog's form over the jump was flawless, the very image of a well-schooled hunter horse, and they simply made a terrific showing in both the B & C phases.
A lot of really, REALLY nice working, nicely-built bitches, and a good representation of female handlers at this level of competition, too.
And I can't forget the Estonian team, the youngest competitor to ever take part in this event. The kid's photo in the catalog is clearly his school picture, but you'd never guess he was only 14 from watching him and his dog work, in both the B & C phases [though also heard it announced that he was 12...not sure which was correct, but either way...smooth and professional at every turn.]
I had a great time, got to see some old friends and meet some cyber-friends IRL, and some new ones as well. As with everything, it probably could have been better, but it could have been a lot worse, too, and since I didn't volunteer my help for any of it, I've got little right to complain if there could have been better organization and such.
Thought the venue itself was pretty damn awesome for the purposes. Was it in the swankest area around? No, but the city of Chester is working to rebuild and renovate, with the waterfront area being one of the starts. There's a Harrah's Casino nearby the stadium, for example. The mayor of Chester was quite emphatic about pointing out that the event was NOT taking place in Philadelphia, despite everything associated with the event billing it as such. [Same thing went for the GSDCA National Specialty the previous week--it wasn't in Philly, either, and the venue for that was fabulous for conformation, obedience & agility events.] To have actually held either of these events IN Philadelphia would have run the ticket prices WAY up, without a doubt...never mind the lodging costs for the teams and out-of-town spectators.
It would have been nice if there had been more vendors, though I spent enough money with the ones that attended. There were a fair number of vendors @ the Specialty the week before, though most of them would probably not have made enough in sales to made staying on for the WUSV worth their extra expenses. There were a couple of vendors that did do both events, though. I know I ended up shipping a box of stuff back home rather than pay for an extra suitcase for the flight back to MI.
I believe there would have been more spectators if the event had been marketed better to the general public--on Sunday, my friends and I were sitting next to a couple who happen to be season ticket holders for the soccer team, and they decided to check the event out after seeing it listed in their ticket packet as 'dog show'. This couple weren't familiar with SchH/IPO at all, but were fascinated, and everyone sitting in that area happily explained the exercises and the scoring and what the dogs were [and were not] supposed to do, and at the end of the day this couple expressed regret that they hadn't come to check the event out from the beginning. Not saying that they're going to go out and get their own sport dog, but they had a great day watching the teamwork between dog and handler and would attend again if given the chance. There wasn't ANY sort of signage in the area surrounding the stadium that would suggest the event was happening and was open to the public for the price of a ticket; I saw no media coverage in the 'stuff to do this weekend' sections of the largest local newspapers that would have likely brought in more spectators, either.
The event itself did stick tight to the published schedule, so that absolutely is to the credit of everyone involved. I could have done without the entertainment performances during the closing ceremonies--at that point, I think everyone just wanted to hear the winners announced and then head somewhere out of the wind that had been there for all four days. But I've never been a fan of the Mummers, so don't go by my impression on that part.
Thought it rather rude that the obedience judge gave the critique in German, considering he speaks also English and neither is his native tongue. Also found it a bit, um, dodgy, shall we say, that three of the four dogs on the Japanese team were bred by the obedience judge, and when the scores for all four of the dogs didn't seem to reflect the extremely telling jumping 'technique' that team displayed on both the solid hurdle and the A-frame, it didn't make things feel any less, um, dodgy. [Approaching the obstacle anxiously and hesitantly, [with one dog even crawling, complete with whining and yelping], and then launching the body into the air at just about one stride before the obstacle, and returning back over the obstacle in the same fashion, certainly did not present a picture of a dog that was happy to comply with the direction to retrieve over the obstacle.]
My only comments re the helper work is that the front half helper sometimes seemed to have some problems with the presentation for escape prevention after the hold & bark, so some of the dogs seemed to catch him nearer the elbow end of the sleeve, and the back half helper looked to have some difficulty at times with solidly 'locking up' after the dog gripped during the attack out of motion phase, but some of those dogs were pretty heavy freight to have clamped onto one's arm, and both guys certainly had to be exhausted just from the sheer amount of work required of them. For the most part, it appeared to me that both helpers did everything possible to give each dog a safe catch with each exercise.
One of my favorite dogs on the back transport was the Finnish dog, Aissan Caruso, who snuck up on the helper, and when the helper turned to make the attack, the dog did a lovely "SchH turn' around him to surprise him on the bite. Clever boy, that one. [Click here for Mr Ready's video of this...the sneak starts at around 4:32 into the clip]
Another team well worth watching work was the Irish pairing; the dog's form over the jump was flawless, the very image of a well-schooled hunter horse, and they simply made a terrific showing in both the B & C phases.
A lot of really, REALLY nice working, nicely-built bitches, and a good representation of female handlers at this level of competition, too.
And I can't forget the Estonian team, the youngest competitor to ever take part in this event. The kid's photo in the catalog is clearly his school picture, but you'd never guess he was only 14 from watching him and his dog work, in both the B & C phases [though also heard it announced that he was 12...not sure which was correct, but either way...smooth and professional at every turn.]
I had a great time, got to see some old friends and meet some cyber-friends IRL, and some new ones as well. As with everything, it probably could have been better, but it could have been a lot worse, too, and since I didn't volunteer my help for any of it, I've got little right to complain if there could have been better organization and such.
by Chaz Reinhold on 30 October 2013 - 22:10
I just want to know about the bathrooms and quality of toilet paper. Seriously, what do you expect from a casual spectator?
by Chaz Reinhold on 30 October 2013 - 23:10
Hexe, I made a comment about the B judge in the other thread. I am eager to see if he uses any certain Champs in his breeding program in the immediate future.
by hexe on 30 October 2013 - 23:10
Chaz, I did notice you raise that point earlier, and appreciated your commenting on it...since I'm certainly not even a club-level competitor, I wasn't entirely certain that it would cause anyone else to raise an eyebrow.
My apologies for not including a report on the relief facilities and supplies. I can't speak for the men's restrooms, of course, but I must admit that the women's bathrooms were kept clean and well stocked with the necessary items throughout the event--but the toilet paper, alas, was the standard public-facility quality.
Seriously, though, I do feel the need to add that the stadium staff were for the most part extremely friendly and accommodating, including the concessions employees, and they kept the place quite tidy. The ones who were assigned to work the seating area also seemed to enjoy what they were seeing on the field. Not the usual surly personnel who give every impression of resenting your presence because it means they have to be at work that day.
My apologies for not including a report on the relief facilities and supplies. I can't speak for the men's restrooms, of course, but I must admit that the women's bathrooms were kept clean and well stocked with the necessary items throughout the event--but the toilet paper, alas, was the standard public-facility quality.
Seriously, though, I do feel the need to add that the stadium staff were for the most part extremely friendly and accommodating, including the concessions employees, and they kept the place quite tidy. The ones who were assigned to work the seating area also seemed to enjoy what they were seeing on the field. Not the usual surly personnel who give every impression of resenting your presence because it means they have to be at work that day.
by Chaz Reinhold on 30 October 2013 - 23:10
Toilet paper is essential. In these venues, you either get the super, super thin stuff that you have pull with the precision and delicateness of defusing a bomb or you will rip one tab at a time, OR you get the wax paper that just spreads it all over your ass.
by Slamdunc on 30 October 2013 - 23:10
My report ot the Mens Bathrrom:
The toilets were clean and the toilet paper was ample. You could spare a square. I did have an issue with the "automatic sink" it was temperamental. It gave enough water to moisten your hands but not enough to really wash them. The soap dispenser worked but it was difficult getting the soap off your hands from the temperamental automatic sink. I had to spend a fair amount of time trying different sinks to get enough water to rinse my hands. This can be a little awkward in a mens room in Philly. My only complaint with the venue. Stadium was nice, seats were comfortable and the beer was good.
The toilets were clean and the toilet paper was ample. You could spare a square. I did have an issue with the "automatic sink" it was temperamental. It gave enough water to moisten your hands but not enough to really wash them. The soap dispenser worked but it was difficult getting the soap off your hands from the temperamental automatic sink. I had to spend a fair amount of time trying different sinks to get enough water to rinse my hands. This can be a little awkward in a mens room in Philly. My only complaint with the venue. Stadium was nice, seats were comfortable and the beer was good.
by hexe on 30 October 2013 - 23:10
Variety the first. But at least they made sure there was a lot of it at all times. 
One unusual observation: Every day, there was a copious amount of dog hair in the very first sink of one of the ladies' restrooms. Always in the same sink, always in the same restroom, always looked like the same dog hair [black guard hairs]. Wouldn't be there first thing in the morning, but by mid-morning it appeared. A mystery.
One unusual observation: Every day, there was a copious amount of dog hair in the very first sink of one of the ladies' restrooms. Always in the same sink, always in the same restroom, always looked like the same dog hair [black guard hairs]. Wouldn't be there first thing in the morning, but by mid-morning it appeared. A mystery.
Contact information Disclaimer Privacy Statement Copyright Information Terms of Service Cookie policy ↑ Back to top