| Please contact: Michelle Morgan MMorgan@UKCdogs.com UKC Director of Performance Events. Be positive and complimentary in your writing Ask the UKC to re-consider their decision to end the UKC Dog Sports program. click for sample letter ------------------------------------ Please copy your emails to: Denise Vavla DVavla@UKCdogs.com. ------------------------------------ |
Lets Save UKC Dog Sports
The United Kennel Club has decided to end the Dog Sports
program as of 12/31/2009. We need your help is persuading
them to re-consider this decision, and encourage them to give it
a second chance under different leadership.
The core of the UKC Dog Sports program is well thought out and
sound and many of us believe it would expand and flourish if given
another chance under different management. Please contact
Michelle Morgan, UKC Director of Performance Events at
MMorgan@UKCdogs.com and voice your encouragement for such.
Please copy your emails to Denise Vavla at DVavla@UKCdogs.
com.
Please only refer to the program as UKC Dog Sports and refrain
from mentioning their former association of the program with the
SDA. Be positive and complimentary in your writing, perhaps
mentioning the thrill and pride you felt when granted an obedience
and/or protection title from the UKC Dog Sports program.
Compliment the pioneer vision of the UKC in creating such a
program that recognized the protective instincts and abilities of our
family dogs. Ask the UKC to re-consider their decision to end the
UKC Dog Sports program; granting it a reprieve under different
management thus allowing it to expand and flourish into a
professional attractive sport.
The UKC is a “performance dog registry”. Please politely point out
that the UCK mission statement to “create performance events in
which dogs can prove their instincts and heritage” should continue
to include highlighting and recognize the dog’s oldest job…
protecting family and home!
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The benefits of the U.K.C. dog sports program
The U.K.C. dog sport program allows those persons interested in the training and testing of family
protection dogs a venue that is open, honest, and accessible. Many different “sports” are out there, and
of course there is always your local trainer who has his/her own idea of what a protection dog should
be. However, we all know that there are just as many “methods” as there is trainers, and what one
trainer does may be very different than another. If you look closely at the requirements for the U.K.C. dog
sport program, it does NOT favor a certain breed, or even a certain type of training. All forms of training
are welcome, safety is held as the first priority, and both handlers and dogs are tested as to their ability
to react appropriately in public, both as a good citizen, and as a protection dog team.
The differences between the U.K.C. dog sports program and Schutzhund
As the oldest sport in the U.S. and Canada that requires training a dog in bitework, Schutzhund is
probably also the most widely practiced. We have to remember, however, that Schutzhund was, and
always will be, a breed suitability test for the GERMAN SHEPHERD. The sport was created and is
scored by the typical German Shepherd behavior, and actually faults some of the other breeds behavior
as not being ideal. The biggest drawback for most folks in looking into Schutzhund is the requirement
that a dog be trained to track (a very difficult undertaking in most urban settings) AND also be trained to a
very high level of obedience just to enter level one. Most people that become interested in training their
family pet for obedience and protection have no desire to train the dog to also do tracking. However, the
U.K.C. sport does NOT inhibit the owner from training and/or trialing in Schutzhund, as well as the U.K.C.
sport. Many of the skills that are required in Dog Sport are also found in the different levels of obedience
and protection of Schutzhund.
The U.K.C. dog sport program is designed to be accessible, pet friendly, yet still provide a good test of
training of both the handler and dog. Please consider watching, or better yet, entering a trial near you!
You will find the same friendly atmosphere at any U.K.C. venue!