Reno

[thejackswild]

We're looking forward to Reno this weekend. I was just starting to put in our entries when I noticed that there isn't a Lap Dog Final. Is that correct?

Thanks!
Liz

[Missmatchesnquincyno]

It's being done by Division this year! :(

[thejackswild]

That's a bit of a bummer. We've been recruiting lap dogs for the weekend. How will the divisional finals affect lap dogs who manage to qualify? For a lap dog, junior is from 5' to 8'11" but that would put them jumping with the big dogs in the Splash division. Do they still earn legs toward titles at the junior level even competing in the Splash division?

[Katiesmom]

it will not affect titles, your score for divisionals will be exactly what you jump, if you jump 0 to 9'11 you will jump against other dogs in the splash catagory, if you jump between 10 to 14'11 you will be jumping against junior dogs and ect. this way it lets dogs that dont jump as well make finals for the first time. there will be 4 divisions with 10 places each, that means 40 dogs will make the finals.

hope this helps, by the way we still need alot of volunteers for help with tamarack, please contact: natalie@canyourdogfly.com

thanks, hope to see everyone there

katies dad

[ssejrnv]

Well in years past when there were divisional finals there was also a lap dog final. The lap dog division was created so that little dogs could compete fairly against other like size dogs. I think Liz's concern as well as other lap dog owners is that it is very likely that some of our bigger jumping lap dogs won't make a divisional final and even if they do won't really be able to compete with the bigger dogs. Liz has 3-4 dogs that all jump in the 10 to 12 foot range this puts her at the very bottom of the junior division. I can see why Liz is dissappointed. Perhaps someone should take another look at whether or not there should be a lap dog final.

[Katiesmom]

Sorry this disappoints you guys, unfortunately we can never accommodate everyone. For this event we chose to let dogs with different abilities regardless of size be able to make a final, some for the first time. As it is we will be running finals SIGNIFICANTLY LONGER then usual to accommodate 40 dogs. This was an H3D decision that was voted on at our meeting, if you would like to make these requests in the future we welcome you guys to join and come to our meetings.

[thejackswild]

I appreciate your response to my question and I understand that the purpose of divisional finals is to allow more non-lap dog competitors to participate in the finals. To clarify, my question was regarding how title legs would be awarded this weekend since there is no lap dog division. For example, this past weekend at an event with a lap dog final, a lap dog jumping 11’ earned a qualifying leg toward its senior title. It also places in the Senior Lap Dog Division within a competition heat leading up to finals. If there is no lap dog division at Tamarack, does that 11’ jump give the lap dog a qualifying leg toward its junior title instead and are they placed with the big dogs in the junior division in the qualifying competition waves leading up to the finals? We are hoping to bring newer folks with us to the event and need to have a strong grasp on how it will work so we can assist them better.

However, as JJ stated at other events we have attended where there has been a divisional final, there has been a lap dog and junior handler final as well. It is my perspective that both the lap dog and junior handler divisions showcase the accessibility of this sport to a wider group of potential competitors. I certainly hope that the elimination of these two divisions from this event isn’t the start of their elimination from all future events.

Having coordinated, chaired and/or worked many events for different organizations over the years I absolutely understand that every club has to make the decisions that best benefits it. I hope that the decision will work well for your organization as well as the sport as a whole.

On a personal level, I am very disappointed not to have a lap dog competition in our own backyard when our friends, family and teammates will be able to attend. Fortunately, as competitors we have many choices available to us as well and our lap dogs have already found themselves otherwise occupied for the weekend competing elsewhere. We are still looking forward to coming out and supporting our friends and teammates and of course, Rambo is so going to love having a terrier free weekend.

I had already taken Friday off from work for the event and would be happy to help out. How can I help?

[Katiesmom]

as i said before a lap dog is still considered a lap dog for title purposes. ex again -if lap dog best jump is 9'5 they will jump in the splash divison, if they jump 11'3 they would jump in the junior division.

if you had issues with this you could have voiced them 2 weeks ago when registration started, not 3 days before the event. also you can become members of h3d and voiced your concern too. this is a h3d event run by h3d volunteers.

katies dad

[MickeyD'sMom]

It seems to me that it should not be that difficult to add a lap dog division for the Reno Event. After all, there seems to be a growing interest in that division with the last event having 11 dogs in the final. I personally, would never want to discourage the growth of this sport and I am particularity fond of watching these little guys compete.

Not everyone, Jason, looks at the entire schedule when they are registering, so please give Liz the benefit of the doubt.

On another note I am a member of H3D and have never been notified of a meeting otherwise I certainly would have voted to keep the lap division on the schedule.

[thejackswild]

Hi Jason,

Thank you for the clarification. I apologize that I did not understand that the first time. This will very much help the newer folks our team has been working to bring to the event.

I am dismayed by your post and I really hope I have misunderstood the tone. If I have, I apologize in advance for taking exception to it. As I stated earlier, neither Bill nor myself were aware of the format in this event until yesterday when I went to submit our entries. We have never been to an event in recent history where a lap dog final wasn’t offered and it was our mistake to assume one would be offered at this event as well. I was both genuine in my understanding of the club’s decision to use this format and in my offer to volunteer on Friday.

You are correct that we could have been part of the decision making process if we were members of H3D. We have pre-existing far reaching obligations to other organizations which make committing to another club full time very challenging. With that said, we are very strongly committed to seeing this sport continue to grow in our area for all competitors and are more than happy to volunteer at events if we can. This Friday I can and I would be very happy to assist if I can regardless of whether or not our dogs are competing. They will have plenty of opportunities to jump in other events.

Thanks!
Liz

[SkyyLab]

We are really looking forward to coming to Reno for the Tamarack jump. Last year was our first time at Tamarack and we had a great time! We have been looking forward to this jump all year. Who else is heading to Reno this weekend?

See you all Friday..

[Katiesmom]

Thank you Janet that is why we did divisionals, since it is also a fun jump we wanted to try and give dogs of all levels the possibilities of winning an event! Good luck and remember the first rule of splash dogs "Have Fun!"

[Missmatchesnquincyno]

It's also sad to see no Jr handler final, as that is were Miss Matches and I got our start.. Gotta look into the future of the sport and the Jr's are the future!!

Why change things?? I like things kept the same...