2007 PAYOUTS

[Sardo]

Will there be any payouts this year?

The reason I ask is because I have talked to a few people hesitant of traveling and attending events with no payouts. I know alot of people don't attend events for payouts but it would be nice for the top pro jumpers and the top amatuer jumpers to take home a little something other than a ribbon. I think it gives an incentive to jumpers to try a little harder to get that prize and jump an extra wave or two to get there. In the end it's a win win situation for everyone. I would hate to see a decline in traveling participants and local participants due to not having payouts. These are just my thoughts and if anyone else has any ideas on making splashdogs bigger and better please post your ideas.

[need2getalife]

Brian

Great topic..

Divisional payouts?

Extra registration fee for those that want a pay out?

Top Pro only?

How big a payout?

Payout top male handler?

Payout top female handler?

Youngest handler?

Payout top male dog?

Female dog?

Guys How would you structure this?

Money talks and _ _ walks..


Lets talk

Greg The Voice of Splashdogs

[Sardo]

My suggestion would be for top 3 for pro, amatuer, and SV. It doesn't even have to be a payout, it could be prizes.

The payout could be a percentage of the waves or a set price. Splashdogs had payouts two years ago. Go back to the structure you had before. These are just suggestions and would like more input from other competitors on what they would like to see happen.

[Chase]

Regarding the idea of payouts, I have a couple of comments. First of all, I want to say that Chase and I were recipients of a payout in Pomona a couple of years ago, so I have a little experience on both sides of this topic.

Given that, I do not think payouts are important. I may be in the minority on this one, but I find it rather disapointing to hear that some people would not travel to an event because there is no payout available. I thought we were all going to these events to "HAVE FUN". Is that not the number one rule of Splashdogs? Greg says it before we start every single wave.

I could understand the desire for payouts if Slashdogs was some large corporation with substantial and big money sponsors (Petco, Petsmart, Purina, etc) such that there was a HUGE influx of funds avaiable to distribute. But, that is not the case and we all know that that is not the case. So, given that Tony does not have huge sums of money pouring in from sponsors, I would much rather Tony gets ALL the money so he will be able to financially continue to keep Splashdogs in business and continue to come to my area (Southern California). Keep in mind that Tony and Greg and JR and Randy etc etc etc all come to these events and work them all day long for many consecutive days. I seriuosly doubt that they are all being paid large salaries for their work.

In addition, since the payouts are usually only for the top 3 pro (and possibly amateur), that leaves out the 90% or more of the people who put out the time and money to drive to events, lug all their stuff to the pool, pay their fees for their waves, help out and wrangle all day, and are a HUGE reason why there is such a positive and fun experience for the audience (who's attendance helps pay Tony). These unpaid masses of dogs and owners all seem to travel to events without any enticement of a payout at all. Are you saying that these people and their dogs are unimportant or just the side show?

I would hate to see the top jumpers stop coming to events. But, the reality is that if they do cease to come, there will still be plenty of other dogs there to entertain the crowd and have fun. On the other hand, if only the top jumpers came to an event and everyone else stayed home, then Splashdogs would go out of business in a few weeks and then no one would get to jump.

By the way, the next time you go to an event, look which dogs are entertaining the crowd all day. They are not the top dogs. As a matter of fact, very often the top dogs are kept in their crates all day long so they can rest up and shine in the finals. It is all the other dogs, the almost big jumpers, the medium jumpers, little jumpers, and the just barely able to fall into the pool jumpers who are out there jumping all day long.

If Tony can find a way to give out prizes to people (that he can get donated form sponsors, such as gift certificates from Petco, Petsmart, Bass Pro Shop online, etc) or maybe even certificates for free waves, then that sounds like fun. But, I personally hope Splashdogs does not turn into some super competitive money driven organization like what Dock Dogs has become. Everything about Splashdogs, from the people to the safety of the dock to the announcing to the overall sense of family is better with Splashdogs.

One final thought. I would much prefer to give any extra funds that Tony can offer to a charity like Wags for Wishes or Lisa's Retriever Rescue group as we did in San Diego, than just to someone who probably does not really need it to survive.

That's my two cents and more. See you all in Orange County and also in Scottsdale in April. Yep, I am traveling and yep, I doubt that Chase and his surgically mended knees will win us any money. But, I know we will HAVE FUN!

And Brian, you and Melissa better be there.

Brooke & Chase

[runamuck]

Wow Brooke,

I could not have said it better myself! :mrgreen:

To Brian and Bart,
Yes, many of us recently attended 2 DD events and some competitors got payouts at those 2 events. So....now suddenly you are feeling the need for Tony to start giving money prizes to the top winners? Well, yes, we know that Little Gunner is about guaranteed a spot in the top 3 in big air so he would surely win some cash....and surely Stryker and Gunner (BC) and Little Gunner would definitely be in the money for SV....thats great! You should be extreemly proud of yourselves and your pups!

But, to most of us who do not have the top jumping dogs in the country, it kinda SOUNDS LIKE you and the certain few people you <<have talked to a few people hesitant of traveling and attending events with no payouts>> talked to (we all know who you are), want to be guaranteed a payout to travel any distance to future Splashdogs events? ops: Bad form guys... :roll:

Well, I hate to remind everyone, but this is NOT DD.
Tony does not have big corporate sponsers supporting him in putting on Splashdogs events. No I doubt there will be any cash payouts at any Splashdogs events in the near future.

Tony has brought events to the west for those of us who want to come out and have fun with their dogs. He does not make any money at these events, fact is he loses money big time! He does this because he loves it!

Do you know how much that truck cost? Any idea how much that trailer cost him? Hiring crews to set up and tear down at every event he puts on?
Wear and tear on his rig traveling across the country right now between SRS and Texas? New Tires, Monthly insurance? Hotel rooms? Meals? I would hate to be the one paying his bills :cry:

Ok....if he has no big sponsors, where do you think the money comes from?

Splashdoggers are a family.
Splashdoggers support Tony in any way they can and only expect a fun day with their pups in return.

Dockdoggers....more competitive, payouts, definitely for some lucky ones.
Anyone who got a taste of the DD big bucks the last few events and feels that they can only afford to travel to events if there are payouts involved, should maybe stay home and start saving their travel $$$ now, as the next DD event for payouts will most likely be up in Oregon in July unless they come up with something else between now and then......

Until then, I will certainly got to a DD event locally, WHEN they come around, but myself and my dogs will continue to be Splashdoggers and support Tony by traveling to as many Splashdogs events as I can afford to make it too, because it is Tony and Splash Dogs that gives me events in the west all year long....and my dogs want to play

So I say as I do.......if I can't afford to travel to some events due to gas $$, hotel bills etc...then I stay home. If I can make it happen I will...
Heck, it never seems to be an issue in flyball where we only compete for dog toys? Hey, there's an idea :idea:

Tony, how about offering squeeky dog toys to the winners? :lol:

One other thing to think about with having payouts is the change in perspective it can give competitors. I am very committed to having fun and am NOT in the sport to win money. However, I will say that at the past two dock dogs events, I found it affecting my thinking. In SF I actually didn't bother to drive back for the finals (I did have other plans) because I was in the pro finals and knew Ren would be near the bottom of the group. However, I did acknowledge to myself that if he would have been in the open finals that I would have made more of an effort because I might have had a chance at money. Similarly in Stockton, I was happy Ren jumped 21', however a part of me was disappointed because that put us in the pro finals again. I'm not a person who likes to be thinking about my dog's performance this way! I'm embarrassed that I had those thoughts... However, I did. I think being in it to have fun with your dog and strive to improve should be the focus.

Also, in agility we also only get prizes at the discretion of the club putting on the event and usually it is just a stuffed animal or the best prize I ever got was a ceramic dog bowl.

[Stanley]

Ditto on keeping Splashdogs alive and out of the red.

If everyone is hungry for $$$ how about starting our own private pool of money and distribute the funds. Ten bucks a dog can add up real quick. To go one step farther the Pro's could start a winner take all pool for the big jumpers. Just an idea but there is more than one way to take home the bacon without draining the Splashdogs pool of funds.

Anybody in on "which dog can stand the longest"!

[Sardo]

Lisa,

I have NEVER collected a paycheck, probably never will. Those I got from Gunner went back to Urs. She will most likely not be attending this next event so it's not about her getting any money neither. So I don't know why my name is coming up with collecting a couple of paychecks but I tell you what it did feel good handling a top dog. Prizes gives you something to strive for and if you have a big jumping dog than it's well deserved. I know Splashdogs is all about fun but it is a competition, right. If it's just for fun than why measure the jumps and have rankings and placement ribbons. We could have fun without all that. I didn't know this would be such a touchy subject. I was just trying to get some input on the idea. Tony started with payouts in the beginning and he has only gotten bigger so I don't see a difference in it now.

If you want to bring up DD look at UAD. They are all about fun, you can jump your dog the whole weekend for 30 bucks and still have payouts in all divisions.

[guzzigirl]

The payout game generally affects the same 10-12 players in the game. I am not one of them that would ever get that high up in the money potential. It changes the competition's mindset when payouts for placement enter into the picture.

People smile less when the competition gets that serious. People get really picky about the rules being followed and tend to interprete them in their favor.

I used to chair spring sled dog races back east. $50,000 purses brought teams from 1,000 miles away to compete. Some people just gave me headaches.

I know that money prizes are a necessary evil and I mean no disrespect to anyone seeking this. But my greatest prize was a 5# bag of dog food and squeaky goose. And I was so tickled.

Registration fees will go up if the organizers are forced to hire people to hustle big money sponsors.

It'd be nice if everyone could go home with "something". But I'm at a loss to offer what that something would be, besides a day of great memories.

Karen and Guzzi

[MickeyD'sMom]

Well Brooke I think you pretty well summed it up. Let see so far MickeyD has brought in a total of $225.00! Jim laughed a couple of weekends ago when he received a Cabela hat and looked at me and said "I love the hat, but it cost me over a $1,000.00. This is not a sport to get rich in. Sometimes I am so busy talking with our Splash Dogs Family that I have even missed MickeyD jumping (well of course that could be because it takes him forever to get off the dock!!! :lol: ) Also I have put on a few events for Tony and I know what it takes and I know what he takes in. I can remember when we did the very first event for our dog "Cash". Tony had never done a "stand alone" event before. He asked for nothing and all of the proceeds went to build our dog park here in Auburn. That's the kind of guy he is! I know for Jim & I we just love our extended family and thats what it's all about folks. :wink: