# Volunteering/Question



## diane0905 (Aug 20, 2010)

I'm about to volunteer to help our local obedience club with an obedience/rally trial.

My choices are:

Ring Steward (there are two)

Rally table steward

Outside Flow Monitors (I really don't want to be outside and not see any of the action.)

Rally timer


I've volunteered twice in the dog world as far as competitions go (I vacuumed the obedience club once for mat cleaners. lol)

Once was really early on and I told people to go to the spot where they were next up -- in the box or whatever it's called. I played softball. 

Another time, I was on the spot told I was the timer keeper at an agility trial. I would have taken a tequila shot along if I knew that was coming, but it turned out okay. I had a sweet lady beside me who gave me tips and it wasn't difficult anyway.

So, which one should a newbie pick? I'd like to Ring Steward. Is that difficult?


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## rosegold (Nov 9, 2016)

I liked ring stewarding bc I got to watch the dogs do their runs. They had me checking people in/collecting covid waivers, giving out armbands, making sure the next exhibitor was ready for their run, and handling treat bags out of the ring. Duties might vary by club. AKC rule book has a good section starting on page 130 for stewards https://images.akc.org/pdf/rulebooks/RO2999.pdf
Edit: I checked my assignment and it was gate steward, which is different from ring steward


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## DevWind (Nov 7, 2016)

rosegold said:


> I liked ring stewarding bc I got to watch the dogs do their runs. They had me checking people in/collecting covid waivers, giving out armbands, making sure the next exhibitor was ready for their run, and handling treat bags out of the ring. Duties might vary by club. AKC rule book has a good section starting on page 130 for stewards https://images.akc.org/pdf/rulebooks/RO2999.pdf
> Edit: I checked my assignment and it was gate steward, which is different from ring steward


 Gate steward is just checking people in and making sure the correct person is going into the ring.


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## diane0905 (Aug 20, 2010)

I ended up signing up for Ring Steward. If I get demoted, so be it. 😅


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## DevWind (Nov 7, 2016)

I wouldn’t call it demotion. Just a different job.


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## diane0905 (Aug 20, 2010)

Abeille said:


> I wouldn’t call it demotion. Just a different job.


I was just being silly. 😅 I will do whatever they need.


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## diane0905 (Aug 20, 2010)

Volunteer day is here. I will let y'all know how it goes. I'm on the noon to 4:00 shift as ring steward for obedience.


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## diane0905 (Aug 20, 2010)

Volunteering was fun! 

I ended up:

1) taking the leash from the person trialing

2) changing jump heights

3) keeping the board (keeping up with who was in the ring and posting the scores.)

4) texting scores to some other person at the entrance, who was also keeping a board.

I'm learning a lot. I thought I signed up for volunteering in the obedience portion of this trial, but I ended up doing rally. It was interesting to watch.

Oh, and one of the club chairs asked me if I was interested in taking a class -- I think she said eight sessions -- beginning in January. It's to teach me (and others) about training techniques, dog behavioral issues, and things like that. The end goal is to train people so they can volunteer in the club in a teaching capacity. She said she knows how much I work with Logan and that I read and participate in a lot of online learning. She said they are looking to cultivate the members of the club who are really interested in the club, training their dogs, and also competing.

She's going to put me on the list and get in touch once they have more planned out.

So, all in all, a good volunteering experience. It's fun to watch how people interact with their dogs. We only had two escapees (lol) and one who just shut down. A lot of people did really well!


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## diane0905 (Aug 20, 2010)

Oh -- and I meant to say, my favorite dog yesterday was a Vizsla. He was good and scoring 100s, but that's not why I loved watching him. He would wait until the end of each course he did, get leashed and out of the ring, and then he would let out a big Woo-Woo howl like he was cheering himself on, and that was it. Off he would go quietly. 🤣


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## diane0905 (Aug 20, 2010)

Oh -- and I had no idea what an All American dog encompasses, but kept hearing it yesterday, so I looked it up.





__





AKC Celebrates All-American Breeds – American Kennel Club







www.akc.org


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## CAROLINA MOM (May 12, 2009)

diane0905 said:


> Oh -- and I had no idea what an All American dog encompasses, but kept hearing it yesterday, so I looked it up.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That's interesting..

Good to hear you enjoyed volunteering, the upcoming class sounds interesting too.


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## diane0905 (Aug 20, 2010)

CAROLINA MOM said:


> That's interesting..
> 
> Good to hear you enjoyed volunteering, the upcoming class sounds interesting too.


Yes. I kept hearing the judge announce "All American Dog" and I was perplexed because it was for a variety of breeds.

Hopefully, the class involves apprenticeship/guidance. I'll find out because I do not claim to be a dog trainer. I'm just trying to limit how much mine trains me. 😅


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## PalouseDogs (Aug 14, 2013)

As the person who has been OB chair for many years for our club trial, I thank you for your volunteering. Begging for volunteers gets tiring, let me tell you. 

Sign up for the course and get Logan on the path to showing in performance events. Goldens are the NUMBER 1 (no kidding) breed in AKC Obedience. It's a great breed for a beginner.


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## diane0905 (Aug 20, 2010)

PalouseDogs said:


> As the person who has been OB chair for many years for our club trial, I thank you for your volunteering. Begging for volunteers gets tiring, let me tell you.
> 
> Sign up for the course and get Logan on the path to showing in performance events. Goldens are the NUMBER 1 (no kidding) breed in AKC Obedience. It's a great breed for a beginner.


Thanks Kelly! Logan and I have been taking competition obedience for about six months I think. We are on break until January because the owner of the school's mother died unexpectedly. We have also been taking agility for nine months and recently started field training. We missed a good year and 1/4 in training due to COVID canceling classes and me being totally green with competition stuff. For Logan's first year he was stuck with me. lol Logan just turned two. I say we are on the three year plan 🤪, but he is doing really well. We'll see! We are really enjoying all of the variety training. 

I love obedience. I don't enjoy it being an hour and forty minutes away though.


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## rosegold (Nov 9, 2016)

diane0905 said:


> Oh -- and I had no idea what an All American dog encompasses, but kept hearing it yesterday, so I looked it up.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I had to look that up afterwards too. I was the silly calling out for the "All American breed" at the trial - facepalm. The teaching class sounds interesting! I always admire how much patience our instructors have with us.


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