No Big Deal. It’s Just A Match…

Photo by Robert Nishikawa

By Peri Norman

A recent experience got me thinking about when I was a child in dogs…   I got my first show dog in 1971.  There were matches almost every weekend at a local park; Magnolia Park in North Hollywood.  There were no matches around Christmas or New Years, no matches on Easter and no matches on the weekends of the local shows.  That left about two to three weekends a month for matches.  Maybe, I don’t remember exactly right because I loved the matches.  I would beg my Mom or Dad to take me to the match and when I got older, they would drop me off and pick me up late in the afternoon or let me hitch a ride with an adult exhibitor.  Later as a young adult, I remember summer matches at a shady little park in West Covina.  These matches began in the late afternoon and ran until almost dark during the warm summer months.  Those were the best of times.

Stand alone matches have become scarce as hen’s teeth, perhaps in part because life is much more complicated these days.  Finding a location to hold a match can be challenging.  Application fees are required and probably a rider on a club’s insurance policy too!  People are stretched really thin.   As our fancy ages, fewer and fewer club members are interested in setting up rings and awnings, carrying tables and chairs or coordinating a potluck.  And there are a dazzling array of other options.  Most weekends, I have a choice of shows depending on which direction I want to drive.  Then there are UKC, ARBA and IABCA shows.  For those of us crazy enough to participate in other activities as well as showing, there are agility trials, herding trials, obedience trials, field trials, tracking trials and each of these may involve multiple alternate sponsoring organizations.

Photo by Sandi Weldon

Still, I could not help but spend some time pondering what we are missing after my recent excursion to a puppy match sponsored by Santa Maria Kennel Club.  I met a gal in handling class in April with a beautiful young pup.  She told me it was her first show dog.  We struck up a friendship.  In the process of helping her to navigate the craziness of showing for her very first time, I suggested that she join me for a trip to the match.

The most obvious thing that we all gain from a match is the practice.  Even folks who have been showing dogs for a million years, (okay.., like me) value the opportunity for a practice run with a new or inexperienced dog.  Both the handler and the dog can go through the required motions in a more formal setting than a handling class, but without the pressure and expense of a “real” show.  There is a reason the AKC requires new clubs to put on matches.  It is so the club members and organizers can practice going through the motions.  Judges, also, are encouraged to practice their skills at a match.  It is an indication of serious intent for both clubs and judges.

Another valuable opportunity presented by a match is the chance to mentor new people.  Don’t misunderstand, we can and should mentor at shows, but a match has a low-key and relaxed vibe to it that makes it easier for mentors spend more time with a newbie.  The newcomers recognize immediately that the match is a valuable learning opportunity without the high stakes involved in a point show.  In the case of my new friend and I, we not only toured the match and talked about the pros and cons of various crates, wheels, awnings and other pieces of equipment, but we worked on her handling and training skills and talked during the drive.  One can answer a lot of questions during drive time.

Photo by Sandi Weldon

Perhaps the most important part is the social aspect.  Most of the people who taught me at those matches of my youth are gone now.  My memories of them are golden, wrapped in appreciation for all the things that they taught me.  And my peers from that time are among my closest friends.  At the Santa Maria match, I introduced my new friend, Jennie, to everyone I knew.  She met my co-breeders Carole and Sandi. She met local people from the kennel clubs, Ann with the Belgian Sheepdog and Jenelle with the Border Collie, and the Santa Maria Kennel Club president Dave and his wife, Tracy.  We made some new friends together!   We chatted more with some than others, but even those working hard on the match, took a moment to say hello and make Jennie feel at home.  This coming weekend Jennie will be going to her first “real” show.   I can’t imagine what it will feel like to go to your first show with only one match under your belt.  I hate to imagine what it would feel like without any!

Photo by Sandi Weldon

Putting on a match is a hassle.  People have to do almost all the same work that goes into a real, and theoretically more important, show.  Club members may have to skip other events they would have liked to have participated in.  It’s probably not going to be much of a money maker.  But please, think seriously about the benefits and rewards of putting on a match.  It is an important and often overlooked aspect of the learning process!

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Posted by chesliepickett on Oct 7 2014. Filed under Current Articles, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.