"minor leagues" other agility venues

There was a CPE trial close to our house this weekend, at the end of the day there was a tunnelers fun run, all proceeds went to breast cancer research. A fun chance to run the dogs in a trial environment, even almost 11 year old rudy got to come out and play! and raise some $$$ for a good cause, a win win for everyone. Everyone did great, Indy ended up 1st, Abby 2nd (I believe they were 2nd and 3rd overall for all heights). Kittie ducked behind me to take an off course and Rudy missed a tunnel- she hasn't done any agility at all for several years, so it was great to see her out there really running!

We've never done CPE, truth be told 99% of the agility trials we do are AKC. I've done a few USDAA, it's a goal of mine to do more.

Around here (and maybe everywhere) there's very different attitudes about different venues. CPE, I'm sorry to say is negatively viewed as "the minor leagues" by many. This has always bugged me, it bothers me just as much as when people who only do venues like CPE & NADAC criticize those who only do AKC & USDAA saying "well, I want to have fun", implying that anyone even moderately competitive can't possibly be having fun. I want to go as far as I can with each of my dogs (just how far that is will vary) and certainly have fun, that's the number one reason I do all of this, to have fun, to play with my dogs and any success I have stems from that. I like running courses that are challenging, both physically and mentally, I wish AKC courses were more challenging. That doesn't make me better or worse than someone who is looking for a different experience with their dogs, as long as you have a good relationship with your dog, do your best to prepare them and yourself and don't blame the dog for your own shortcomings there's nothing wrong or lesser about any venue. I think it's wonderful that we have so many different types of organizations. In Europe, my pugs wouldn't even have an opportunity to play, since the lowest jump in many countries is 14"

The easy CPE tunnelers run was fun! It was a nice opportunity to just RUN and put the focus 100% on speed.