Indefinite Listing Privilege.

We all did just fine on our Sunday of no agility trials. There was a low tide in the morning so the dogs got to run their tails off at the beach in the morning, and Timmy was able to walk all the way there and back. I worked on fun projects like pricing tile for the potential gutting of the bathroom-ouch. I discovered that our regular phone line doesn't work. And at the end of the day we all went for a walk in Pogonip. There are so many things out there to do when you're not sitting at a dog show all day.

If I competed in the AKC, I could have been to a very close trial, right in Scotts Valley. And if I were truly a good person, I would have volunteered to work there all day Sunday. Because it was put on by the dog club I teach agility for. I didn't work because I am lazy and really wanted a day off. But why don't I compete in the AKC?

Well, for one, I don't have purebred dogs. The AKC is designed for purebreds. So, if you have a dog that sort of looks like a purebred or even is one but isn't registered, AKC, you can do what's called an ILP. This stands for Indefinite Listing Privilege. Right there, the name sort of makes me feel creepy crawly inside. I can list my dog with them and it is a Privilege because they are closer to the purebreds. If I can convince them my dogs look enough like and meet enough breed standards of an approved breed, I can have the privilege of listing. My dogs are what they are. God knows what they are. They just don't look like a breed.

And then the AKC started this thing of maybe they will start letting non purebred breeds compete against purebreds in agility but under different rules and classes and would be kept Quite Separate. That is pending right now.

I don't hate the AKC in general, they taking a good stand against the really messed up "supposedly good" spay and neuter law for California. But the agility policy just reeks of classism, even though it's just dogs. Some of us need to get the dogs out of shelters, no matter what they are. I know I am one person that will never buy a dog. I could end up with a purebred through rescue, that is absolutely possible. But I am also going to keep pulling the sorta not so adoptable ones out of crappy lives too.

USDAA and CPE and ASCA let you run any damn dog, any time you want. No breed restrictions. So I am all for supporting them. Even if it means I miss out on a bunch of trials the other kids get to go to.