Wags for Wishes
by AKC Agility Field Rep., Carrie DeYoung
Follow up:
Wonderful Club Members, Thank you everyone for making Wags For Wishes 2005 Agility a super success.
Today, Trial Secretary Lynda Tjarks and I sat down and finished the paperwork for the trial. The final total reflects that the The Agility Club of San Diego will be donating $18,680.73 to the Make A Wish Foundation of San Diego. Wow-we-wow!!! That is fantastic!!!
Thank you Club Members for every pole you set, every chute your fluffed, every leash you carried, every scribe sheet you walked up to the Secretary, every ribbon you may have handed out, every person you checked in at the table, and all the other jobs and duties that make a trial a success.
With out you there would be no Wags for Wishes.
Thank you!!!!!
Sally Nesbitt
Trial Chairman
Agility Club of San Diego
A little over 3 years ago Sally Nesbitt, an AKC Tracking Judge; Bob Long, an AKC Agility Judge (both members of the Agility Club of San Diego) and a another member of their Catchers on the Fly Flyball team, Teresa Davis were sitting around a table talking when an idea came to them. Teresa was at the time the Executive Director of the Make-A-Wish Foundation of San Diego and they started to develop a plan to combine a fundraiser for Make-A-Wish with their love for dogs. What came from that casual get together is the event now known to all in West as the Wags for Wishes weekend.
The 3rd Annual event was held on July 8 -10 at the Del Mar Horsepark in Del Mar, CA. The event raised over $100,000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation from the weekend's many dog events. This will make possible the granting of 16 children's wishes. "Wishes will com true because of the thousands of people and pets who pulled together to make this event a success," according to Chris Sichel, Executive Director of the San Diego Chapter.
The weekend includes the largest AKC Agility Trial in the western states with 4 rings & 1100 runs per day which is held by Agility Club of San Diego. This year's judges were Larry Brockett, Kylie Bourke, Sharon Kihara and Melodie Sudick. Bob Long and Debby Carloni, also AKC Agility Judges, served as the volunteer coordinators keeping all 4 rings staffed with Future Farmers of America members, Make-A-Wish volunteers and agility competitors. This required over 100 volunteers per day.
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 training a volunteer crew on how to set a triple bar jump.', 470, 380)) |
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In addition to the Agility trial this event now includes many other activities for the public to enjoy and also participate in with their own dogs. These included CGC, Dock Dogs, Lure Coursing, Herding, Carting, Freestyle, Rally, Disc Dogs, Obedience, Flyball, Earthdog, Dog Drill Team, Jack Russell events and Weight Pull. Other AKC clubs who participated in this event were the Hidden Valley Obedience Club of North San Diego County, Southwestern Rottweiler Club of San Diego and The Obedience Club of San Diego County, Inc. The proceeds from all of these events are donated to Make-A-Wish.
This year's event was the largest to date with over 1500 dogs participating in all events and over 12,000 people in attendance. This event has grown to include many corporate sponsors such as Petco, Hills, San Diego Credit Union, Foresters, Nokia, GM, Time Warner Cable, Hydro Dog, SeaWorld, Fido Friendly and Signature Press. There were also many local groups such as Pug, Westie & Mastiff rescue groups, the local humane society, a spay and neuter clinic, animal trainers and behaviorists to bring good information to the public.
Congratulations to all who are involved who helped to raise funds for such a great cause and for helping to educate and include the public in the world of dogs. Next year's event will be held on July 7-9, 2006 at the Del Mar Horsepark. To become involved in next year's event, information can be found at www.wagsforwishes.com
