AlbertJ 569 Posted February 7, 2011 Report Share Posted February 7, 2011 (edited) There were some post fair complaints relating to Birr - including some apparently 'passed on' rather than experienced - that there was some alleged hassle from 'travellers' around the terrier & lurcher rings at Birr on the show day on Sunday but no complaints about the 'racing day' on the Saturday. Our investigations with our security staff and garda have indicated that none of this was reported to them during the fair. Although a girl did report to me that a puppy that she had purchased at the fair had been stolen. THERE WERE NO OTHER REPORTS to me, the Garda, our event organisers or our security staff of any other dog being stolen. I was in the area at least four times on Sunday and spent some time in the morning speaking to people who had pups for sale to ensure that they were well housed and watered. To be fair to the people involved there did appear to be a genuine concern for the welfare of the animals involved. I did not witness any hassle and those to whom I have spoken to after the event claim that the problem was 'about a dozen guys mooching about the area hassling people over purchasing dogs'. There were no major or minor physical incidents or trouble arising out of this and as far as we can ascertain only the one puppy stolen. By and large the vast majority of terrier & lurcher enthusiasts who attended, like everyone else at the fair, had an enjoyable and trouble free day out. Please do not think I am downplaying the annoyance of those people who felt intimidated/hassled by people trying to purchase their dogs because as far as I am concerned we have 'zero tolerance' for anyone being hassled at our fairs. The Directors of the Fair have now discussed this matter with the garda,the security company and our event organisers and have come to the following decisions : 1. We would prefer to keep the Terrier & lurcher events fairly integral to the fair and within the main body of the fair - rather than 'hiding' them away to the side as other fair organisers have done - subject of course to the constraints of having a good racing track. 2. We wish to continue to organise innovative events with prize money equivalent to the other shooting, gundog and fishing competitions. I made a personal pledge on this and so long as we can run trouble free events I will continue to do this. 3.There was no reported or alleged hassle from 'travellers' or anyone else on the main site or in the clay pigeon area adjacent to the terrier & lurcher area so it would appear that this was a particular problem localised at the terrier & lurcher area. 4. We give special dispensation for terrier & lurcher owners to park at the ringside so that owners can look after their dogs but unfortunately in 2010 at Birr this appeared to lead to people bringing pups for sale. If there are dogs for sale people will come to buy or acquire them and I think this may have contributed to the hassle. Ringside parking will be continued for 2011 but we will not allow pups or dogs to be sold on site. 5. For 2011 the following will be in place to prevent pups/dogs being offered for sale or people hassling owners about selling dogs: We will have signs at each entrance indicating that there will be no dogs for sale on site and the Garda have been requested to assist our security staff in enforcing a policy of zero tolerance of : (a) The selling of puppies on site ( Any problems around the terrier & lurcher rings from people hassling owners over their dogs. We will have a permanent security presence at the terrier & lurcher rings to enforce this and anyone not in compliance will be removed from the show. Owners must do their bit by looking after their dogs and reporting any hassle to our security staff AT the fair. If the alleged problems had been reported to us at the 2010 fair instead of afterwards they would have been dealt with then and there. However now that that a potential policy has been brought to our attention it will be prevented as our policy over 33 years of running fairs has been a 'zero tolerance' of trouble makers. I should be obliged if anyone who felt they were hassled at the 2011 fair to get in touch with me at irishcountrylifestyle@btinternet.com We have some very exciting competitions in the final planning stages for 2011 and we are determined that terrier & lurcher enthusiasts can enjoy them at all three of our fairs. Alberj Edited February 7, 2011 by AlbertJ Quote Link to post Share on other sites
wetdogsmell 99 Posted February 7, 2011 Report Share Posted February 7, 2011 Hello albert, 1) it was your attitude with all this ALLEGED hassle crap that was bothering people last year, just repeating over and over "no problems were reported to me". 2)theres very little you can do to stop people asking if dogs are for sale (theres no law against it). 3)the stoping dogs being sold will do nothing to stop the hassle, just stop genuine people buying or selling pups. But on the plus side i would still go to the show, there were some good stalls and the show was'nt bad, i did'nt get hassled myself because i look like a gypo and have dogs that a gypo would'nt even take for free 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AlbertJ 569 Posted February 7, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 7, 2011 Hello albert, 1) it was your attitude with all this ALLEGED hassle crap that was bothering people last year, just repeating over and over "no problems were reported to me". 2)theres very little you can do to stop people asking if dogs are for sale (theres no law against it). 3)the stoping dogs being sold will do nothing to stop the hassle, just stop genuine people buying or selling pups. But on the plus side i would still go to the show, there were some good stalls and the show was'nt bad, i did'nt get hassled myself because i look like a gypo and have dogs that a gypo would'nt even take for free Hi WD, The 'alleged' referred to 'travellers'. I accept that there were a group of people who hassled a few people who have contacted me but because it was not reported to me , the garda or the security staff at the fair I don't know the extent of it or who was doing the hassling. There were no similar incidents reported or seen on the main site so it appeared fairly localised to the terrier & lurcher area. So if there are no dogs or pups for sale the problem will be more easily contained and dealt with in 2011. Personally I do not like to see pups for sale at our shows because it could cause an animal welfare as well as a security issue. Also it means that owners can concentrate on looking after their show or racing dogs. Also if people are hassled they should report it and we will deal with it. I find your comments honestly put and they often raise raise a smile so I will be happy to give you tickets for Shanes to let you see how our events are normally organised Albertj Quote Link to post Share on other sites
littlefish 598 Posted February 7, 2011 Report Share Posted February 7, 2011 (edited) Albert, I wasn't at the show myself but I found the reports of hassle quite alarming - hope you manage to get it sorted for next time. Have you ever considered an obedience/working trial style competition for the terrier & lurcher show where people can display how well trained their dogs are, showing the public and dog handlers from other disciplines (i'm thinking gundog owners and maybe farmers who have working collies)that some people take the time and effort to train their dogs before letting them out to work in the fields? Edited February 7, 2011 by littlefish Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AlbertJ 569 Posted February 8, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 Albert, I wasn't at the show myself but I found the reports of hassle quite alarming - hope you manage to get it sorted for next time. Have you ever considered an obedience/working trial style competition for the terrier & lurcher show where people can display how well trained their dogs are, showing the public and dog handlers from other disciplines (i'm thinking gundog owners and maybe farmers who have working collies)that some people take the time and effort to train their dogs before letting them out to work in the fields? LF Without downplaying the hassle from alleged 'travellers' by some people who reported it to me after the show. it was certainly not widewpread at the show or even at the clay shooting beside the terriers & lurchers. It did NOT lead to any physical confrontations and it appears to have been about a dozen' moochers' bothering people by asking them to sell their dogs. If it had reported to us at the show it would have been dealt with promptly. However we have been organising family friendly largely trouble free events in Ireland for 32 tears and we will not tolerate anyone being hassled at our events. People who are annoyed by the attentions of anyone MUST report it at the show NOT afterwards and to facilitate this and to ensure this does not happen again we will have a security presence at the terrier & lurcher rings. Re your obedience/handling idea if you can think there would be enough of an interest we would look at it. Albertj Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Skinny 29 Posted February 12, 2011 Report Share Posted February 12, 2011 Hello albert, 1) it was your attitude with all this ALLEGED hassle crap that was bothering people last year, just repeating over and over "no problems were reported to me". 2)theres very little you can do to stop people asking if dogs are for sale (theres no law against it). 3)the stoping dogs being sold will do nothing to stop the hassle, just stop genuine people buying or selling pups. But on the plus side i would still go to the show, there were some good stalls and the show was'nt bad, i did'nt get hassled myself because i look like a gypo and have dogs that a gypo would'nt even take for free you dont look like a gypo but you would think you were starved the way you jump the queue pushing children out of the way to get to the burger stall or ice cream van and if you shared you burger with your dog now and again some one might want to buy him. thats only my opinion Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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