About Conewango Valley Kennel Club

The Conewango Valley Kennel Club is an American Kennel Club breed club serving the Jamestown area. It is not a commercial training school, but it teaches the public on a regular schedule.

The class schedule

The club "has Conformation drop-in classes on the first and third Tuesday of the month at 6:30pm," held at the YWCA Lake Lodge, 185 E Terrace Ave in Lakewood. Club meetings are on the second Tuesday at the same venue. The club's own note on attendance is one word long: "Everyone is welcome." The drop-in format means there is no course to enroll in and no term to wait for.

What the club is for

Its own framing of who should join covers both ends of the hobby: "Do you want to learn how to show in various dog sports, or even just learn to have a special bond with your 4 legged family member? At the CVKC we can provide you with tips on training and information on dog sports that you might want to try with your pet." Membership spans serious competitors and pet owners – "Many club members are actively involved in AKC competition events such as conformation, obedience, hunting tests, and agility trials, spending their weekends at events throughout the USA," while "other members have their faithful dog at home and belong to the club to learn more about dogs."

What it is not

The published teaching is conformation handling. The obedience, hunting-test and agility activity described on the site is what members do at events elsewhere; ask the club if you want classes in them. Owners looking for pet obedience should treat the club as a route into the show world and a source of local contacts rather than as an obedience school.