They sound like snobs. You're better off without them.
Many of these dog clubs consist of liberal, elitist, PETA type jerks.
It just comes with the territory unfortunately.
I remember when our Alf was a pup, we took him to a dog club-agility training-type deal in Fairbanks, Alaska--our hometown.
He was incredible and outperformed most of the older and very skilled dogs there. It was clear that this bothered the regulars there and they went out of their way to be critical of his wanting to socialize with other dogs. He'd never even been around other dogs other than his litter. Overall he was very good with the others.
We avoided the place and snobs for several months and when we returned several of the jerks there had acquired wire-haired pointing griffons like our Alf.
None of them ever had his intelligence, nose and agility. They seethed over his gifts.
