Ag Ch Brenilly Wynona Ryder

Le and Rabbit earned the last 1st place ribbon needed to gain them their Agility Champion title on the weekend at the Coffs Harbour trial. Once a dog has Masters titles in both Agility and Jumping they require 20 additional qualifying certificates in both Masters Agility and Jumping classes (40 qualifying certificates in all) with 10 qualifying certificates in each class being a 1st place.

Video Ref

I'm aware of two agility runs this year where a competitor who queried a judge's decision had a video tape of their run. In one, an ANKC event, the judge agreed to look at the competitor's tape and reversed his decision. In the other, an ADAA trial, after discussion with officials it was agreed that the decision should be made on the basis of what the judge saw, without recourse to video or other witnesses, and the result stood.

Eric Larsen has posted slow motion video and stills from the USDAA Grand Prix Nationals which show that Susan Garrett and Decaff (winners of the 16" class) and Rhonda Carter and Blast (winners of the 22" class) might have been penalised under the rule "See-saw not touching the ground before the dog leaving, but after it begins to tilt, is a fly-off penalty."

That rule is actually a good argument for having a professional editor go over some of the regulations designed by committee: what does it actually say?? Why not "Dog leaving the see-saw after it begins to tilt, but before it touches the ground, is a fly-off penalty." Or even more simply "If the dog does not have at least one foot in contact with the see-saw when it touches the ground, it is a fly-off penalty."

In any case there is some lively discussion on judging decisions and video referees on the Agility Vision site.

Weekend Results

Thommo had a much better weekend than is reflected in our results. He was happy, fast and responsive. I was a little nervous about the crowd of dogs and people at the start/finish lines and this may have been the reason for a dropped bar which meant no quallies, but his performance was otherwise flawless. I was very happy with him, and have entered him in a few upcoming trials.

Dusty coped with very trying conditions and ratty sheep to get two passes in her Herding Tests to earn her HT. After her second test I took them out to a open space and she literally had the zoomies, racing around in big circles through bushes and across the not-quite dry dam. Apparently she was exhibiting more self control in the ring than I had given her credit for.

Best of all they both snuggled up to me in the tent, alleviating the deficiencies of my mild-weather-only sleeping bag.

ACT Trials

We went down to Canberra last weekend for two trials: the ACT Companion Dog Club on the Saturday, and the Belconnen Dog Obedience Club on the Sunday. It was the Labour Day weekend so we had some travelling time, Floriade was in full swing, and Deb was bringing Rosie and Jenna, and Sophie, up from Melbourne so we had plenty of reasons for the trip.

Thommo was in one of his moods where he won't do the weave poles. He sees the poles, stops running, brings his head up and walks down the opposite side of the line of poles from me. He did the poles perfectly for the first couple of years we competed, then developed problems in trial situations. I handled the problem badly, trying to follow everyone's (different) advice, and now he'll have days where he does them beautifully, and days where he refuses to attempt them.

So I decided that the weekend runs would be about my handling, not his running. We had some great courses on which to do this. I particularly liked Murray's Open Agility on the Saturday morning, one of three nested courses, with appropriately interesting challenges at each level.

Agility Australia

Agility Australia is our favourite agility organisation. Their courses and rules are based on the US Nadac, but without many of the changes introduced by NADAC over the last year or so.

The courses are open and free flowing, and elite performance is primarily about being able to shave seconds off the time with precise handling, rather than being able to negotiate tricky traps.

They emphasise safety; there are no spread or broad jumps and no table obstacles. And they place a premium on sportsmanship; speaking harshly to your dog or to the judge will get you eliminated.

All of the events are significantly different. Agility Standard has a full range of equipment and requires distance handling, Jumping has only jumps and tunnels, Tunnellers has only tunnels, Weavers has tunnels and weaves, Touch and Go has contact obstacles and tunnels.