I'm going to pretend to be Aire this weekend

[Kirby]

I'm  going to a  dog agility event this weekend.    I will be just like @Airehead except that she has dogs, enters the event and knows what she's doing, I'll wander around,  look at cute doggies  and probably look for snacks.  But except for that I'll be just like her!

[Wilbur ★]

[UglyBob]

Quote

I'm going to pretend to be Aire this weekend

Oh boy, is Einstein going to be really surprised! 

[Kirby]

9 minutes ago, UglyBob said:

Oh boy, is Einstein going to be really surprised! 

Certainly disappointed if I tried to make Waffle Sunday.

[Airehead]

11 hours ago, Kirby said:

I'm  going to a  dog agility event this weekend.    I will be just like @Airehead except that she has dogs, enters the event and knows what she's doing, I'll wander around,  look at cute doggies  and probably look for snacks.  But except for that I'll be just like her!

Where?  I,wish I,was going to be there. 

[Kirby]

37 minutes ago, Airehead said:

Where?  I,wish I,was going to be there. 

Westminster at Lyndhurst in Tarrytown.

[Kirby]

Had fun at the agility trials yesterday.  The weather was perfect so it was a nice day to wander around the grounds, watch the events  and even visit the rose garden.

Question for @Airehead- why do some of the layouts have mainly jumps and weave poles, while others have things like the teeter totter and the dog walk and the hanging donut shape?  Is it just random, or do different events have specific layouts? 

Another question, one of the layouts had a table where the dogs had to be still until the judge counted to 5.  Given that some of the runs were separated by hundredths of a second, it didn't seem very official to have the judge just counting the time.  I could easily picture him being off by hundredths of a second between dogs, or is there some more official counting that we didn't see?

[Airehead]

On 6/16/2022 at 10:19 PM, Kirby said:

Westminster at Lyndhurst in Tarrytown.

The most beautiful dog show ever.  

[Airehead]

1 hour ago, Kirby said:

Had fun at the agility trials yesterday.  The weather was perfect so it was a nice day to wander around the grounds, watch the events  and even visit the rose garden.

Question for @Airehead- why do some of the layouts have mainly jumps and weave poles, while others have things like the teeter totter and the dog walk and the hanging donut shape?  Is it just random, or do different events have specific layouts? 

Another question, one of the layouts had a table where the dogs had to be still until the judge counted to 5.  Given that some of the runs were separated by hundredths of a second, it didn't seem very official to have the judge just counting the time.  I could easily picture him being off by hundredths of a second between dogs, or is there some more official counting that we didn't see?

There are different types of competition. There are two major ones. One called standard agility.  That has the table, dog walk, a frame, teeter, etc.  The other  big division is jumpers with weaves.  That has no table or equipment other than tunnels and different types of jumps and weave poles.   It is fast. 
 

At the master’s level the dogs need to have zero faults (mistakes), zero knocked bars, and be under the standard course time ( as measured in feet per second).  If this is done, it is a Q. Qualifying score. 
 Most importantly at the highest level the dog must Q in both standard and jumpers on the same day to get a QQ.   Then they need ten QQs to be a master’s agility champion.   Do all that once and it is a MACH. This is what Lindy is working on.
 

Some do it more than once and earn a MACH2, 3, etc

 

As for the time, I agree. Lindy has missed a Q by less than a second. I don’t blame the judge, Lindy just takes his time some days. He likes to get to the top of the A frame and check out the crowd. Luckily, he almost never knocks a bar. 

[Airehead]

Also, each day of a show has a different course. The judge has to do the course design and it is approved by the AKC in advance. It is a well kept secret until the morning of the show. This is why the handlers get to walk the course before we run it with our dog partner. That five minutes is where you plan your strategy and learn the order of the obstacles. You also get a paper map to study while you wait but it isn’t as good as actually walking the course. I try not to look at the other walkers because it makes me question my strategy. 

[Airehead]

The doughnut thing is called a tire jump. It has to break apart in case a dog hits it. If they do hit it they are much safer but it is a fault like knocking a bar. 
 

Here is an old video from 2012, before the break away tire, you can see how easily a dog could be injured. 

 

[Kirby]

Thank you, that's interesting. My Dad always said the more you know about something the more interesting it is, and that's true about this as well. Even without knowing anything it was fun to see the dogs and exciting when one really did well on the course.  The walk through was fascinating to see but I didn't realize people didn't see the course before that day. I'm watching the finals on tv now and just saw Priscilla run the course.

[Kirby]

I decided I could be the person who picks the leash up from the start and walks it down to the end of the course, but I expect they probably do more than that.

[Airehead]

5 minutes ago, Kirby said:

Thank you, that's interesting. My Dad always said the more you know about something the more interesting it is, and that's true about this as well. Even without knowing anything it was fun to see the dogs and exciting when one really did well on the course.  The walk through was fascinating to see but I didn't realize people didn't see the course before that day. I'm watching the finals on tv now and just saw Priscilla run the course.

We love Priscilla. She has a broken foot. 

[Airehead]

I just heard she was 10th I. The 8 inch class so made the championship. I heard Teddy had other ideas in the championship last night on tv today.  He is ten. The dog walk camera freaked him out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kirby]

I didn't see the 8 inch class  yesterday, so I only saw Teddy on tv in the finals..  But if he made it to the finals he must have done well in the preliminaries.   One of the things I like about the agility events is no matter how the dogs do, they seem so happy at the end of the course and the handlers  seem so sweet with them.

[Airehead]

Just now, Kirby said:

I didn't see the 8 inch class  yesterday, so I only saw Teddy on tv in the finals..  But if he made it to the finals he must have done well in the preliminaries.   One of the things I like about the agility events is no matter how the dogs do, they seem so happy at the end of the course and the handlers  seem so sweet with them.

Most of us have a saying— Q or no Q I still get to take the best dog home. I always try to remember how incredibly hard this sport is for the dog. They depend on me as a handler. Any errors are me because I am driving. 

[Ralphie ★]

3 hours ago, Airehead said:

There are different types of competition. There are two major ones. One called standard agility.  That has the table, dog walk, a frame, teeter, etc.  The other  big division is jumpers with weaves.  That has no table or equipment other than tunnels and different types of jumps and weave poles.   It is fast. 
 

At the master’s level the dogs need to have zero faults (mistakes), zero knocked bars, and be under the standard course time ( as measured in feet per second).  If this is done, it is a Q. Qualifying score. 
 Most importantly at the highest level the dog must Q in both standard and jumpers on the same day to get a QQ.   Then they need ten QQs to be a master’s agility champion.   Do all that once and it is a MACH. This is what Lindy is working on.
 

Some do it more than once and earn a MACH2, 3, etc

 

As for the time, I agree. Lindy has missed a Q by less than a second. I don’t blame the judge, Lindy just takes his time some days. He likes to get to the top of the A frame and check out the crowd. Luckily, he almost never knocks a bar. 

I don’t think I have ever seen an Airedale doing agility on tv. I need to find some on u-tube. It sounds like it would be great fun to watch. 

[Airehead]

3 hours ago, Kirby said:

I decided I could be the person who picks the leash up from the start and walks it down to the end of the course, but I expect they probably do more than that.

Nope, that is their volunteer job. It is Important  because no matter how,well a dog does it will be disqualified if it does not enter and leave the ring on leash. This is true even if carried. 

[Airehead]

1 hour ago, Philander Seabury said:

I don’t think I have ever seen an Airedale doing agility on tv. I need to find some on u-tube. It sounds like it would be great fun to watch. 

I haven’t bored you all with endless videos of my dogs. I will. This video is old but good because you get to see the maps. These are not my dogs. The trainer is a friend. 

 

[Wilbur ★]

Nice!  Agility is so much fun.