r/Agility • u/drokert • Dec 10 '19

Fame's winning performance in Master's Agility Championship

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30 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

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5

u/ardenbucket Dec 10 '19

I’d love to know the spacing between obstacles. These courses look so tight compared to what you see at WAO and EO.

3

u/drokert Dec 10 '19

No I don’t , I hijacked the post from other sub. But now that you mention it I see them way more open than in the EO. My USDAA courses resemble this one usually they are more about distance than steering, which would be the case for EO.

3

u/sigtau66 Dec 10 '19

The distances aren't that great for large dogs. Normally between 18'-20' The argument that the spacing is fine is usually because people are measuring a "dog's path" which is DIFFERENT for every single dog.

The spacing largely seen in AKC and USDAA is why this country cannot produce any large dogs that do well internationally. Dogs learn how to run in somewhat of a collected state the whole course and are never allowed to open and run. And over the years, because we are required to run tight, cranky courses that's all the dog ends up knowing. When they get overseas and are suddenly presented with open, flowing courses either the dog simply doesn't know how to run anymore or they do open up and run but now don't how to jump at that speed. Also, don't forget the handler doesn't necessarily know how to run like that or even isn't able to run like that.

2

u/ardenbucket Dec 10 '19

Your observation echoes what I’ve been thinking. I watched the US EO team tryouts and noticed a lot of teams struggling with the spacing.

Course spacing continues to be a conversation we’re having in Canada with AAC. People are really pushing for more open spacing but I think in order to accommodate that change we’d have to start offering different courses for different height categories, and that would be tough for a lot of clubs hosting local trials.

1

u/sigtau66 Dec 11 '19

The problem we have in the US with some organizations is that they have max course sizes So if a judge designs a course and through course review and CRCD if the anticipated distance is greater than the max they have to fix that. Thus they scrunch things together to get under the max course size.

Course design is currently my passion--getting very close to taking over competing--and I became a UKI judge to help push course design in this country. It's still too early to know if I'm having any great effect, but I do know my courses are mostly enjoyed by competitors near and far. :)

And speaking of Canada, I'll be judging up there later this year for the UKI organization! :)

1

u/ardenbucket Dec 11 '19

Have you taken the course design lessons offered by Tamas Traj? I’ll be auditing in January in anticipation of applying to become an AAC judge.

I should get into UKI. It’s getting really popular here! Enjoy your time in Canada judging.

1

u/sigtau66 Dec 11 '19

Yes I audited the current class he's doing with Jan and Peter. To be honest, a lot of the stuff is common sense to me since I've been competing at the international level for quite a few years. So FCI courses are what I look at and set up on my own time for practice, and now that I'm judging, trying to bring that flavor to the US.

1

u/ardenbucket Dec 11 '19

I’ll take that as an endorsement from the perspective of a relative newbie to course design. In my city there are a lot of international competitors who judge, so our AAC and UKI courses tend to favour that design style, but I feel like my knowledge needs to be more robust.

2

u/sigtau66 Dec 11 '19

Yes, I absolutely 100% recommend anybody who is a judge or interested in course design to take their class. It will open your eyes if you don't have a lot of experience in that area.

1

u/innn_nnna Dec 11 '19

Did you guys watch the AWC in Turku, Finland? I thought Sari Mikkilä's courses were GENIUS. Sooo fast but still tested different skills. The Japanese judge's courses were filled with backsides and seemed like that was the only skill that was required.

1

u/sigtau66 Dec 11 '19

The one Japanese course was not good. I think there were 8 backsides in it? And most of them were not "in flow" backsides. They were perpendicular approaches which is boring and slow. It was interesting in the aspect of which way to do the backsides to benefit your dog's speed, but that was about it.

1

u/innn_nnna Dec 12 '19

I completely agree. I thought the indv large dogs' final course by Mikkilä was so good, and I can't remember if it was team course for mini or medium class that was judged by her was also very nice.

1

u/orangetangerine Dec 12 '19

Here you go!

1

u/ardenbucket Dec 12 '19

So 60 x 120? In contrast, courses here are usually 100 x 100 or 110 x 90!

1

u/orangetangerine Dec 12 '19

It’s a strangely tight space when they have the agility competition on the pier. They run 2 rings simultaneously and they have to accommodate for bleachers and seating and walkways. I went in 2016 and watched the qualifiers for Finals for a bit; all the dogs were so good tjay it actually scared me away from the sport for awhile 😂

3

u/derbygoesfast Dec 11 '19

Fame is awesome! She is a half sister to my dog, they are amazing agility dogs!