Improving Agility Organizations - Suggestions not Criticisms

This is the quarterly Blog Action day, where agility bloggers across the globe share their ideas on a designated topic.  This list of links: Improving Agility Organizations, will no doubt be read by the various agility organizations and maybe they'll glean some new ideas.

First, for family and those unfamiliar, there are many dog agility organizations.  In America, there are 5 major organizations.  Outside the US, there are many others, whose activities include setting up rules for holding matches and trials, establishing titling criteria, training judges, helping local clubs get organized, etc.

Agility is rapidly growing in popularity, and rapidly evolving.  Rules and equipment are changing in response to safety concerns, keeping the game challenging, attracting new handlers, providing a stepped program of incentives and titles on the way to championship, considerations for uniformity of equipment across all platforms, etc.

Here's my Lucky Lucy, a 4 year old
Southern Black Mouth Curr, a breed
as yet unrecognized by AKC, but an amazing young
athelete working her way towards MACH.

That said, my only extensive experience is with AKC and I think they do an incredible job!  I train 2 purebred papillons, but am most grateful that AKC has begun to allow All American Dogs to register and compete for the same agility titles as AKC's recognized breeds.  I think it will shortly be proved that breed recognition, or pure breeding, has little to do with any atheletic dog's ability to participate in and excel in our great sport.

With that great big proletarian "thank you" on record, I have only a few more concerns or ideas to share in the spirit of evolving AKC agility, which may apply in some measure to other venues as well.

1. Masters vs. MACH -
   I've never understood why dogs with 9 Q's under their belt and just admitted into the Master's Standard (or Masters Jumpers) category of competition, should compete for placement with MACH 1 dogs, who have earned 20 QQ's!  Or MACH 6 dogs with 120 QQ's.  It's obvious to me that there should be some additional layer of difficulty added once a dog becomes a champion, and they should be judged within their own group. This might not require any additional course setup, but maybe shave off the SCT by a few seconds, with book keeping no harder than how Preferred is handled vs Regular -- same course, different designation on paper.  Or to make it more interesting maybe yes, introduce more international handling, an extra trap, tweeking the angle of a jump or two to require tighter turns, a harder entry, a longer serpentine or threadle, an extra jump or two at the end requiring more stamina.  Nothing too hard on the ring crew nor taking much time to adjust.  No moving heavy equipment. Judges could design courses with just a little tweeking in mind.   I look forward to the day when Champions compete against each other, leaving the greener teams to compete amongst themselves!
2. Matches -
   In my neck of the woods, matches are hard to find, maybe one every 2 years or so.  This is a new trend because when I got started in agility 4 years ago, many trials held a match, and we were all advised to enter as many matches as possible to get our green dogs used to being in the ring, yet able to motivate with toys and treats.   About 2 years ago it came to pass, no doubt because handlers would spill treats or intentionally throw them on the dirt and dogs competing the next day would be distracted by the smells, allowing treats in the ring fell out of favor.  Not so good for dogs with no tug/toy drive, but better than nothing.  And now that I can't find a match anywhere, I've been asking various Trial Chairmen about this and got these responses:
   
   "Matches are too much trouble" . . . . . .  Gracious sakes, I read the AKC Regs on holding matches, and they are way too much trouble!  If AKC's purpose is to teach new clubs how to hold trials with a few dry runs first before holding a real trial, the Regs make perfect sense.  But once that's done, fun matches are all we need and these rules should be relaxed.  Why, for instance, is there a rule that only club members can participate in a club's non-sanctioned "fun match"? People attending the trial from several states will happily come in a day early to practice their dogs in an arena situation.  Why can't they?  What's the point of this rule?  I do, maybe, see the point of limiting fun match participation to dogs that aren't champions. Champions with all their experience don't need so much proofing against distractions.  They don't have ring jitters. It could be argued that champions might gain an unfair advantage being prematurely exposed to a club's peculiar equipment before the trial begins.  Going in cold is an added level of difficulty that could be required of champions, but not so much with greener dogs.
   
   "The club looses money on matches" . . . . . I think the obvious answer is to charge more. Everyone knows arenas cost money and the cost has to be covered. The going rate around here used to be $5 for 2 minutes in the ring.  I'd gladly pay more to give my dogs ring experience.
   
   "It's too hard to find staff" . . . . . finding perks to draw 5 or 6 core staff shouldn't be too hard -- free match runs, ice water and a few cookies would do it for me, free trial entry fees would be even better. We have to quit expecting core volunteers to slave away for free.
   
   "Matches aren't necessary, just enter and run your dog at enough trials and they'll get used to it" . . . . .  the people saying this are experienced competitors who trial often and have little need for matches themselves.  They are also the ones staffing the trials and don't want the extra hassle.  But I feel they've lost sight of the needs of the newcomers, and the advantage of training green dogs in an arena situation.  I wrote AKC a few months back wondering what they might do to encourage clubs to add matches to their trials, at least once a year.  I haven't heard back yet.
3. See Saw Flyoffs -
   We have all witnessed, time and time again, dogs not faulted for obviously leaving the board before it hits the ground, presumably because judging the see-saw accurately is so extremely difficult that the norm is to cut every team some slack.  BUT
   
   AKC judging rules are very clear: To properly perform the seesaw, the dog may not exit the plank until the elevated edge hits the ground for the first time  . . . . . . . . . Exiting the plank before its elevated edge hits the ground is faulted with an "F" for a flyoff . . . . . . . . the dog must still be in control and have touched the contact zone at the same time or after the plank touches the ground.
   
   If it is impossible for a human to accurately judge this (as in recent discussion about Masher, the 8" papillon who won at Nationals, whom some witnesses claim dismounted the board a fraction of a second early), I hope some kind of electronic sensor can be developed.  This would encourage handlers to train a solid dismount more vigorously, since they could no longer hope to squeak by without it.  This is mostly for the safety of the dog, but also, of course, in the interests of fairness in who Q's and who doesn't.  Some kind of proximity sensor strip embedded in the contact zone?  A touch pad under the rubberized surface that sets off a red light on the side of the board if the dog looses contact before the board hits the ground?  I don't know, but surely someone out there is clever enough to design an economical solution.
4. FAST classes -
   Few clubs and few judges have wireless mikes, so the scribe often can't hear the numbers 1-10 called out by the judges (each obstacle taken adds value to a cumulative score).  Sometimes judge's heads are turned away, other times the judge has a soft voice, or loud fans overhead, or a barking dog behind the scribe table makes it impossible for the scribe to hear.  I've timed enough FAST classes to witness scribes missing calls or guessing calls to know that FAST scores aren't all that accurate.  I think AKC should require judges to purchase wireless mikes and bring them to all the FAST classes they judge.  An adequate system costs around $200, and judges could bump up their compensation package by a few bucks a day to cover the cost.  I also think that judges should be required to provide the scribe table with a course map showing the value of each obstacle, so if the scribe can't hear a number, she can glance at the map and tell what it is. 
   Of lesser concern is the lack of electronic eyes measuring when to start the timer.  Depending on a person to press a button when they think the dog's nose crosses an invisible start line is inexact at best.  No human timer gets it exactly right every time, but it's probably not more than a second off . . . unless their finger slips or they aren't paying attention.  At novice levels it makes very little difference, but at championship levels, maybe it does.
5. Agility Commentators -
   Sarah and Estaban, of Bad Dog Agility, working up and sharing their Power Score statistics in their AKC Nationals Preview article and publishing their podcast: Episode 33: 2013 AKC National Agility Championship Wrap-Up opened a Pandora's Box for me of what is possible.  Their sports analysis comparing various dogs'  and handlers' careers and runs was state of the art, in my opinion.  I believe it points to a more exciting future for our sport.  Like the way olympic figure skating has Peggy Fleming and Scott Hamilton in real time discussing and describing what we are watching --  the tripple lutz, the quad, etc., and every football game has a desk with commentators discussing the plays, the players, the coaches, bringing the viewers to a higher level of understanding of what they are watching, our sport needs that to gain in popularity.  For example, when I bring family members to an agility trial, they quickly lose interest after watching me and a few teams run, on the grounds that "they are all doing the same thing".  It takes a practiced eye to see the vast differences in handling, speed, extension, collection, tight turns, etc.  Which leads me to discussing the PA system at AKC Nationals.  I wasn't there in person, but why was the video commentary streamed by AgilityVision so garbled?  I could hardly understand a thing that was said.  Either the placement of the microphones, or the PA system itself . . . . something needs improvement.
6. Scholarships to National and International competitions -
   I have suspicions and have expressed elsewhere my concerns that there are probably some top notch AKC competitors who can't afford to go to these expensive competitions.  So we never see them on the US team.  I was thus gratified to hear on the latest Bad Dog Agility Podcast: Episode 36: The 2013 EO and AWC USA Teams, that AKC does fund some teams to these events, and has a donation portal on their website for other donors to help finance certain teams.  I suppose some portion of our trial entry fees are earmarked for this fund.   I'm still not sure if the qualifications for funding have anything to do with financial need, but I hope that becomes the criteria in future. Not to sound too bourgeois, again, but money is no measure of atheletic excellence.

Okay, that's all I've got to add to this conversation.  I look forward to the rants, wise council and/or wild ideas of our other bloggers.

Men are never so likely to settle a question rightly

as when they discuss it freely.
- Thomas Babington Macaulay

Upwards and onward!

Kiln Agility Trial and Match - Oct 22,23,24, 2010

Kiln, MS RV park behind Harrison County Arena

Legs Earned:  Maxie: XJ1, XJ2
4 runs, 2 Q's

Hancock County Fairgrounds: Here's our wee little pop up camper (far left), amidst one wing of the big rigs in the RV park at Kiln, MS.  I was the first to arrive on Thursday and chose the end slot so I wouldn't be sandwiched in. It was a good decision.  We felt very much like we had the whole place to ourselves, though we had the longest distance to walk to the arena (far right).

CAMPING NOTES: $15/night. The ground is level. Kiln has no showers this year but there's a lot of construction going on and I heard they are building a bath house. There is a kitchen with a big freezer available, but it is locked up at night.  Need to get your ice out of there shortly after the last run each day.  The bathrooms are in the arena, far away from the campsites, so my portable pottie came in handy. Don't need outdoor carpet.  Nice grassy area under awning is fine.

Weather: We ran the AC during the day (85 degrees) and the heater at night (55 degrees).  Short sleeves were fine.  Didn't sweat at all and it wasn't terribly dusty, so as to bathing, I did fine with just a warm wash cloth, no soap.

Arena: The dirt in the arena was fairly packed and wetted down at night, so minimal dust. There were 2 courses, one for Jumpers, another for Standard, with an aisle down the middle.  Only one at a time was active.  There is no AC but it was not hot.  There was a nice breeze.



John, Willow and Michele
West side is behind us where lots of folks crated.
You can see Loralie's red tent on right.

 Crate Areas:  Lots of people crated on the west side under roof with open sides, near the concessions, but the afternoon sun beat down on that spot.  Loralie even pitched her tent under there and spent 3 nights.  I crated on the East side between the bleachers, nearest the RV park, and it was relatively quiet, no crowding, quite nice, morning sun was not hot.  It was easy to get into the bleachers, but a longer walk to the secretary's table and bathrooms. Forgot to get a picture.  Some people crated at the base of the bleachers but this took up so much space it left little room for people to pass.  There is also crate space at the north side by the horse stalls.

John came with me Thursday and Friday, in his own car. We brought Maxie, Lucky and Willow and we all slept cozily in the camper - Maxie and Willow in our bed and Lucky in the other bed amidst our luggage. We left BR around 9 a.m., arrived Kiln 11 a.m., set up the camper, went into the arena and set up my crate spot and got ready for the 2 p.m. match. The crates being at the bottom of the trunk, everything else has to be offloaded to get to them, which works fine if we set up the camper first, but not if setting up your crates first.  John watched the match on Thursday and most of the trial on Friday, took some of the videos, and left around 3 p.m. Friday.  He took Willow home with him. The photo above was taken with my iPhone, just before he left. Since John's days off are Thursday and Friday, that makes it easy for him to join me in setting up, but difficult for him to stay Sat and Sun.

The RV Experience: Swamp Dog Agility Club, out of New Orleans, took good care of us RV'ers.  Had a Pumpkin Carving on Friday night, with about 6 people, and a Whine and Cheese tasting on Saturday night, with about 15-20 people. Both were fun. Kay and I were the only people from our club there, although everyone was invited. Instead of doing Brags, everyone got to complain about their worst mistake in the trial.  Mine was that I got too cocky.  I only needed one Q in XS to get Maxie's AX title, so I only signed up for 2 runs.  We NQ'd on both!  We Q'd on both XJ runs, so got our first 2 legs in that class, with a 1st place and a 2nd place.  We were signed up for Sunday XJ as well, but I got injured and had to forfeit that run.

Maxie over tripple, Kiln

Videos: I posted all of Maxie's videos, plus all the other 8" dogs Maxie will be competing with in X classes next year, plus something new, photos of the score sheets.  I got to meet more of the handlers -- a talented, experienced bunch.  The videos are here. It takes me 3 days to process, label and upload all the videos I take. The files are huge even though the quality is not very satisfactory.  I'd like a better video camera someday but they are expensive.  Are you listening, Santa Claus?

I usually use a tripod, get the best left/right fix on the course, and don't zoom unless the whole rest of the course is at a distance.  I try to stay on both dog and handler from GO to when they leave the ring. It is interesting to watch how each team behaves right after their run -- either elated or bummed out. But when we got there we discovered John had taken the tripod out of my trunk to take to family reunion and had not replaced it.  So we hand-held all the Friday videos.  Fortunately, Sheryl wasn't leaving Baton Rouge until Friday afternoon.  She was able to send Wayne to my house for the tripod and she brought it to me in time for Saturday's filming.



The Match:  Lucky ran twice in her first match on Thursday afternoon.  I can't remember how she did and we didn't take any pictures or videos as I had intended, but she seemed comfortable in the ring.  I also ran Maxie two runs, but on the first one I forgot it was practice, so we ran the course then left the ring with another minute to spare.

I didn't think the match was well organized.  Both rings were going simultaneously, and without a PA system nor even a megaphone, you could not hear when your turn came up, or even when the ring was available for a walk through.  The courses were all nested -- novice, open, excellent.  I just chose to run the Excellent courses, and since I didn't even have time to walk one course, Lucky and I just got out there and ran all over the place.  For some stupid reason, I had signed Lucky up for 4 runs, Maxie for 2.  Then I forgot and Lucky only ran 2 of her runs. 4 runs in one day was plenty for me.  I don't know how Tracey and others run 6-10 times in a day.

I did appreciate that no treats were allowed in the ring.  I remembered a few years back I attended a Kiln match with Maxie (before he began competing), and observed some handlers tossing food treats into the dirt at the contacts, and the next day competing dogs would stop and sniff those areas.

Lucky:  She did fine with all the excitement and noise, but she isn't used to being crated during the day.  She was good as gold, but when I let her run free in the RV field on Saturday night, she went so wild, charging too and fro, on one pass she grazed my left leg and the force knocked me down, twisting my left knee. I iced it twice Sat night, but was hobbling around on Sunday with my old knee brace on, trying desparately to pack up, missing most everybody's runs, and had to miss my XJ run as well.  By this time John had gone home and I had to concentrate on packing up or risk getting left behind with no one to help me hitch my car up.


Charlie and Sheryl, Kiln, Novice Jumpers

Sheryl:  Looks like the training Sheryl and I have been doing these past three months, plus her own classes and practice, have paid off well for her.  She and Charlie earned their NAJ title, moved up to OJ, and Q'd at least twice, maybe 3 times, on Saturday and Sunday (I missed videoing one run on Sunday and still don't know how she did).    She may have her NA title as well but even she isn't sure.She started limping midway thru her last run on Sunday and is still nursing a pinched siatic nerve in her butt.  I had that happen to me 2 years ago, it happened so fast and hurt so bad, I fell to the ground, limped for weeks, and it never has exactly fully healed!  It still aches but is not debilitating.

Plans and Goals: This week I've spent icing my knee and back and taking it easy, either watching a lot of Netflix TV series, or going thru paperwork, throwing away tons of crap I once thought was so important but now doesn't interest me, to make way for remodeling the art room in case my parents need to move in with me. The new fence, and daily practice, will have to wait.  Wasn't in my plans, but there it is.  I need my knee to be healed by November 26, 27, 28, for the next agility trial in Lake Charles, where I SINCERELY HOPE AND PRAY THAT WE EARN OUR EXCELLENT TITLES: XA and XAJ.  We only need 1 Q in each, but I will not be cocky. I will enter us in EVERY run we can enter, that will be 3 in each class.  I have learned my lesson, dear God, do you hear me???????? No more over-confidence.

Camper Issues:
We had a problem with the trailer's crank handle this trip.  I had absentmindedly draped the chains over it when hooking the tongue up to the back of the car, so when we got to Kiln the crank handle was bent in so far it wouldn't clear the shaft.  When John tried to straighten it, it broke off.  We both had to bounce and bounce and strain hard to lift the trailer tongue off the ball and move it sideways enough to clear.  Then there was no way to level the camper except with the feet.  Before leaving, I was fortunate enough to find a strong man to help me hitch the trailer back up to the car. Back at home, John was unable to replace the wheel assembly because someone had welded it onto the tongue, but he was able to remove the handle itself.  But he found out the company is out of business and there is no comparable replacement.  I finally found a welder on O'Neal Lane who, for $5, welded the broken pieces back together.  Whew!  That was a bargain. We need to spray paint it and put it back on.

I am pondering how to build a portable privacy screen to place around the pottie chair so it can be used outside.  I've been going thru all kinds of designs in my mind, from PVC and fabric, to just clamping a tarp to the existing awning and canvas support poles.  I want something that goes up and down easy, doesn't take up much space, is lightweight, weatherproof, and wind won't knock it down. I would like it not to look totally "red neck", either.