Queen City’s first Top Dog Agility League is in the books. The results stand as an open invitation and challenge to anyone in the world who’d like to compete on the same course.
All of the results are summarized down below. First I’d like to do a bit of analysis of the evening. This competition served as a great demonstration of several of the interesting attributes of Top Dog league competition:
An Entertaining Evening
Everybody was really into the competition and having a really good time. The club was a marvelous host. And there was no shortage of people to build courses and help with the conduct of the ring.
The Business Model
League play, as a slot in the schedule for the clubhouse has an interesting economy of scale. In a one hour slot the club could run as many as 40 dogs on a single game or course and still have time for a briefing and walk-through. A training class might be able to host 6 to 10 dogs.
The Queen City Team Score
From the first two rounds of the competition the five dogs with the best combined score were “picked” as the Queen City Challenge Team. These were the results (the last bit of each line was each dog’s overall placement against the field):
- Brenda Gilday, Bella, Miniature Schnauzer, 0, 52.89, 2
- Catherine Berberich, Penny, Lab, 5, 44.57, 4
- Chris, Puls Dazzle, Malinois, 10, 54.19, 8
- Diane, Carr Drifter, Border Collie, 10, 60.51, 10
- Brenda, Gilday Leela, Border Collie, 15, 50.88, 13
The combined score of these five dogs was actually more impressive in either of the first two rounds. But that’s the way it goes. The way a league competition works is that the Team dogs must be selected before running the competition. Under the rules of the league… you can’t just take the top five scores and call that your team (if you run more than 5 dogs).
The Judge can compete!
Our judge for the evening was Brenda Gilday. Not only did she expose this interesting feature of Top Dog competition… but she managed to get two dogs onto the team.
The Team was not dominated by Border Collies!
The relaxed rates-of-travel used by Top Dog gives considerably more weight to the “Clean Run”. That being said, the first two games were basically Time, Plus Faults, and yet the team consisted of a Miniature Schnauzer, a Lab, a Malinois, and two Border Collies.
The Agility Show is being edited by Sharon LaFuse. We hope to have it published by the end of the week. We had a little difficulty with the camera. In the final round we missed filming both Bella (the Miniature Schnauzer) and Penny (the Lab). We’re hoping that somebody outside the ring recorded these. This was supposed to be the YouTube Challenge, after all. Our camera-person got to compete too. I think her brain was exploding just a bit. Her dog Garnette actually won the Steeplechase… and won the final round. But he tanked Time Warp, and so didn’t get onto the Queen City Team.
YouTube Links ~ If you were one of the competitors and you have a YouTube recording of your dog in any of the courses and games we ran on the evening… please send the link to me: Houston.Bud@gmail.com. We’re working on a technology that will allow you to open your record online… and provide the link yourself.
Results from Steeplechase
This was a Time, Plus Faults game. Results are in order of placement.
Sharon Lafuse, Garnette, Belgian Sheepdog, 0, 36.39, 36.39, 1 Catherine Berberich, Penny, Lab, 0, 39.64, 39.64, 2 Brenda Gilday, Bella, Miniature Schnauzer, 0, 48.57, 48.57, 3 Chris Puls, Dazzle, Malinois, 5, 46.95, 51.95, 4 Diane Carr, Drifter, Border Collie, 15, 38.62, 53.62, 5 Bud Houston, Kory, Border Collie, 5, 49.53, 54.53, 6 Brenda Gilday, Leela, Border Collie, 10, 45.17, 55.17, 7 Pearl Tsang, Simeon, Tervuren, 5, 52.7, 57.7, 8 Marsha Houston, Phoenix, Border Collie, 10, 48.56, 58.56, 9 Cindy Ponyah, Nikki, Jack Russell Terrier, 5, 53.79, 58.79, 10 Maryann Chappelear, Scout, Shetland Sheepdog, 5, 54.67, 59.67, 11 Cindy Ponyah, Molly, Jack Russell Terrier, 10, 49.9, 59.9, 12 Jane Dewey, Tattle, Sheltie, 10, 51.47, 61.47, 13 Ruth Ann Stewart, Coyote, Poodle, 5, 61.08, 66.08, 14 Maryann Chappelear, Mira, Shetland Sheepdog, 15, 54.89, 69.89, 15 Pearl Tsang, Elle, Tervuren, 25, 54.37, 79.37, 16 Marsha Houston, Katniss, Mix, 10, 70.21, 80.21, 17 Terrie Ralenkotter, Seti, Basset Hound, 5, 77.55, 82.55, 18 Catherine Berberich, Erik, Lab, 20, 72, 92, 19 Ruth Ann Stewart, Homey, Toy Poodle, 20, 76.31, 96.31, 20 Kandy Robinson, Frenzie, Border Collie, 45, 51.37, 96.37, 21 Bonnie Smith, Saraphina, Papillon, 50, 54.04, 104.04, 22 Ruth Ann Stewart, Mojo, Toy Poodle, 25, 80.87, 105.87, 23 Shirley Harrison, Thistle, Border Collie, 45, 77.4, 122.4, 24 Ruth Ann Stewart, Memphis, Toy Poodle, 30, 93.05, 123.05, 25 Linda Schwartz, Zorro, Schipperke, 40, 99.89, 139.89, 26Results from TimeWarp
This was a Time, Plus Faults, Less Bonus game. Results are in order of placement.
Brenda Gilday, Leela, Border Collie, 5, 50, 33.32, -11.68, 1 Diane Carr, Drifter, Border Collie, 0, 50, 45.03, -4.97, 2 Catherine Berberich, Penny, Lab, 0, 50, 45.93, -4.07, 3 Cindy Ponyah, Nikki, Jack Russell Terrier, 0, 50, 48.44, -1.56, 4 Maryann Chappelear, Scout, Shetland Sheepdog, 0, 50, 53.34, 3.34, 5 Cindy Ponyah, Molly, Jack Russell Terrier, 0, 50, 53.39, 3.39, 6 Chris Puls, Dazzle, Malinois, 0, 50, 53.92, 3.92, 7 Brenda Gilday, Bella, Miniature Schnauzer, 0, 50, 54.41, 4.41, 8 Marsha Houston, Phoenix, Border Collie, 5, 50, 52.57, 7.57, 9 Bud Houston, Kory, Border Collie, 10, 50, 53.22, 13.22, 10 Sharon Lafuse, Garnette, Belgian Sheepdog, 0, 50, 63.27, 13.27, 11 Shirley Harrison, Thistle, Border Collie, 5, 50, 58.95, 13.95, 12 Kandy Robinson, Frenzie, Border Collie, 15, 50, 53.42, 18.42, 13 Pearl Tsang, Simeon, Tervuren, 5, 50, 64.15, 19.15, 14 Erica Behnke, Tressel, Brittany, 5, 50, 64.64, 19.64, 15 Maryann Chappelear, Mira, Shetland Sheepdog, 5, 50, 83.84, 38.84, 16 Pearl Tsang, Elle, Tervuren, 40, 50, 61.42, 51.42, 17 Catherine Berberich, Erik, Lab, 5, 50, 97.05, 52.05, 18 Marsha Houston, Katniss, Mix, 30, 50, 76.71, 56.71, 19 Ruth Ann Stewart, Mojo, Toy Poodle, 0, 0, 61.87, 61.87, 20 Linda Schwartz, Zorro, Schipperke, 10, 0, 60.98, 70.98, 21 Ruth Ann Stewart, Homey, Toy Poodle, 15, 0, 69.21, 84.21, 22 Ruth Ann Stewart, Coyote, Poodle, 5, 0, 83.35, 88.35, 23 Terrie Ralenkotter, Seti, Basset Hound, 10, 0, 83.93, 93.93, 24 Bonnie Smith, Saraphina, Papillon, 35, 0, 60.13, 95.13, 25 Ruth Ann Stewart, Memphis, Toy Poodle, 15, 0, 87.15, 102.15, 26Results from Standard Course, the League Challenge
This was a Faults, Then Time game. Results are in order of placement.
Sharon Lafuse, Garnette, Belgian Sheepdog, 0, 45.36, 1 Brenda Gilday, Bella, Miniature Schnauzer, 0, 52.89, 2 Marsha Houston, Katniss, Mix, 0, 84.49, 3 Catherine Berberich, Penny, Lab, 5, 44.57, 4 Cindy Ponyah, Molly, Jack Russell Terrier, 5, 51.68, 5 Marsha Houston, Phoenix, Border Collie, 5, 55.38, 6 Jane Dewey, Tattle, Sheltie, 5, 65.14, 7 Chris Puls, Dazzle, Malinois, 10, 54.19, 8 Linda Schwartz, Zorro, Schipperke, 10, 60.17, 9 Diane Carr, Drifter, Border Collie, 10, 60.51, 10 Ruth Ann Stewart, Coyote, Poodle, 10, 71.47, 11 Catherine Berberich, Erik, Lab, 10, 75.61, 12 Brenda Gilday, Leela, Border Collie, 15, 50.88, 13 Erica Behnke, Tressel, Brittany, 15, 60.23, 14 Bud Houston, Kory, Border Collie, 15, 75.64, 15 Kandy Robinson, Frenzie, Border Collie, 25, 74.79, 16 Cindy Ponyah, Nikki, Jack Russell Terrier, 35, 55.28, 17 Pearl Tsang, Simeon, Tervuren, 35, 77.71, 18 Shirley Harrison, Thistle, Border Collie, 60, 76.64, 19How to Participate!
Anyone (club, group or individual) may set up any or all of the Challenge Courses. For results to be recorded for this event the courses must be run in the month of August, 2014, and results must be reported by midnight on August 31, 2014.
If you would like to play, these are important resources for you:
Top Dog Pup Registration Form (it’s free);
Scorekeeping Package for August 2014 Challenge Courses (Excel file);
Top Dog Rules and Regulations (Our simple system for scoring performance)
Blog020
Questions comments & impassioned speeches to Bud Houston Houston.Bud@gmail.com. Visit the web store at: www.dogagility.org/newstore. Please note that the web store carries The Book of Agility Games. This is an important reference for any club who plays the variety of games that we’ll play in Top Dog Agility Players.
International Dog Agility League 