March 2015 League Results

We are happy to finally publish the results for the National Dog Agility League competition for March 2015.

Top Dog

Anne O’Neill, Wynd, Border Collie, F, 20, 16.71

Top 20

Anne O’Neill, Wynd, Border Collie, F, 20, 16.71

Anne O’Neill, Snow Devyl, Border Collie, F, 26, 17.10

Teri O’Neill, Tylt, Border Collie, F, 20, 17.29

Kirstin O’Neill, Beckham, Parson Russell, M, 16, 18.29

Tracy Hanna, Jiro!, Belgian Malinois, F, 20, 19.60

Steve Schwarz, Flyer, Border Collie, M, 22, 22.18

Tony Sulita, Merlin, Border Collie, M, 22, 22.77

Carly Treinen, Moses, All American, M, 16, 23.00

Lori Rossi, Fysti, Sheltie, F, 12, 23.79

Laura Fearn, Sofia, Sheltie, F, 14, 24.45

Keith Staub, Scout, Chessie, M, 12, 26.85

Bud Houston, Kory, Border Collie, M, 20, 27.31

Tracey Lind, Paint, Kelpie, F, 26, 27.51

Bonnie Allen, Fame, Border Collie, F, 16, 29.00

Marsha Houston, Phoenix, Border Collie, M, 20, 29.93

Darryl Pubillones, Rosie, Border Collie, F, 20, 29.96

Susan Weber, Target, DSFD, M, 12, 30.22

Andrea Atkinson, Max, All-American, M, 20, 31.53

Jack Withrow, Zipp, Border collie, m, 20, 31.89

Kirstin O’Neill, Radical Rabbit, Malinois, F, 26, 31.96

030115A45x90 ~ Numbered Course

 

Download Event Workbook

Download Results

Continued League Play in April 2015

April is a month in which we are treading water, as we build the founders coalition for the organization. Today and tomorrow invitations will be going out to our league clubs to join a discussion list on Yahoo. We have quite a bit of work to do to define the constitution of the organization.

In any case, we have two games scheduled for the month of April. These are described below, with links to download the scorekeeping workbooks.

04081560×60 The Box Game

Download Event Workbook ~ The workbook has the score sheet, the course map, and a briefing for this game.

The Box game is a sequencing game that provides for bonuses for the dog working at a distance. The Box Game is scored Time, Plus Faults, Less Bonuses.

This course is designed for Novice dogs to be successful and test basic skills. However, the game invites handlers of very advanced dogs who want to shoot for the high score on a ripper race track of a course.

111612B60x90 Dare to Double

Download Event Workbook ~ The workbook has the scoresheet, the course map, and a briefing for this game.

Download Results ~ This game was originally played in November, 2012. You can download existing results here.

Dare to Double is a dog’s-choice game. The objective is to score as many points as possible, repeating a doubling obstacle on course (traditionally the A-frame) as often as time allows. The dog risks losing half his points if the A-frame is faulted! The dog must get to the finish obstacle before course time elapses or be penalized. Dare to Double is score Points, Then Time.

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Questions comments & impassioned speeches to Bud Houston Houston.Bud@gmail.com. The web store is up and running. www.dogagility.org/newstore. You’ll find in the web store The Book of Agility Games, an invaluable reference to clubs engaged in league play.

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New Events for May & June 2013

Today we are opening two new numbered courses and a wicked fun distance/jumping game. These events will close at the end of June.

050713A60x90

Numbered courses are always scored: Time, Plus Faults.

Qualifying:

4″           82 Seconds
8″           74 Seconds
12″         67 Seconds
16″         60 Seconds
20″+       54 Seconds

050713B50x90

Numbered courses are always scored: Time, Plus Faults.

Qualifying:
4″           89 Seconds
8″           80 Seconds
12″         72 Seconds
16″         65 Seconds
20″+     58 Seconds

Jumplers
050713C86x90

Briefing

This is a simple numbered course. If the handler can run the entire course without ever stepping inside the red box, 15 bonus points will be earned. If the handler can run the entire course without ever leaving the red box, 25 bonus points will be earned.

Jumplers is scored: Time, Plus Faults, Less Bonus.

Qualifying:

4″                    60 Seconds
8″                    53 Seconds
12″                  48 Seconds
16″                  43 Seconds
20″+                39 Seconds

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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.

New Events Posted: Dec 14, 2012

Opening Dec 14, 2012 ~ Closing January 4, 2013

Each of these are numbered courses, judged under TDAP rules.

Competition shall be conducted by a judge and stewards appointed for specific tasks in conduct of the event. No certification process exists for judges. TDAP will rely on good sense in the selection of experienced persons to perform this task. A judge is initially registered with TDAP upon submitted event results.

The judge or appointed stewards shall observe and signal course or game faults or points. The judge alone will sign off on competition results.

The Event Closing Date, for each, is January 4, 2013.

121412A86x98 ~ A numbered course for an 86′ x 98′ space.

I had a bit of fun with this design. The rule of thumb in the design of “standard” courses is to play down the use of tunnels so that the tunnels don’t dominate play. It’s very difficult to fault a tunnel; and under Top Dog rules the pipe tunnel isn’t even an obstacle on which the dog can earn a refusal.

What I’m really looking for here is the handler’s keenness for demonstrating the direction of turn both getting to the pipe tunnel, and on the dismount. It’s not really quite as simple a matter as it would seem.

121412B60x90 ~ A numbered course for a 60′ x 90′ space.

This course is a similar concept as for the 86′ x 98′ course (above). Incongruously, we’re using a longer set of weave poles than we used in the larger space. This is the one we are likely to play in my own training center (because it’s Winter, and I have a building that is 60′ wide.)

 

121412C50x80 ~ A numbered course for a 50′ x 80′ space.

The interesting thing about this course is that the equipment is placed exactly as it was in the 86′ x 98′ course (above). The issue raised when nesting sequences in fields of different size is that a club with the larger-sized field might play both of the games and submit results for each. One could argue that the first turn constitutes practice for the second (and players in the club with the bigger field will surely earn more Lifetime Performance Points for playing two league competitions in the same week.)

Well, these are gnarly issues. Rather than arguing or advocating one way or another I’ll have to refer you to Rule 8.

Opening Dec 7, 2012 ~ Closing December 28, 2012

I’m sorry to say that I did not post the following courses on the Top Dog Agility Players blog. I wrote the blog-post and entered it but left it in draft form through the week. So nobody actually got to see it. I’ve made a note to be more careful. Maybe I should nudge that up to the status of a New Year’s resolution?

Competition shall be conducted by a judge and stewards appointed for specific tasks in conduct of the event. No certification process exists for judges. TDAP will rely on good sense in the selection of experienced persons to perform this task. A judge is initially registered with TDAP upon submitted event results.

The judge or appointed stewards shall observe and signal course or game faults or points. The judge alone will sign off on competition results.

The Event Closing Date, for each, is December 28, 2012.

120712A40x60 ~ A numbered course for a 40′ x 60′ space.

This is a numbered course, judged under TDAP rules.

Discussion

If you think about it, this is a Jumpers with Weaves course played in a 40′ x 60′ space. It was a lot of fun to design (and to play, by the way). The real challenge was to keep the spacing big and safe with intervals in the 20′ range. The secret to designing for a small space is in the repetition of obstacles.

A little experience with the course urges me to  point out that the course is easier to memorize than it appears at first glance.

120712B60x80 ~ A numbered course for a 60′ x 80′ space.

This is a numbered course, judged under TDAP rules.

This is a fun little course. The really wicked moment is in the turn to the weave poles after jump #10. A dog is faulted for a missed entry to the weave poles under TDAP rules.

You’ll note that the set of equipment for the 40′ x 60′ course (above) is a feature of this course… everything exactly placed. Please note that if you are running both numbered courses it is allowable to bend the #2 pipe tunnel out of the way, and to move the #1/#15 jump so that the 40′ x 60′ course (above) can be run as intended.

120712C70x70 ~ A numbered course for a 70′ x 70′ space. Flavor: Played under the rules of the Teacup Dogs Agility Association (TDAA).

Historical Footnote: This was the first standard course played at the TDAA Petit Prix Eastern Regional in Latrobe, PA on October 26, 2012. The dogs that played on that day will be included in the event results.

We intend to feature most of the courses played at the TDAA Petit Prix over the next couple of months. This will allow you to have a play in the Petit Prix and see how you would do against the dogs who were in attendance.

Other News and Musings

Watching the growth of the Top Dog Agility Players is like watching grass grow. Oh, and it’s winter now, so grass doesn’t grow at all. No worries. This is exactly as I expected it to go. Not very many people yet know the venue exists. And since we don’t have data systems in place yet, minimizing data entry is a blessing.

We are contemplating a change to the rules that waives the jump height requirement altogether. There are a number of reasons that a person might decide to jump his dog at a lower height than the traditional agility organization would insist the dog jump. Not a lot of people would jump a dog at a lower height purely to gain a competitive advantage in recreational league play. As I struggle through the wording of the rules I’ll probably post back to the blog for comment.

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Questions comments & impassioned speeches to Bud Houston Houston.Bud@gmail.com. The web store is up and running. www.dogagility.org/newstore. I have five volumes (over 100 pp each) of The Joker’s Notebook available on my web-store at an inexpensive price. These are lesson plans suitable for individual or group classes for teaching dog to work at a distance.