July 2022 IDAL Courses

The following courses are for July 2022 IDAL play.
Instructors, if you have some specific skills, scenarios, and/or obstacles you want to work when using the IDAL courses in class, please let me know. I will try my best to get them included. If anyone would like to request a specific game to play, let me know.
Folks are always welcome to try their hand at designing league courses!

Briefing for July 2022

This month we are playing our second game of the season. The game this month is What’s My Line. The design is based on a course run in TDAA in April 2022. The course designer is Melissa Wallace. I modified it for more appropriate distances. Please note that Initiates and Dabblers will run the same course as the more experienced handlers because they may plot a path appropriate for their skill level.

The objective of What’s My Line is to plot your own course through the obstacles making sure to take every obstacle once and only once. All obstacles are bidirectional.

Start/Finish Line: The Start/Finish line is also bidirectional. Handlers may set up their dog on either side of the line and may lead out. The dog must start by taking one of the three jumps along the start line (#s 2, 4, or 8). Time starts when the dog takes their first jump. Dogs do not need to finish by taking one of the jumps along the S/F line. If their path included all three jumps before finishing, the dog simply needs to cross the line to stop time. If after taking all obstacles on course, the dog takes one of the jumps along the S/F line a second time as they cross the finish line, they are not faulted.

Each obstacle is worth 1 point. The numbered cones are ONLY for the judge, scribe, and score table. As the dog runs the course, the judge will call out the number of each obstacle as it is completed.

If an obstacle is faulted, dropped bar or missed down contact, the judge will not call out a number. The team will not get the point and the obstacle is counted as attempted. If a dog commits to the A-Frame with 4 paws and bails before crossing the apex, the dog must complete the A-Frame before moving on. The judge will call fault, or something similar, to indicate that you need to retry the frame. If a dog misses the down contact, and the handler reattempts the frame, the team will lose a point for repeating an obstacle.

Scoring: Each obstacle completed correctly earns one point. Repeated obstacles decrease the score by one for each repeated obstacle, except for the finish line obstacles as noted above. The game is scored points, then time. Time is a tiebreaker. The max points for the courses are 10 for the 40×85 and 11 points for the 60×90 and 50×70.

Course Maps

An Open Invitation to New Players

New clubs and individuals are always welcome to join us and play these courses.

Download the scorekeeping worksheet below. Contact the League Secretary to help with the details at pagc.live@gmail.com.   

40×85

scoresheet2022july_40x85Download

50×70

scoresheet2022july_50x70Download

60×90

scoresheet2022july_60x90Download

Existing league franchises will be emailed their scorekeeping worksheets set up with their current rosters. If you would like multiple scoresheets, just let me know.

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https://www.Facebook.com/TopDogAgilityPlayers/

Read our blog:

https://topdogagilityplayers.wordpress.com/

BLOG1639 IDAL
Questions, comments, snide remarks, and feedback go to Melissa Wallace, IDAL Secretary, at pagc.live@gmail.com.

League Play

We need an earnest discussion about the “agility league” especially and obviously as it relates to Top Dog Agility Players. Just a couple days ago we published an Introduction, which outlines how the opening night of league play will work at Queen City Dog Training Club in Cincinnati, OH on August 5, 2014.

And now, the real question for which inquiring want an answer. Why is the final league team randomized? Why not come into a competition with a team already assembled. After all, that builds team spirit and camaraderie.

Bear with me on this. One club only gets one team. Can that club preselect the team? Of course they can. What we have at Queen City is a competition to which about 40 dogs will be invited. Why would they show up if “the team” were already selected? What we’re going to do is have two rounds of qualifying courses or games. Every dogs placement against the field accumulated over the two rounds will determine who gets to be on the five dog team. And then, in the final round, the scores earned by those five dogs will constitute the score of the Queen City team. And this is the score will be recorded against any other teams that report a score for league play.

A league must have rules. One of our really basic rules is that the team must be selected before running the challenge course. It would be unfair (and, obviously, against our rules) if we ran 40 dogs on the challenge course and afterwards picked the top five scores to represent the team score. That wouldn’t be a team at all.

At this point we don’t even know if other clubs around the country (or around the world) will compete with the Queen City team. This isn’t going to be a quick and easy start-up.

If you are going to play, or feel like you want to… get in touch with me. I’ll help you get started! ~ Bud Houston Houston.Bud@gmail.com.  Come out and play with us!

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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 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.

New Events Posted: Oct 30, 2012

The new TDAP Secretary Picks are published on:

http://www.dogagility.org.

Opening Nov 30, 2012 ~ Closing Dec 21, 2012

113012A86x98 ~ A numbered course for an 86′ by 98′ space.

113012B40x40 ~ A game, the Minuet; for a 40′ by 40′ space.

113012C70x70 ~ A numbered course; designed for a 70′ by 70′ space; Flavor: Played  under the rules  of the Teacup Dogs Agility Association (TDAA).

I’ve really been looking forward to introducing the Minuet to the larger agility world. It is not really quite as simple as it seems.

Regards,
Bud Houston