Just to prove I'm not out to grind Agility to a complete slowdown
how about these fun classes.
The 5
Metre Measured Mile
This is a team competition with 6six dogs in a team. The course
layout is measured so that is is 440ft in length from jump centre to jump centre plus the other
obstacles.
Three dogs start at one end of the reversible course and three at
the other. There is a handover baton at either end. The course is run 12 times (twice for each
dog/handler combination.) Dogs run alternatively from either end until all the dogs and
handlers are back where they started. The very last dog - and only the last dog finishedon the
finish hurdle (20b) to stop the clock. Should any other dog take that jump, the team is
eliminated. At the end, everyone is puffed and the dogs between them have completed a mile.
The size of the teams and the length of time for a full mile would
make this a limited class. Because it is measured, the teams would be able to practice it. Of
course, the course would be shortened to make a kilometre and thus reduce the number of dogs
from six to four with eight runs each but a measured mile has a better ring to it!
This is a fast (in the extreme) class. Straight up a lineof
obstacles, thurn into the cloth tunnels and straight back down again. Why 5 metres? Because
wach obstacle is set exactly 5 metres from the next/previous one.
It's hard to imagine anything
faster than this!
The 5 Metre
Lunatic Lunge
These are just a few ideas but obviously there are many more
possibilities. I am actually looking forward to discussing an alternative agility.
Certainly if anyone is interested could you contact me and maybe we could discuss a prototype
show, or more likely a prototype class at an existing show. I'm willing to be lead here. If a
call to action is perceived as a way forward, I'm happy to go forward with it. Or am I voice in
the wilderness?
Feedback
From Alison Williamson
Here are my thoughts on slower dogs. Like many others, I
love the sport of agility, and yes, I do love to do well! I know not everyone wants to try to
win, and for them, it is the taking part and social side they love. But I do try to win my
class, every time I enter the ring with my GSD.
I find it quite disheartening that even though I have a fairly
decent GSD, in a large KC Open show in (what I understand is) one of the most competitive areas
of the country, I am struggling to win out of Grade 1, and as for the 'dizzy heights' of
winning out of Grade 2, at the moment, it seems to be quite beyond the scope of our abilities.
Now, I also know that a good number of my fellow competitors would
say that if I want to do well, I should get a collie/kelpie, or perhaps even an aussie. But I
also know the KC and others think agility is a 'sport for all'. Believe me, faced with the
possibility that the very best we can hope for is to win out of Grade 2 in a 7 Grade system, I
do not really think, in competition terms, it is really a sport for all. I accept that unless
I get a collie, I will not do fantastically in the graded system, but I love my breed, and love
agility, and want to stick to both! I also think it a huge shame that you see so very few other
breeds in the rings beyond Grade 2
Does anyone else think it would be nice to see more special ABC
classes split into the lower grades (which let's face it, is where most of the ABCs are!)
rather than just ABC 1-7? What about splitting a class on shoulder height, to give the bigger
dogs like GSDs, Retrievers etc. a chance to do well competing against each other?
If nothing else were changed though, what I do really support is
the idea of introducing more varied equipment again at all Grades. Whatever has happened to the
water jump, brush jump, table, wishing well, tyre, wall and all the other types of 'horsey'
jumps that appear in old fashioned books on agility? And why not have barrel jumps and some of
the other jumps suggested in the recent 'Slower Agility' article? It would make it far more
interesting again - provided they are taught in clubs and erected safely in competition. I'm
all for variety, especially since I am confined to pretty straight forward 'up and down'
courses which present us with no real handling challenges (and yes, I know, you shouldn't have
handling challenges in Grade 1, but that is part of my point!).
No doubt most of you will think my suggestions daft - but there we
go! Let me know if there is any support for my ideas through this column, I would like to think
I am not alone as a slightly frustrated handler in the lower echelons of the agility
competition world!
From Angela Lucas...
I think Martin’s ideas are
interesting. It would be good if a club would be willing to pick up and run with the
suggestions. Maybe at one of the weekend or week long shows in 2008, as a ring in its own
right? I think they deserve a trial of open competition. They could become a competition
in their own right, rather than looking from the point of trying to mix and match.
If you have ever gone to the Paws in the Park or Brentwood events,
and dragged your self away from the agility classes for an hour, then you may have seen the
distraction/control courses that other people have invented. There is often a queue for
these. Your dog is more than a speeding bullet you know.
I would like to see if 'armchair agility' could be added to
Martin’s list of suggestions. Basically, test the handlers distance control of their dog, as
they stand or even sit in a certain spot and direct their dog to do obstacles under 90% verbal
control. It could start off by being just a circuit of obstacles, then building up to
testing the directional control by adding turns. The distance could also be increased according
to ability. I think it would be fun too, to add those obstacles that are little used in the
formalised world of agility such as the water tray, brush fence, etc.
I know that some of the things I have trained my dog to do I am
unlikely to need in a competition ring. Just for fun, I sit on the dog walk and send my dog
around without me. It’s to find out how confident and motivated she is within
herself. The way agility is working now, the training is heavily geared to those who can
keep up with their dogs and run. Distance working, or as I call it, being able to trust your
dog, seems to be a vanishing art.
I think we can be proud of those people who over 30 years ago,
devised the obstacles we use, because they are virtually just as safe now as they were then,
and how many other examples can you think of that have that claim? I have this feeling that
like obedience, there are those within agility who would not welcome a change of pace. By
adding this different translation to agility, I think you would still be keeping it for all
people and dogs. (07/06/07)
From Tracy Sowden...
I would just like to say that I think Martin has some
great ideas. I think that it would make jumping courses much more interesting (certainly from a
judging point of view) to be able to add in some of the obstacles he has suggested. I like the
idea of the trotting poles and Olympic pause rings and can see no reason why crossed pole jumps
and reduced 5 bar gates couldn't be used. I went to a local fete a while back and they had an
'agility' course open to anybody . The course consisted of very low horse jumps (yes, including
crossed poles) balanced on straw bales. The dogwalk was a line of straw bales for the dog to
walk along (single bale height), and they even made a type of brush fence with branches of a
conifer, artistically arranged along one of the straw bale and pole type jumps. It was great
fun.
The local dogs had a great time 'having a go' even if they had
never tried agility before and our agility dog didn't bat an eyelid over the strange obstacles.
She thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Going on this, I would think that the dogs would enjoy a
bit more variety. I would like to hear more of Martin's ideas too.
(23/05/07)
From Sandra Barker...
I think Martin has a point for slower accurate courses. I have only been going to
shows for just over a year and I have noticed that the faster dogs are not always the most
accurate in their contacts/jumping and collect faults. One of my dogs who is a lurcher/labrador
X is reasonably accurate but tends not to go that fast. She has a couple of clear rounds under
her belt both at jumping and agility but has had time faults. If my other one would concentrate
more on the course the judge sets rather than the one he would rather run, we may at some time
or another get round clear.
(21/05/07)
About
the author...
Martin Gill first became aware of Agility through a Sunday afternoon TV
series (Super Dogs), if memory serves, in which regional teams competed in a weekly knockout.
He was spellbound and vowed that when he got his next dog he would try his hand. In 1996 Flikka
had been training at The Vyne for 12 months and he took his first steps on an Agility
competition course at the Vyne that year. He has been competing ever since.
At one point Martin had five dogs to run (heady days), but these
days he am down to two. Through illness and injury he has missed several seasons, but never
lost the passion.
He deeply resents all the rules and regulations that have been
foisted upon such a simple sport and feel that the grading system is an unmitigated waste of
time and administration. He also has some strongly held views that the whole sport is much
bigger than just the Jumping and Agility format it has become as illustrated above. Like most
competitors, he has roosted in the Novice/Intermediate (or some 'stupid grade' - his word, not
Agilitynet's) nest for several years, and looks destined to stay there a while as his super
fast collie in training just cannot cope with the hustle and bustle of shows and sometimes gets
time faults. We all have our cross to bear...
First published 17 May 2007