Ho ho ho & a big fat Bonio...

If you've been 'volunteered' to organise your club Christmas party this year, don't despair. In addition to the usual competition games such as Gambles, Helter Skelter, Snooker and Knock Outs competition, there are a lot of party games that you can play for fun and amusement - all of which can be adapted to include everyone, regardless of level, breed or age. Below are some tried and tested games you can play with all levels of handler, breeds or ages. Enjoy the party!

If you have a favourite game or two that you would liket to share, email details to Agilitynet.

* Tunnel Send

We play a really fun one called tunnel send. It’s a bit like bowling. I put a pole on the floor, not in the dogs path. This is the marker the handler can not cross, and they have to send their dog into a tunnel. It starts pretty close to the tunnel. Each handler takes a turn. If the dog refuses, they’re out.

The marker moves further and further away from the tunnel so distance for the tunnel send increases until just one pair is left and wins.

* Christmas Course Plans
Run them as Pairs for a jolly, fun-filled evening. Dawn GIlmour.

* Stack 'em High
Best game we ever did was a simple relay over jumps and tunnels to get six wine boxes which were painted with a picture of a Christmas tree when stacked together correctly. Humans were supposed to get the boxes, but it didn't quite work out like that. Dogs grabbing boxes and running away - just the funniest thing ever! Great fun.
Jill Spurr

* Box 'O Weaves
Set up four sets of 12 weave poles in the shape of a square and watch the fun. The winner is the dog who can do the box fastest.

* Wufts
Wufts is the fun and educational board game for all dog lovers. You will love playing it with family and friends at home, club or at shows. It consists of two parts, a small obedience section at the beginning and the second part is a dog agility section where the race starts in earnest. Wufts contains 300 questions/answers and can be played by two or more handlers or teams of any ability.

* Rocking Around the Christmas Tree
At our club last year, we did rocking around the Christmas tree. We had a 'tree' in the middle of the room, then four sets of three jumps at each point of the compass. We had to go around each bit, passing the tree each time. If we got anything wrong, we had to call the dog back to the tree and go round twice before trying again. Fastest time won.
Maria Johnson

* Agility Send Away
To make this an agility game, have the handler stand in a small box in the middle of agility equipment. Without leaving the box, the handler has to send the dog out to different pieces of equipment. Each piece of equipment has a point value. Pieces close to the handler have lower point value while those further away have higher point value. The handler has o certain amount of time to acquire as many points as possible with the dog getting points for one piece of equipment only once. This is a good distance training game.

• * Woof Relay
  Each team is made up of the same number of dogs and handlers. Each pair competes one at a time against the clock. Each dog has to bark three times and then shush. The team with the shortest total time for 15 woofs wins. Probably most difficult game for Flyball dogs. The keeping quiet, that is!

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* Snoopy Says
Handlers  form a circle with their dogs while someone gives the Snoopy commands such as 'Snoopy says... sit, Snoopy says down etc. The last team to do the trick, is out! The last pair standing wins!

* Tunnel Terrors
Make up a course consisting solely of tunnels and jumps. Kennel Club rules apply. Each handler and dog must run against the clock - fastest wins. A fun game to play and lots of fun for the spectators to watch as well as the handlers go round and round.

* Sausage Weave Game
Wallingford DTC has played this game for a couple of years now, and is very popular - except with those whose dogs can't resist food. You need a table, and about 6 feet away, some weaves (at least 6 - I think we usually have 8). And a supply of small sausages. Handlers put their dogs in a down on the table, facing the weaves, and the scorer puts a piece of sausage on the table in front of the dog.  The handler has to tell the dog to leave the sausage, and when told, do the weaves up and back.  Handlers can continue to give commands to their dog as they weave. Scorer times the handler through the weaves - stopped either when the dog eats the sausage, or when the handler returns. If the handler returns to the table before the dog eats the sausage, it's allowed to eat the sausage. Scorer also gives marks for handler's 'style' through the weaves. We sorted on times (fastest completed course, then longest before the dog to eat the sausage) taking into account style marks.
Jacky Hutchinson

* The Water Game
A tray with some paper cups filled with water is carried around a simple course, at the end of the course, any water left is tipped into a bucket or large jug, winning team is the one who has the most water.
Jackie Kenny

* Relay Races
Divide your handlers into equal-sized teams. Be sure to pick your teams carefully to include Beginners. You can have more than one lane going at the same time. The team with the best time overall is the winner. Undue hauling or force leads to disqualification.
Jackie Kenny

* Fancy Dress
! Two groups of handlers/dogs run a simple line of equipment. When they reach one end have to put on a piece of fun clothing, and then run back along the equipment to allow the next member to go. The winning group is the one who completes the quickest. The best most fun article of clothing was a white disposable all-in-one paper suit with hood. One member put in on and her dog seemed to think she had vanished into thin air
Jackie Kenny

* Jigsaw
This game is similar to Fancy dress, but instead of putting on clothing, handlers are given a piece of jigsaw before they start the course.  (The jigsaw is a giant Christmas card.) As each team member reaches the jigsaw, the pressure is on to try to add their piece. Again winning group is the one that completes their jigsaw correctly.
Jackie Kenny

* Avoid the Liver
All handlers and dogs have to walk around two plates of liver or something equally as tempting. The handlers have to stop the dogs from touching the liver; If they do they're out. Then the group gets closer to the liver etc. until you have a winner. Can be played with liver, sausage or liver sausage.
Hazel Kitchin

* Bonio & Spoon Race
Both handler and dog to go over Mini jumps while only the handler has to weave six poles, carrying Bonio/dog biscuit on pudding spoon or, if you're feeling evil, a smaller spoon . Becky Parks

* Musical Dogs
Heelwork to music (just normal walking while the music plays.) When the music stops, the dogs have to go into either a sit or down, whichever position they have been forewarned about. The slowest one is out. Keeps going until only two , to get the winner. 
Jackie Kenny

* Musical weave poles
Handlers and dogs move around a set of weave poles in a circle. When music stops, they run to middle and grab weave pole.
Becky Parks

* Musical Chairs
Exactly the same as normal musical chairs except the dog has to be sat on the chair. S
Hazel Kitchin

* Agility Statues
It's like the children's game Musical Statues except that it's the dog that has to stay still. As the game progresses certain enticements such as squeaky toys can be added.
Hazel Kitchin

* Eleven Legs Race
Same as three-legged but with a dog each.
Becky Parks

* Cold Turkey
A variation of the game Blind Man's Bluff which involves running a course where you don't know the course layout until you run it. Lots of fun.

*Human Tunnel
Our favourite game is the human tunnel. Put all the handlers into equal sized teams. Each team should form a line, one behind the other, with their legs wide apart. The handler at the back gets their dog to run through the tunnel formed by the legs, then joins the tunnel at the front. The next handler at the back puts their dog through the tunnel and so on. The winning team is the one who gets all their dogs through the tunnel first.
 Eleanor Balchin

* Guess your own time
Not just for the fast dogs... A simple agility course. No faults or eliminations as long as all of the obstacles are corrected if they have gone wrong. Handler can stop the dog on the course if they need to waste time, but no clockwatching on the course is allowed. The person who has the closest guess wins!
Karen Bulmer

* Ghost Agility
An idea borrowed from a show whereby handlers have to run their dogs silently. They are allowed to use a release command but otherwise handlers can only use  their hands and/or body to steer the dog around the course. Five faults for each utterance.

* Snakes & Ladders
A fast and furious version of Steeple Chase (aka Up and Under) - It just gets faster and faster. A course is set up consisting of jumps and pipe tunnels. Sit back and enjoy the chaos.

From Tonny Wierda (a Dutch Agility Freak)
Greetings from Holland. Ok it has just been Easter, but this is the game we play at our club here in Holland. In the middle we have a Christmas tree. On the floor are all the decorations (of course, made out of plastic.) You have to run a course, and after each obstacle you may run to the tree and put a decoration into the tree. The combination that put on the most in the tree in 30 seconds is the winner.

Sorry for my terrible English. But we always have a lot of fun at this game so I wanted to write it to you. (16/05/02)

From Alice Greenland
For some more suggestions for good games to play at Christmas or during class, visit http://www.dogpatch.org. Their agility pages is a good source for these types of thing. (02/12/01)

If you can you think of some other good 'agility' games that all standards of dogs and handlers can take part in and enjoy, send your suggestions to Christmas Fun 'n' Games at ellen.rocco@agilitynet.co.uk

From Bob Kipling
You've just made my Christmas party a lot more 'Stress free' than it would otherwise have been. Shows what a good bunch of readers (viewers?) you have. (04/12/01)

Post-party
Just a quick note to say thanks once again for the Party Games page. Had the party last night and used lots of the games and it really went down well. I changed some of the rules slightly and the look on the faces when I uttered the words 'and of course the handlers have to return THROUGH the tunnel as well as the dogs' was a sight to behold - as was some of the handlers struggling through the tunnels! People said afterwards that they had thoroughly enjoyed it.

Could have kicked myself for forgetting the camera. Bob

Agility graphics by K-9 Rule

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