The agility thread

The videos of the rottie x were one of those where I did think it unfair to deny them a clear round and the warrant points to go with it, it was a lovely effort. Trying to be completely objective though - ignoring my own beliefs for a minute about a clear being a clear, wishing to reward accurate steady dogs of which I have had my own past and present, and trying in good faith to see where others are coming from on this... back in the day with a class of 60+ dogs, that clear would have seen them middle to end of the pack on time and allowed them to collect a place or a warrant point.

These days, there were 7 in their class at Vision that day, meaning a clear will probably win them up sooner rather than later. Is that combination best served by going G5+ and encountering some of the meatier 5-7 courses? Bearing in mind that there are judges setting deliberately exclusionary times and big European-style courses in the higher grades (a separate problem of its own). Could it perhaps be better to remain competitive and not overfaced at novice 3-5 level, allowing collection of further warrant points while they work on more advanced skills? I say this fully acknowledging that one of my first dogs wouldn't have got to the grade she did under the current system, and wasn't truly competitive in G6 back then.

However, if the KC's intention was to adjust or slow progression in this way into more of a pyramid format, IMO there are better and more appropriate ways of going about it without penalising so many grassroots competitors. They've never really got it quite right have they, I remember the troubles of getting out of the large G3 bottleneck in the past. I too have concerns about the transparency of the data they've used and how they've used it, because smalls and lower grades do appear to be disproportionately affected (we had small G1 and G2 combinations in our club group this last couple of shows). I can't help but wonder if this is due to the change in what breeds are now commonly making up this category, but there's no way of knowing if they've taken that into consideration.
 
It is important to me to explain that Rew doesn’t always stand off his jumps like this, sometimes he takes a better stride, but I can count on one hand how many poles he’s had in competition - he’s evidently supremely happy with his decisions. I have seen other dogs who’ve made these big leaps with no chance of landing safely, and having terrible crashes.

Off to another show on BH Monday, with a jumping class, a steeplechase and a helter skelter - these last two will be his faves!
 
So we ventured off at silly o clock to a normal show. Youngster not really listening and quite distracted in the agility. Worst still she fell off the side of the AFrame near the top 😱 I think as I moved away she followed and came off. Picked her up for a cuddle and she seemed OK thank goodness so we continued. Then in the graded 3 to 5 jumping she was fab. She was the only G3 clear but had time pens so we were second. She "cantered 😂 " all the way round too no stopping. Some of her lines were a bit wide but even so was gutted. Then Pebs had her 1 run in the agility 4/5. She was speedy turned tightly and couldn't have gone faster or tighter and got time pens. Both my dogs are non typical agility breeds and Pebs is really small. I am back there Monday but already feeling demoralised 😢
 
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If you would have been in course time under the old matrix, please do document your concerns and send them to your ALC rep (they may insist you fill out the submission form here).

Judges were setting times well under the new matrix at Iconix again today. I picked a small G1-3 with a European judge - course time 50 seconds, old matrix recommended time 71 seconds, new matrix recommended time 61 seconds. Our friend Dylan Osborne (again, love his courses, but the times...) large G1-3 - course time 45 seconds, old matrix recommended time 64 seconds, new matrix recommended time 55 seconds.
 
blackcob said:
Judges were setting times well under the new matrix at Iconix again today. I picked a small G1-3 with a European judge - course time 50 seconds, old matrix recommended time 71 seconds, new matrix recommended time 61 seconds. Our friend Dylan Osborne (again, love his courses, but the times...) large G1-3 - course time 45 seconds, old matrix recommended time 64 seconds, new matrix recommended time 55 seconds.
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Blimey that’s very tough timing.
 
blackcob said:
If you would have been in course time under the old matrix, please do document your concerns and send them to your ALC rep (they may insist you fill out the submission form here).

Judges were setting times well under the new matrix at Iconix again today. I picked a small G1-3 with a European judge - course time 50 seconds, old matrix recommended time 71 seconds, new matrix recommended time 61 seconds. Our friend Dylan Osborne (again, love his courses, but the times...) large G1-3 - course time 45 seconds, old matrix recommended time 64 seconds, new matrix recommended time 55 seconds.
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I have done 😉
 
Day 2 and it was hot and got hotter 🥵 I was an utter muppet. Pebs had 2 runs and was fab , let her down badly so that was E and she could have easily won grrrr. Daz was OK bit of a weave issue going in on the 2 jumping runs for an E and a 10 plus 17 time pens which was fair enough. My friend then gave me a pep talk and told me to basically pull myself together and work it! So I did and Daz was fab. It was the last class and it was too hot. She was brilliant apart from an unfortunate ping on DW. She ended up winning and most important NO TIME PENS! Must admit I cried. I needed that and proof I can get round ok. Celebrated with a G&T when I got home 😋
 

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Ditchjumper2 said:
Day 2 and it was hot and got hotter 🥵 I was an utter muppet. Pebs had 2 runs and was fab , let her down badly so that was E and she could have easily won grrrr. Daz was OK bit of a weave issue going in on the 2 jumping runs for an E and a 10 plus 17 time pens which was fair enough. My friend then gave me a pep talk and told me to basically pull myself together and work it! So I did and Daz was fab. It was the last class and it was too hot. She was brilliant apart from an unfortunate ping on DW. She ended up winning and most important NO TIME PENS! Must admit I cried. I needed that and proof I can get round ok. Celebrated with a G&T when I got home 😋
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Yay! I’ve just celebrated our Clear Round with a G&T too! Only a helter skelter, but C1-7, 13 E’s from 21 starters, course time 47 secs over 159m, we did it in 33.817, winner in 26.583. 18 obstacles (in this heat!), and the grass was slippery, and we all know what the ground is like this summer.

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Rain after a long, long......LONG dry spell.

It has not rained here in forever. Today it is due to have heavy showers from lunch time for a few hours.

I have an agility class at 3pm. It should have stopped raining but I am concerned with slipping. It isn't like normal rain in winter where there is give in the ground. It will surely be like a slippery sheet on top?

Am I being drama thinking it will be unsafe to run?
 
Jenko109 said:
Rain after a long, long......LONG dry spell.

It has not rained here in forever. Today it is due to have heavy showers from lunch time for a few hours.

I have an agility class at 3pm. It should have stopped raining but I am concerned with slipping. It isn't like normal rain in winter where there is give in the ground. It will surely be like a slippery sheet on top?

Am I being drama thinking it will be unsafe to run?
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Definitely not, it will be slippery as heck and wet grass is the worst, IMO
 
Jenko109 said:
Rain after a long, long......LONG dry spell.

It has not rained here in forever. Today it is due to have heavy showers from lunch time for a few hours.

I have an agility class at 3pm. It should have stopped raining but I am concerned with slipping. It isn't like normal rain in winter where there is give in the ground. It will surely be like a slippery sheet on top?

Am I being drama thinking it will be unsafe to run?
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I admit I am overly cautious due to Z's dodgy leg but I would agree with you . It's going to be very slippy.
 
Spotherisk said:
It is important to me to explain that Rew doesn’t always stand off his jumps like this, sometimes he takes a better stride, but I can count on one hand how many poles he’s had in competition - he’s evidently supremely happy with his decisions. I have seen other dogs who’ve made these big leaps with no chance of landing safely, and having terrible crashes.

Off to another show on BH Monday, with a jumping class, a steeplechase and a helter skelter - these last two will be his faves!
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I just thought his enthusiasm was cute 🥰 how far they take off from the jump is going to be very dependent on where they are going next, whether they are in extension or collection etc. I have many photos of mine where you can’t even see the jump - appropriate as in extension. As long as the dog doesn’t have ETS they are often the super happy and enthusiastic dogs and make me smile.
 

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Trip down memory lane!

Small dog took four months to go G2 to G3 (four shows, immediately post covid)
Dax won from G1 to G2 at her second show, and then into G3 seven months later (back when you only needed single wins)
Ricoh started in G3 due to her wins and never won out

Large dog has been to 11 shows without a clear round. 😳 I have mostly made my peace with the fact that her journey is going to look very different.
 
I started Pickle in Grade 1, which in hindsight I shouldn't have done given I was winning with the GSDs back in the 80s 😏. He won up to grade 2 in a couple of shows, then went fairly quickly up to Grade 5, where we stuck for ages as he was beginning to get time faults, he hit grade 6 about a year before covid struck, when shows started again he was nearly 11 and although he had I think 6 wins it was always with time faults. But bless him he was so consistent in his later years.
 
Oh it took the rest of D's career to slog it out to G6, she was never fast, and tended to win on those old fashioned courses full of boxes and minimum distance. Wouldn't have stood a chance against Iconix-a-likes today. What fun we had getting there though. 😊

They've just won their second run of the day as well. 🙌

ETA: Not me sat at home creepily stalking everyone's results because I've got nothing on this weekend 😂
 
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