AGILITY COURSE DESIGN AND TIPS

Dear Judges, Course Designers and Trainers

We will be adding lots of information about agility judging, course designing, dog judging tips, design tips, course adaption etc. Please visit us regularly and inform fellow agility enthusiasts of our dogzcool.com site. This service will be free, in the interest of agility and dog safety.

Also check out some agility and jumping courses here

CURRENT TIP

Brief your scribes, scorers, time keepers and helpers. If they understand the way you want things done, the show will run more efficiently. Explain the way you judge and remind the scorers to keep their eyes on you and not the dog. Set a standard of excellence!

 

PREVIOUS TIP

When judging contacts, establish the habit of focussing on the contact zone and not the dogs action. Keep your eye on the contact zone until the dog has left the contact equipment with all four feet. Some judges are too hasty in faulting a dog for missing a contact. Remember that any touch is considered a touch (even if the dog leaps from way up top and by chance manages to touch the contact with a back paw) - and if you are not sure, the dog gets the benefit of the doubt!

OLDER TIPS

Always give the dog and handler the right of way on a course. Try design your course in such a way that your judging path least affects where you expect most handlers to run. If the odd handler runs towards you, step aside and give them the right of way.

 

Take control of the dog handlers during your judge's briefing. Be friendly, but make sure that all the things that you want to make known are made clear. Establish that you won't tolerate harsh handling, nor handlers that are not on the line when it is their turn. Remain friendly though and remind the handlers to enjoy themselves.

 

When designing courses, most judges find it easier to design their A3 courses first, then from that they convert the courses into A2 & A1. One error that many judges make though is to remove a jump from a sequence to 'make the course easier'. Thought must be given before such a desicion is made, for instance, removing a jump from a pin-wheel makes the sequence more difficult. Often more jumps create more flow and the lower the grade - the smoother the flow should be.

 

SMILE. Be a promoter of the sport. Be friendly. Help to create a great atmosphere and good spirit in the sport. Make handlers feel welcome and do your bit to keep the sport fun. SMILE IT IS CONTAGIOUS.

2.

Check with the club hosting the show what equipment is available. You don't want to design a course and arrive at the venue to find that they don't have all the equipment you need! You might find that they don't have enough hurdles or tunnels etc. Get a list of what they have and once you have designed the course give the club a list of what you will need on the day.

3.

Ensure that the 1st jump is at least 6m into the ring. If the ring provided is too small, then lower or (even better) remove, the rope from that side of the ring and allow the handlers to start outside the ring so that they can have a safe and fair approach to the 1st jump. Allow 6m after the last jump too, else open that part of the ring so that dogs (and handlers) don't run into, nor trip over the ring-rope.

4.

Ensure that all contacts have a safe approach. (Dog safety is crucial in all course designing)

 

Try to design your course to start and finish with separate obstacles (jumps) (For smoother quicker judging - the next dog can be waiting at the start if the jumps are separate). Keep these obstacles on the same side of the course and in line if possible. (Easier for back-up timekeepers, and for lead marshals,scorers, etc)