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New AKC Agility regs announced



 
 
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  #1  
Old December 20th 05, 02:13 PM posted to rec.pets.dogs.activities,rec.pets.dogs.breeds
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Default New AKC Agility regs announced

The new AKC agility regs are in the December minutes:

http://www.akc.org/pdfs/about/board_minutes/1205.pdf

Summary on page 6, actual changes start page 9.

Lots of small changes, a few big ones--a new 26" height which will have
a 6'3" aframe, new weave specs which will make a lot of current weave
poles illegal, and a break for small dogs--the cutoff for 8" has been
raised to 11". Dogs now have to be 15 months old to compete.

And a new class! FAST (Fifteen and Send Time) involves an opening and a
gamble. I've read the rules twice and don't really understand them, but
I'm sure once we get some course examples up that will help.
  #2  
Old December 20th 05, 07:00 PM posted to rec.pets.dogs.activities,rec.pets.dogs.breeds
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Default New AKC Agility regs announced

Robin Nuttall said in
rec.pets.dogs.activities:

Lots of small changes, a few big ones--a new 26" height
which will have a 6'3" aframe, new weave specs which will
make a lot of current weave poles illegal, and a break for
small dogs--the cutoff for 8" has been raised to 11". Dogs
now have to be 15 months old to compete.


Pretty well thought out changes, I think, and they don't seem to
require a lot of expense on the part of the club for equipment
changes. New (longer) weave poles and 5' bars for the spread
jumps are all inexpensive PVC.

I think they should have gone to 18 months, though any number is
arbitrary what with the wide range of dogs competing - but at
least 18 months would have made them consistent with every other
agility organisation in North America.

The big change (to me, though I don't compete in the AKC), is
mandating that the teeter be slatless. I've never seen a reason
for slats on the teeter or dogwalk.

And a new class! FAST (Fifteen and Send Time) involves an
opening and a gamble. I've read the rules twice and don't
really understand them, but I'm sure once we get some
course examples up that will help.


If I'm reading the rules correctly, FAST sounds an awful lot
like AAC's gamble. AAC has "mini gambles" which are optional in
the opening (ie: you can do them away for double point value or
do them close for regular obstacle value), similar to FAST's
"send bonus". Instead of a closing gamble, FAST adds a time
fault from end of SCT to finish point (similar strategy to AAC's
gamble whereby the handler wants to be close to the final gamble
when the horn sounds).

It sounds like a fun game.

--
--Matt. Rocky's a Dog.
  #3  
Old December 20th 05, 08:35 PM posted to rec.pets.dogs.activities,rec.pets.dogs.breeds
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Default New AKC Agility regs announced


Matt wrote:

Pretty well thought out changes, I think, and they don't seem to
require a lot of expense on the part of the club for equipment
changes. New (longer) weave poles and 5' bars for the spread
jumps are all inexpensive PVC.


Heh. Obviously, you missed the change to the weave pole requirements
which says that the supports must be on the opposite side of the dog's
path; there's a fair amount of angst going on on the Agiledogs list
about having to buy new poles to comply with that one.

And speaking of weave poles, I think we've got an agility first both
with that and with the requirement that pole bases now be done in a
nonslip finish - the AKC is making a safety change mandatory BEFORE
NADAC got around to it. ;-D

And yes, Robin, you BET I've posted to the NADAC list about the
non-slip issue...I'm waiting with interest, to see if my post makes it
to the list. I don't care much if it does, since my actual intent was
to tweak Sharon. ;-D

Weave bases are very much a pet peeve of mine... especially since just
prior to the discussion getting started on Agiledogs, I watched video
of an agility trial in early Nov, and in one place you can CLEARLY see
Rocsi's hind feet slip on the pole bases.

  #4  
Old December 20th 05, 08:58 PM posted to rec.pets.dogs.activities,rec.pets.dogs.breeds
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Default New AKC Agility regs announced

"cimawr" said in rec.pets.dogs.activities:

Pretty well thought out changes, I think, and they don't
seem to require a lot of expense on the part of the club
for equipment changes. New (longer) weave poles and 5'
bars for the spread jumps are all inexpensive PVC.


Heh. Obviously, you missed the change to the weave pole
requirements


38 pages of pdf? Hah! Of course I missed lots of stuff.

which says that the supports must be on the opposite side
of the dog's path; there's a fair amount of angst going on
on the Agiledogs list about having to buy new poles to
comply with that one.


When course building, I've always set it up that way. I've
never enountered a set of weaves which required dogs to enter
and exit over bases - most weave bases have moveable
stabilizers.

Rethinking, I really like the very secure weave bases that have
non-movable stabalizers out to *both* sides which don't often
require spiking. I suppose that this is what the AKC is getting
rid of.

--
--Matt. Rocky's a Dog.
  #5  
Old December 21st 05, 03:26 AM posted to rec.pets.dogs.activities,rec.pets.dogs.breeds
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Default New AKC Agility regs announced

cimawr wrote:

And yes, Robin, you BET I've posted to the NADAC list about the
non-slip issue...I'm waiting with interest, to see if my post makes it
to the list. I don't care much if it does, since my actual intent was
to tweak Sharon. ;-D


Oh you meanie! I do think the nonslip and the offset stabilizer bars are
important, but it is going to hurt our club a bit. We just had our first
AKC trial, kept it small and worked a lot more on making people happy
than making money, so we didn't clear much. We're a little club, and we
want to spend some of that money on some of our other activities. So we
are really going to have to have some discussion about what to do about
financing the changes.

Weave bases are very much a pet peeve of mine... especially since just
prior to the discussion getting started on Agiledogs, I watched video
of an agility trial in early Nov, and in one place you can CLEARLY see
Rocsi's hind feet slip on the pole bases.


Another thing, the AKC is now suggesting weaves be 22" in spacing, it
was 21" before. I think 22" should be mandatory across all venues. Still
tight enough to not penalize the little dogs, but big enough to make a
huge difference to the big dogs.
  #6  
Old December 21st 05, 02:06 PM posted to rec.pets.dogs.activities,rec.pets.dogs.breeds
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Default New AKC Agility regs announced

"Robin Nuttall" wrote in message
news:I33qf.641763$_o.470772@attbi_s71...
Another thing, the AKC is now suggesting weaves be 22" in spacing, it
was 21" before. I think 22" should be mandatory across all venues. Still
tight enough to not penalize the little dogs, but big enough to make a
huge difference to the big dogs.


Actually, the old AKC rule said they could be anything from 20" to 24".
They *did* suggest 22". But the whole range was allowed. Have they
strengthened their "suggestion"?

And my little dogs have been trained on 22 inches - we suffer from pop-outs
when we go to a trial that has weaves 20 to 21 inches.

We ran a trial last summer with a set that was 20 1/2 and could not get
Sassy through twelve the entire weekend. We (by the last run, formed a
group!) started watching for some little handler error that was pulling her
out but decided the bottom line was her pacing.

~~Judy
who plans to print out the new rules and maybe get around to reading it by
New Year's Day or so. No way it's going to happen this week.


  #7  
Old December 21st 05, 06:24 PM posted to rec.pets.dogs.activities,rec.pets.dogs.breeds
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Default New AKC Agility regs announced

Robin Nuttall said in
rec.pets.dogs.activities:

Another thing, the AKC is now suggesting weaves be 22" in
spacing, it was 21" before. I think 22" should be mandatory
across all venues.


If it's going to be changed, I think it should go to 24", which
(I believe) is the international/European standard.

--
--Matt. Rocky's a Dog.
  #8  
Old December 21st 05, 03:24 AM posted to rec.pets.dogs.activities,rec.pets.dogs.breeds
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Default New AKC Agility regs announced

Rocky wrote:
Robin Nuttall said in
rec.pets.dogs.activities:


Lots of small changes, a few big ones--a new 26" height
which will have a 6'3" aframe, new weave specs which will
make a lot of current weave poles illegal, and a break for
small dogs--the cutoff for 8" has been raised to 11". Dogs
now have to be 15 months old to compete.



Pretty well thought out changes, I think, and they don't seem to
require a lot of expense on the part of the club for equipment
changes. New (longer) weave poles and 5' bars for the spread
jumps are all inexpensive PVC.


Yes, except I'd say 95% of the weaves here have crossbar supports, and
they will need to now have offset leg supports. I paid $500 for my
Max200 weaves four years ago, and a friend of mine just bought an
identical set--lord knows how much she paid. Now relegated to practice.
Plus, some of our jumps aren't tall enough or made so that you can add a
26" height. So we may have significant jump expense. The difference
may make us reconsider doing a 2-ring 2-judge trial next year, I am not
sure we can afford to make all those changes and fill 2 rings with
equipment. I'm not saying they're bad changes, but they will take a
chunk of money.



The big change (to me, though I don't compete in the AKC), is
mandating that the teeter be slatless. I've never seen a reason
for slats on the teeter or dogwalk.


They'll almost certainly stay on the DW, and I have only seen one
slatted teeter in competition in 5 years, they were already extremely
rare. The elimination of the 8' dogwalk is causing some consernation for
those who run Novice-only trials in smaller spaces. But again, most
clubs use 12' anyway.


If I'm reading the rules correctly, FAST sounds an awful lot
like AAC's gamble. AAC has "mini gambles" which are optional in
the opening (ie: you can do them away for double point value or
do them close for regular obstacle value), similar to FAST's
"send bonus". Instead of a closing gamble, FAST adds a time
fault from end of SCT to finish point (similar strategy to AAC's
gamble whereby the handler wants to be close to the final gamble
when the horn sounds).

It sounds like a fun game.


I think it will be fun. You *must* complete the gamble portion in order
to Q, but you can do it at any time. If you flub, you can't try it
again. And you have to do at least 15 obstacles, all of which are
assigned a point value. I don't understand it completely yet but I'm
looking forward to it.
  #9  
Old December 21st 05, 04:32 PM posted to rec.pets.dogs.activities,rec.pets.dogs.breeds
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Default New AKC Agility regs announced


Robin Nuttall wrote:


Yes, except I'd say 95% of the weaves here have crossbar supports, and
they will need to now have offset leg supports. I paid $500 for my
Max200 weaves four years ago, and a friend of mine just bought an
identical set--lord knows how much she paid. Now relegated to practice.


You've probably seen it, but Sharon Normandin posted to Agiledogs
that Max200 is looking at ways to retrofit their weaves.

Plus, some of our jumps aren't tall enough or made so that you can add a
26" height.


Adding jump cups is only easy if your jumps are A. tall enough and B.
made of either PVC or wood. One of my clubs uses welded metal jumps,
and it would be a major PIA if new heights had to be added.
Fortunately, about half of club #1's jumps already have 26" bar
supports for those who want to practice for USDAA, so there won't be a
problem for anyone who needs/wants to start practicing the height for
AKC. (99% of club #2's members *only* do NADAC, so no worries there,
either- although it wouldn't be too hard to add the extra supports to
our wooden jumps.)
It would be a major expense and nuisance, even so, if we needed to
retrofit to have enough jumps to actually put on a trial with the
height - so I can imagine what an issue it's going to be for clubs like
yours, that DO host AKC trials.


I think it will be fun. You *must* complete the gamble portion in order
to Q, but you can do it at any time. If you flub, you can't try it
again. And you have to do at least 15 obstacles, all of which are
assigned a point value. I don't understand it completely yet but I'm
looking forward to it.


I'll be interested to hear how it works out - and to see if it
lessens the "running at heel" style I see in some newbies-to-NADAC.
(Not that I have room to talk, since Rocsi's lateral distance skills
suck. FORWARD distance, she's got. G)

Have to say, though, that I was a bit amused by a couple of posts
going "Oh no, with THREE classes we'll be there 'til midnight!!!"....
since I've been to dozens of trials with 4 classes a day that easily
finished by 3:30 or so, and even with the 5-6 classes a day that are
now routine, we usually finish between 5 and 6 if the trial's run at
ALL efficiently.

  #10  
Old December 21st 05, 10:47 PM posted to rec.pets.dogs.activities,rec.pets.dogs.breeds
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Default New AKC Agility regs announced

cimawr wrote:
Robin Nuttall wrote:


Have to say, though, that I was a bit amused by a couple of posts
going "Oh no, with THREE classes we'll be there 'til midnight!!!"....
since I've been to dozens of trials with 4 classes a day that easily
finished by 3:30 or so, and even with the 5-6 classes a day that are
now routine, we usually finish between 5 and 6 if the trial's run at
ALL efficiently.


Well we ran a very efficient trial. One judge, two rings, other ring set
up as dogs were running ring 1. Judge took NO lunch breaks, barely any
breaks at all. It still took until 4:30 the first day. We shortened
walkthroughs further the 2nd day and managed to finish by 3:30, but we
were hustling butt all weekend long.

I don't know about NADAC, but in AKC ribbons cannot be awarded until the
judge reviews and approves every score sheet. So that has to be done
between classes. Plus AKC judges actually MEASURE their courses and
wheel them for 3 different heights, so 3 different wheels, not including
the walk through to tweak and ensure the course builders have built what
was on paper. Baseline measurements are used to ensure that the course
seen is exactly like the one on paper. The judge can and will change
things if they decide they don't like the flow, but they will also tell
people.

AKC is also mandated to have judge briefings before each class. Now they
will often combine Jumpers and Standard, but that's still at least 3
briefings per day, and the Novice ones tend to get a bit long to make
sure they've answered all questions.

I can tell you with great assurance that we could not have run a tighter
trial. Now the judge could have nested a bit more but again, you never
see AKC courses where the course remains the same for all levels with
just a change in time. Generally big stuff stays in place but jumps move
so that different levels are actually different.

If we stay with a 1-judge 2-ring format this year, we will not offer
FAST. If we move to 2 judges, we may well offer FAST.
 




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