Sitting on the Fence

Well and truly sitting on the fence with the lower height option.

I am a Pisces so it's only natural.

I am lucky to see agility from all angles both as a private instructor introducing people to a fun hobby that they can enjoy with their dog and as the wife of the Manager of Team GB promoting agility as close to a professional sport as it can be.

Having done agility for a long time I was introduced into it as a test of athleticism for the dog, a test of their physical ability and a test of dog trainers ability to create a fit and well motivated dog able to perform various physical tasks as directed. 



Agility competition was not done every weekend of the year, there were no week long competitions and many clubs closed for the winter. So although the jumps were higher and other items were more testing the dogs were not being asked to continually work and therefore no worry of repetitive strain from jumping.

I still remember being in awe the first time I saw a dog do a snake line (flik flac) as a straight line.

I remember winning into Advanced against advanced dogs at the last show of the year before the jump height got dropped and people saying to me I must be glad I did it "properly". 

We do still have jumps of the old full height and our dogs do jump them from time to time as part of their training. They also do some at small and medium depending on what we are working on. Devo is a small collie and his shape over the old full height is beautiful. Having to jump rather than hurdle is slower but technically could impact his joints less.

When the height got lowered there was a lot of people feeling that it was not good as dogs would go faster and there would be more injuries when they hit other equipment faster, handling would be more difficult as there would be less 'airtime' amongst other concerns.



I am entering both Devo and Rhyme in the LHO at shows where we haven't got qualifiers because I want to see how our dogs work at the lower height at a show.

I am looking forward to judging at a show that is offering the options to see how the lower height affects the run of my course.

I am looking forward to seeing our young dogs come out competing at lower jumps to start with.

I see change as an opportunity.

On the other hand I struggle already to walk and run all the classes I enter already and we only have 2 dogs in Grade 7. 

I have no idea how I am possibly going to get to the right ring at the right height with a Grade 3 small running at LHO and then find Mark to video Moog in large Grade 3 LHO on top of running Rhyme in FHO for qualifiers, champ etc and again being there to film Devo. 

Phew exhausted just writing it. We may just do our G7 dogs one day and the youngsters the next. 

Looking at the entry forms is like trying to understand a pocket sized train time table  - you think you've found the right train then realise it is not stopping at your station.

How on earth the show organisers are doing the ring plans I am not sure but I bet they are masters at Sudoko.

I like to go to prize givings but with so many different tannoy announcements I'm afraid my ears switch off so it's not likely to happen. 

It's nice when I judge to see the people that have done well and to congratulate them but I would understand if they don't make it. Unless they change so only the top 1, 2 or 3 get placed  the prize giving is going to go on and on and on - imagine the queue to get any unclaimed rosettes.



Mostly the people and dogs who are going to be winners will still be winners and the tacticians out there will be having so many choices. TBH the rest of us are still no better off than we were in my opinion if we think we deserve to be able to win. 

I just want to go out and compete with my dogs to see how my training is going and to find homework to do as an excuse for spending time with them. 

That would apply in the very old system of Starter, Novice, Senior and Advanced grading and in the system of G1 - G7 and will apply in the new system of G1 LHO, G1 FHO to G6 LHO, G6 FHO and G7 FHO and then G7 LHO occasionally.

I understand that no system can be fair to all, especially as dogs and handlers come in so many shapes and sizes.

From the beginning of agility of having 3 levels to now having 14 different classes I can honestly say mentally I would happily go back to 3. That is not going to happen unless the KC decide to look to other models in other countries that work well. Rather than going deeper into chaos cherry pick the best from FCI rules. E.G. as far as FCI is concerned the heights are variable so the judges can choose to lower the height if the weather is hot, wet or just because thats what they prefer for their course.

Meanwhile I am going to read just the beginning of this blog, pull my sleeves up and keep off certain pages of FB