Making the Grade

There have been some great and interesting posts relating to how competing at KC Agility does or rather doesn't prepare Agility Team GB for the FCI AWC.

I thought I'd throw my thoughts in. These are MY thoughts and are not necessarily a reflection of people in the know who I know ;)

It's great we have the opportunity to discuss and consider how to ensure we are best prepared. 

My first point is whether the AWC is in fact a specific event that no other country has full preparation for amongst their own national competitions either.

Lets think about the number of spectators and the full focus of agility in one stadium. 

Cruft's is one of the biggest dog shows in the world. Having an opportunity to compete there under pressure must be one of the closest events to AWC. 

Yes the area is smaller but it is intense. There is a tight time scale and you need to be on the ball to perform at your best there. From a dog's point of view I would say that AWC gives the dogs more space to get to the start line.

Then there is Olympia which is not comparable to any other major agility event. The atmosphere is electric, loud and everything is rushed through. Walking courses as the equipment is put out and then being on the start line in a matter of minutes.

I am not aware of major large crowd events in other countries that can give their competitors such preparation for high pressured events. To me having these KC run events to compete at are a major advantage.

Courses 

The majority of other countries do compete under FCI rules regularly. 

My thoughts are the judges will be setting courses to identify World Champions as opposed to their usual day to day competitions. I image that our Champ judges will have a different spec for their champ courses than judging normal classes. Some competitors from other countries have said the World Championship courses are different to what they compete on too.

Agility Team GB are given a lot of information about the current years judges trends and will set up and practice all they can. An example is the weave entry that featured in a few courses and all our dogs achieved without any problem this year.

We don't compete/train on carpet 

The Cruft's carpet used this year is the same as was used in the Czech Republic.

Many other countries have similar facilities to us in that they are mainly outside on grass but there are countries who have many indoor astro turf facilities. 

Astro turf will be a constant surface for the dogs to run on whereas grass can vary considerably. It will also effect the handlers performance as we will run differently too.  

So for me this is a big one and one that could be a factor in who were winning this year. 

We have been to an indoor competition in Germany a couple of years ago and throughly enjoyed it. It was over New Year so didn't eat into Mark's holiday too much either. It's on again this year and I'd recommend it to anyone as an experience to add to your knowledge of how you and your dog run competitively on FCI courses on that surface.

I think there is also a great Sheltie competition and happy to link anyone up to the people in the know about it.

Judges don't set up course that allow our dogs to open up and develop speed.

Wow this is major in many ways. 

From a new judge prospective this is yet another criticism being aimed at our judges who turn out in all weathers so we have competitions to go to. Why will this encourage me to continue to judge?

At a recent event in the UK where FCI judges were it was noted that they used a different course entirely for each class they judged even if they just did 2 classes. The ring party were a bit put out. 

Judging several classes in one ring in one day using the same layout does not lend itself to creating fast, flowing and technical courses easily.

Seven grades equals seven different levels of complicity.

As far as I know countries competing under FCI rules only have 3 levels A1, A2 and A3.

So for me if there is one area that definitely needs changing it is the grading system.

It is one of the major factors that stunts the development of the speed in our young dogs and the way we run them.

It cuts people off from seeing the really great dogs and handlers run until they are amongst them and it is demoralising instead of being inspirational. Watching a great performance should encourage you to:

1. believe it can be done and 
2. want to emulate it.

Talented young partnerships have to win so many classes to get to the top but the small number of dogs in the class creates a stronger need to be clear than to be fast. 

If success is determined by being in the top grade then in this country choosing the right shows means clear rounds will get you up the grades and speed is a secondary consideration.

Everyone will have their own anecdote of what has stopped them from being the best and we can all blame the system. 

We do have amazing dogs, handlers, judges and competitions in this country and our structure gives us many choices. 

Overall it is up to us to have the confidence of our own dreams and take action to achieve them. 

We can choose to run eye balls out on every run, choose speed first and foremost until the accuracy improves.

Back to this years AWC nobody can deny these deserve to be large World Champions

Sadly I can't find the medium or small runs as they were just as amazing - sometimes you just need to be there ;)

Next year it's Sweden - just saying.