I attended our local Kennel Club
meeting which had an unusually high turnout. The main topic people had come to discuss was whether or not to introduce a 4th height
I do agree that there is a large gap between
medium & large and it must be tough for those dogs only just measuring
out of medium. In the main the people at our meeting had dogs who were heavy set which made it uncomfortable to jump the full height. The
conclusion was that it is actually conformation not height that affects a
dogs ability to jump.
 |
| Agility Champion Bekkis Carbon Copy |
The height cut off chosen at 510mm would include
many dogs that are currently competing at the top level. Our own dog Kodi is only 490mm. He is an Agility Champion and won the Agility Championship at Crufts in 2010.
In fact the last three dogs that won the
Crufts Championship class and this years winners of both Novice and
Senior Olympia would all be Standard at UKA which is lower than the
proposed cut off for the new height at KC.
I for one would miss the opportunity to compete
with these dogs and am concerned that the new height would in fact
contain at least half of the most competitive dogs in this country.
At the meeting one person said they just wanted
to feel included and I wondered if there is another option that would
be beneficial and to more than just those lucky enough to fit in the new proposed height category.
A whole new clasification called One Height Below.
Simply this would mean any dog could jump a height one height below its
measure. This would then include dogs like GSD's, Retreivers etc in
fact any dog who's handler would be more "comfortable" with their dog jumping a lower height.
 |
A lovely Retreiver
looking more than comfortable |
This category would be competitive and people
could gain points and move up grades only within this category.
People could elect to run OHB at the time of
being measured and the measurers mark their KC book accordingly.
Championship status would not be available to
these dogs so
competitive people would not choose to do them.
Once reaching Grade 5 there would be a one time option to revert to
same size classes at square one to allow dogs that have become
competitive to compete at their same height.
 |
| Stunning GSD |
These classes would just slot into the existing
structure of shows
with scribe sheets being split out as they are
now for graded classes.
Sponsors could be approached to have qualifiers
for this classification too.
It is easy to say "oh this won't work because how
do we know that dog has elected to run one height below". Well the answer is we
don't but how do we know anybody has won up a grade etc. Many years
ago a lady
accidentally ran in the Champ class at one show.
It was her first show and she didn't know how to complete the entry
form. It wasn't until she ran that the mistake was obvious.
To make this work the show organisers would need
to run OHB classes in parallel with the same height classes so some
input from show organisers would be useful as to if this would be achievable.
Another option I heard
about today.
Fiona Boyne told me that in the show jumping world they start horses on lower jumps and it is
only as you move up the levels that the heights go up.
If we applied this to
agility Grades 1 - 3 could compete at medium height, 4 -5 at a new 4th height
then 6 - 7 at full height. This would mean the competitive and able dogs would
move up through the grades and the dogs that can't compete at a higher height would therefore stay at a height they could. It would be self regulating as dog will only progress as
high as it can comfortably jump.
Mediums - G1-4 start
at small height and G5 - 7 jump medium.
Smalls - G1-4
start a toy height and then move up to small.
This could work
although I am not sure I would find it easy to run Rhyme at medium. It wouldn't hurt him though and it is not all about me and my dog.
Again thoughts from
show managers or others on if this idea would be workable.
You can't say I'm not
trying to look for a solution that could work for all dogs and handlers.
Healthy debate is good
to help find solutions to problems. IMO sadly some of the 4th height
brigade were not there to listen or debate at our meeting, only to bully and
intimidate with their only concern themselves.
 |
| Flint |
 |
| Rhyme |
 |
| Devo |
Some 4th heighters said that they were concerned about the welfare of their dogs yet blatantly talked about their dogs struggling to jump. If you really did care and your dog was really struggling wouldn’t you find something your dog did like to do?
 |
| Torro |
