Luxembourg

I have been terrible at blogging this year... mainly because things don't stop happening in 2014... bad things, some good things, more bad things, neutral things, bad things, good things... that thing called life you know.

Today all I want to say is that me and Volt are going to Luxembourg! We will take part in the team and the individual events... if I had won the lottery, maybe Chaos would have been going as well, he really did perform well over the weekend of the Try Outs (he walked away Reserve South African Agility Champion 2014), however without the added pressure of competing for a spot on the team, things do have a very different dynamic.

Volt and me had a bit of a roller-coaster ride leading up to the Try Outs.... for the whole year I have been very concerned that Volt is just 'not right', but the vets and physios could not find anything wrong.  Then 10 days before the finals, the chiropractor saw Volt... and FIXED him ten times over.  He fixed him so much that Volt quadrupled in speed, leaving me jogging behind with dust in my eyes.  Literally in every single training session leading up to the finals me and Volt dq'd... generally spectacularly because I was not used to him running The Flash.

I decided that I would take it as it comes, in actual fact I couldn't care less about our result or whether we would go to Luxembourg or not, I was just happy I had my super speedy super Sheltie back.

The first course was a very enjoyable technical course and Volt was running so amazingly that I did not foresee our elimination AT ALL.  So we started off on the back foot. In the next round we had 5 faults due to another timing error on my part.  Admittedly I ran my last two rounds a bit more carefully, but still very happy with how Volt handled it all, finishing 2nd in the third round and winning the last round.

And more importantly we qualified as the second highest qualifier for the South African Agility Team (highest qualifying small dog).  So now the FUND RAISING and preparation for the World Champs begin!

Chaos was beyond amazing the entire weekend, after a dog walk fault in our first round, he managed 3 clears to become the Reserve South African Agility Champion. SO proud! This amazing dog has given me everything he possibly could in the last 8 years and he keeps on giving more, getting better and stronger.  He really is my heart and my soul!

I am really looking forward to seeing many of my international Agility friends in Europe in September. And making some new ones! And now I would like to introduce you to Team South Africa 2014:

An Away Weekend...

So on my return from a weekend of HOT weather, the beach, fun, drama and lots of Agility, I guess I should contemplate things a little bit... I will start off with my awesome dogs, travelling with them is always a pleasure and I appreciate every moment I get to spend with them.

Volt never used to have environment issues, as a youngster (okay he is STILL a youngster, but I mean a YOUNG youngster), he travelled a lot, both in the car and on flights, before and after the start of his Agility career and never showed any signs of stress. However last year, in Port Elizabeth, things changed, even though I still don't know why.  Twice we travelled there last year and twice he was stressed, unwilling to run, slow, distracted and all those other qualities that breaks my heart. With changing handling plans, running some rounds with a toy and the help of fantastic friends with regards to rewarding and de-stressing, I feel we made progress as the weekend went along, although not nearly running to his full potential, we definitely got somewhere.  I am determined to work all the way through the Bean-en-Stein's environment issue and insure he is a Happy Sheltie Dog under ALL circumstances.  Regardless of his issues, the little dude DOES know how to be consistent, raking in a total of 10 Qualifying Certificates and over-all Small wins for all his categories. Honestly I think his results mostly reflect the lack of Small competition in South Africa though.  Regardless I had a ball with Beans in Port Elizabeth, he loved the beach, had some tugging games of note with certain Border Collies and made sure he made his V for Volt mark ;)



This was Psycho Malycho Slinky Malinky Chicken Licken dog's first 'show weekend'.  On top of this, Psycho has been a very different challenge since day 1.  While being the dog I have bonded with the most easily and while crawling so deep into my heart, she is a very difficult Agility dog, but I can definitely see why she was the herding pick of the litter.  While everyone has their mouthful about how she runs, what I should be doing, what I did wrong and why I will never get it right, the handful of people that have actually been involved in her training, understand the long journey this has been and how long it will still be.  I think she has a bright future though and I enjoy almost every second of the challenge.  What was even better than the Agility is the manner in which the Malycho handled the travel, playing with everything human and canine when she had the chance and sleeping when I wanted her too, playing games, herding on the beach (even with waves crashing over her head) and being generally good!  She even pulled of a stunning winning clear round with a qualification (which was unfortunately not caught on video).



But the most jaw-dropping performance of the weekend came from the Spaz.  At almost 8 years old, Chaos keeps surprising me, while my handling was off on a couple of rounds, I forgot two courses and I made a couple of bad choices, Chaos managed to pull off 13/19 clear rounds, knocking only 3 bars in all those rounds.  He won 3 x Agility, 2 x Non Contact and 1 x Dog Jumping QC's and maybe could have added to that if his handler didn't turn into a ditz on occasion.  What made me the happiest is that he came off the weekend perfectly sound with not even a hint of stiffness!  It will never stop amazing me how much heart this dog has and how he somehow just manages to find a little bit more to give me every single day of his life!



A few things caught my attention this weekend...

The lack of rewarding dogs.  Rather sad to see how many dogs give it their all and storm out the ring into nothingness for nothingness.  Well done to those that did!

The commitment and success of handlers against all odds.  Those handlers that have no support system or mentors close by.  Starting schools from the bottom up. Training on their own.

Running for 'clears' and not for running.  The screaming, over-managing, lack of handling, nerves, stress, unhappiness and blame is not always fun to witness.  Wish more people could find the enjoyment of running for yourself and your dog.

The willingness to ask for advice from random 'strangers'. Handlers that recognised their shortcomings and recognised the strength of others and tried to bridge the gap.

The lack of contacts. Well not so much as the bitching and moaning OVER the lack of contacts while in the same breath failing to be consistent in actually training and running the contacts.

The willingness to share advice.  The handlers that were willing to share the information on their strengths and promote other handlers fixing their own problems.

The lack of knowledge in the rules. From both judges and competitors.  Worse than that?  When politely pointed out or rudely confronted (yes both happened), instead of admitting and correcting, getting hackles up and trying to defend the lack of logic or blatant ignorance.  Would love it if the whole country could attempt in a friendly manner to get on the same page, recognise short-comings and understand difficulties. Incompetence is a reason, not an excuse.

As you may notice, there was good and bad to the weekend, but I had a thoroughly good time!  So did my dogs!  So did my travel companions! I might share some more thoughts on Psycho and rules and training and rewarding soon... but for now I will just enjoy the afterglow of a fun weekend.

Where have I been?

This year... 2014... well if it has been a crazy one so far.  If I updated you on it all you would still be reading tomorrow morning and the day after.

So concisely then where have I been?

Fixing stuff that is broken. Everything in our house broke. Gate motor, freezer, cars, it didn't stop.

In Hospital... some undiagnosed, unidentified, mystery disease that left me with a fever of nearly 40 degrees (Celcius btw), nutso crazy bloodwork and general 'feeling-like-crapness'.  All fixed now, but still no idea what it was.

Studying. Yes in my old (haha funny me, I will never be old :) ) age I decided to study again.  I am now officially a Basic Ambulance Assistant.  Hoping to start working on the Ambulance soon. Absolutely love it.

Working. A lot.  After I initially decided Luxembourg was off the table this year, I have decided it is back on the table so now the race to save up enough money is on.

Losing and finding Chaos.  Well we kind of lost each other and we are currently busy finding each other again.  We have been terribly disconnected of late. But yesterday we had one hell of a rocking day at our second SA Champs/AWC trial. They boy knocked my socks off let me tell you. Videos on these trials of ours will follow much later, as I will wait for all provinces to finish all trials before posting any.  Chaos has always been my special boy. Most other people will say 'special' in inverted commas.  That is what makes life with him so rewarding.  

Wallowing and wading in the awesomeness that is my awesome Voltensteinenmeister Sheltie dog.  We have a lekker training group going and it is doing the already cool Volt another seven worlds of good.  And me, probably mostly me.  He has always been close to perfect, me not so much.  He is doing well in competition, and kicking ass and taking names in training, here is some of that:

Psycho Malyko Girly Whirly Slinky Malinky Chicken dog finally came into season, only took her 16 months.  Now THAT was a pain in the butt... just not being able to compete with her.  How painful with outdated, stupid rules.  Please note that my ENTIRE male dogs trained with her in a crate a few meters away with no problems, so honestly get terribly annoyed when people tell their crazy stories of how it is impossible for entire males to work through a bitch in season.  Moving on.  At her second show back, my baby child ran her first clear round!

All in all I have many Agility related thoughts that I may or may not have the time to share in the near future...

The End.

2013... A year in WOW

And by WOW I do NOT mean World of Warcraft, in fact I played very little of that this year.

I didn't quite realise... wait let me rephrase that, I STILL don't quite realise what a phenomenal ride my dogs took me on this year.

But let's talk about WHY this has been the year in WOW...

The round that changed my life.  Before you watch this unspectacular, yet momentous round, think about this... I live in a small country with a tiny little Agility community on the other side of the world of all the OTHER Agility countries.  So what means a lot to me, might not mean a lot to you... but honestly I am not really going to care.

In 2012 I by some miracle, support and, in my own personal opinion,dubious selections, won a spot in both the South African Large Team and Individual competitions for the AWC. I was also on the South African Small Team, but that is not quite relevant to this story yet.

From day 1, when I picked my pony puppy, I felt a connection to him, I saw a light that no-one else could see until many years later.  As the years went by, I learnt to really appreciate the small things with Chaos, as the ride was a roller-coaster... a bumpy roller-coaster in the middle of a thunderstorm at that.  But the fruit of our works slowly accumulated and I was fortunate to end up in a really supportive, understanding and motivated Large Team in 2012 (thank you Helena, Annaret and Julie for this experience).

Up until the SA Champs/AWC Team Selection weekend, I had quite a problem with mental management.  I am not afraid to admit that.  During that weekend I had a rather thoughtful friend that did all but crumple my toilet paper for me.  Embarrassing as that dependence might seem, it did lead to me making the team, which lead to me having a life-changing round, so it is all good up to here.

Being realistic and all, I knew I wasn't exactly aiming for an individual podium position... let's face it, maybe 10-20 dogs every year really have that potential, but it just wouldn't be the same if only those 10 or 20 dogs competed for the title.  But we had a team that we knew could do well enough to matter for us (which we did, finishing 9th... the best finish since the SA gold medals in 2004 and 2005).  This is where my head-space, my preparation, my thoughts and my dedication went in the months leading up to this event.  I managed to run a (albeit not so pretty) clear round in the team jumping even... the next event was the Individual Jumping... and it very suddenly, harshly and fantastically hit me while I was in the queue... I have nothing to lose??? How cool is that??? (and yes it actually took me 16 years of competing in Agility to FINALLY realise that).  I started with a smile on my face, Chaos started with a skip in his beat and we ran the best round ever (up to that time, remember this is more than a year ago)... I ended up with tons of faults due to one small miscalculation, but it didn't matter!  I remember taking Chaos out after that round for a long and private celebration that had lots of happy tears and tennis balls.



While that was far from perfect, it was as perfect as I will ever feel again.

From that moment Agility bumped up 10 levels of fun, enjoyment, go, love, investment, commitment, laughter and competition for me and my dogs (no, competition is NOT a bad thing, I think it is fantastic for a good relationship with one's dog... especially competition against yourself).

Of course we have still had our ups and our downs.  Frustration, pain, happiness, humour and pure ecstasy just like before. But everything went to a next level.  Things I never thought possible, wins and losses that I never even imagined became a reality.  An experience that I could never put into words.  This last year has been madness of good AND bad, but one thing remains... I have to be so thankful to my dogs for their continuous commitment to our journey in the sport I love so much.  I won't deny that the National League wins, the SA Champ medals, the QC's and the World Team isn't very friggen awesome, but also the fun, the laughs, the dq's, the training and the cuddles is something beyond explanation.

To my friends (I won't embarrass you by mentioning names), my training partners, my husband and my mother... I could never thank you enough for your continuous support and I look forward to many more years of just that.

My advice to Agility handlers everywhere and anywhere is to Love and Live YOUR game and let the rest of the world pass by.  We are all fortunate enough to already take the best partners home, so nothing else matters.

Just to end of my year, Chaos and Volt rewarded me by winning their respective categories in the National Agility League and Psycho Kiddie Winks decided to learn how to weave...

Agility is rewarding

Recently I was watching a large group of handlers 'mess around' before starting an Agility class.  I was rather gob smacked at some handlers' response to their dogs though.  Please note I am all for messing around, me and my dogs have learnt such valuable lessons while in a slightly chaotic, informal environment.  Although even a setting like that has to has its rules.  And most importantly handlers should know that it should NEVER change your feedback system. By this I mean your rewards and markers and reaction.

Controlled chaos is good for proofing and having fun too.  This doesn't mean you should have 3 of your own dogs running loose, all trying to please you at the same time.  Generally this leads to you screaming at one and affecting all.  Remember, our dogs understand body language and tone of voice, they don't ACTUALLY understand English.  If you don't believe me, ask my friend that accidentally taught her German Shepherd to lie down every time she said Damnit!  Even in craziness your dog should have your near sole attention and devotion.  I say near, because just like driving, Agility generally requires you to at least be a little bit aware.  And when I say a little bit, I mean A LOT.  While I will admit watching two people  send their dogs into the weaves from opposite sides could be amusing, it is a lot more detrimental than anything else.  Do that three or four times and instead of worrying about finding the next gate in the weave poles, Fido is going to be a lot more concerned about impending possibility of head-on collisions.  So be aware.  Of dogs, people, cars, equipment, squirrels, geese and raining meatballs.



Okay lets get to the important part though... rewarding.

Failing is training.  If you haven't failed you haven't trained.  It is important to push the boundaries and until you have not pushed it a little bit too far, you don't know where your limits are. Failing is also the difference in teaching our dogs to think and have some understanding of what they are doing and just teaching another parrot.  But at no time does this mean you should be holding your dog hostage to a reward.  Just because your dog 'failed', you shouldn't be bodily removing the reward from them, while flinging insults like a bully in the school yard.

A reward and a marker are two different things.  The reward is what the dog gets after you have marked it.  So in the dog's mind the process should be something like this: 'La-la-la, okay lets try to lie down, okay nothing, must be something different, let's try to sit,  OOOOOOH marker, yeah baby, NAILED it, now where is that damn squeaky rabbit'.  You can mark using a clicker, your voice or a French horn for all I care, but you mark immediately and then REWARD.  It is always rather amusing when I teach a class and a student comes sauntering over at leisure after doing a 15 jump sequence, just to be startled by my Boot Camp persona yelling at them to 'reward, reward, reward'.  Before listening to other people's input, before going to have a sip of coffee you really do need to reward.  Even in a class environment, well actually especially in a class environment.  Make sure you have engaged your dog in some fashion (with food, toys, cuddles), before listening to your instructor's analysis.  Honestly I would rather see handlers 'accidentally' reward (so reward to early and the dog actually made a mistake), than NOT reward immediately after the dog has done something correctly.




Pick your battles.  If you are struggling with three different sections of a 16 obstacle sequence and by some miracle, you happen to get one of these sections right.  Stop and REWARD immediately.  Don't be a hero and immediately try and run the rest.  Chances are (since you were already struggling) that you will get it wrong again at which point you are left with two options: Reward and your dog is most likely to connect it to what he last did, which was get a subsequent sequence wrong, or don't reward, leaving Fido confused as to what exactly was right and wrong.

Be in control.  People have their preferences, dogs have theirs, but sometimes people are just lazy.  You have to know the value, potential, limitations and implications of each reward you use.  For one, there are only a few instances where I choose to reward with a ball thrown ahead.  This is a very dis-connected reward, its value is higher further away from me (otherwise the fetch game wouldn't have much of a challenge now would it) and once it has left your hand, you don't have much control over it.  It is good for situations (especially with the lower confidence dog) where you want to teach dogs acceleration away from the handler.  Tug toys are in complete control of handlers, which is fantastic.  It should not be used to encourage 'velcro-ism'.  Dogs should only come into their tug toy reward once they have heard their marker.  The same goes for food.  Don't leave the reward lying on the ground if you are going to have control issues.  If your dog will shoot off in the middle of an exercise to go and find that reward.  If you were a moron and you DID do this, do not under any circumstances scream at the dog for going to get his reward.  You can't punish your dog for your stupidity and you do not want to connect any negativity to what is supposed to be your dog's reward.  Phone a Friend.  Ask someone else to help out and hold the reward and give it at the right moment.

Know your customer.  Dogs have different tolerances.  Some dogs will completely break down and phone the suicide hotline if a reward is withheld more than once.  With dogs like this, sometimes you need to offer the reward without using a marker, just to keep their confidence up.  You are basically saying 'okay you haven't gotten it right yet (no marker), but things will be okay and the world won't end today (have some food/a tug).  Other dogs don't need a confidence boost and will be happy to try and try again until kingdom come.  My Psycho Slinky for example, bless her nerdy little soul, will NOT take a reward if she feels she hasn't done something right, even when I am begging her to take it.  I also know that after a few tries of not getting it right, she will panic.  So if we fail a few times at any one thing, I will ask her to do something which she is almost guaranteed to get right (like a tunnel), mark THAT and reward.  But heaven help me if I tried a stunt like that with 'prom king' Volt, he would take advantage of me in so many ways it is not even true.  Volt was issued with 3 cc's of extra confidence when he was manufactured.  Volt KNOWS the world won't end, he doesn't need me to tell him that.

Be effective.  If you throw a ball as a reward, Fido kind of starts after it and then veers of 47 degrees North East to go and pee on a tree, your award wasn't effective.  It is fair and well to have all this theory about what toy is the best or what kind of treat, but if the reward holds no value for your dog, it is pointless.

Your feedback system is the only guidance your dog has to what is wrong or right.  So if they ARE getting something wrong, it is best you look at which part of your feedback is confusing them.

In conclusion: Reward your dogs!

First response - A short explanation

After some feedback from handlers that read my previous post, I would like to clarify the following (sorry international followers, again it is a South African thing).

The SA Champs regional trials and the AWC regional trials are NOT the same thing (contrary to what many handlers believe).  They follow two completely different sets of rules (Schedule 5L Appendix C applies ONLY to AWC Trials and Schedule 5L Appendix D applies ONLY to SA Champs).  Historically these two competitions have been run in conjunction (in other words the same actual rounds have been used for both competitions, but the different rules applied for the different competitions).

The regional trials would therefore still go ahead exactly as it has in the past, but ONLY the SA Champs rules/results applied to determine who qualifies for the SA Champs event.  So the top 40 large dogs, top 10 medium dogs and top 10 small dogs would still qualify for the SA Champs.

The proposal that came from us and is currently being discussed applies ONLY to the AWC regional trials.  In other words, instead of what has been happening over the years, where dogs that did NOT qualify for SA Champs and has NO intention of making Team South Africa to Europe for the AWC, but entered the AWC regional trials are invited to the finals/SA Champ, ONLY the dogs that intend to MAKE the team will be able to compete at the finals/SA Champs.  Most of which already qualified for the SA Champs.

I am hoping this clarify matters.

Here are the facts...

This is a post for my South African friends... I will try to explain the ins and outs to my international followers as well, but this post is purely about the selection of the South African Agility team for the FCI AWC.

How it currently works:

The Point System

- Points are awarded as follows:
   0 faults - 10 points
                  In addition, bonus points are awarded as follows: SCT-Dog's Time = Bonus points
   Bonus points are awarded for clear rounds ONLY

(Prior to 2013 bonus points were awarded differently: 0-1.99 seconds under SCT = 1 bonus point, 2-.3.99 seconds under SCT = 2 bonus points, 4-5.99 seconds under SCT = 3 bonus points etc)

   0.01- 5 faults - 8 points
   5.01 - 10 faults - 6 points
   10.01 - 15 faults - 4 points
   15.01-20 faults - 2 points
   20.01 - 25 faults - 1 point

- The winner in each height category is awarded 1 bonus point

The Format

- Four regional trials are run, consisting out of a Contact (Agility) and Non Contact (Jumping) round each.

- Each dog drop their worst contact score and worst non-contact score.

- Adding each dog's best three contact scores and best 3 non-contact scores, you get the trials total for each dog.  The top 10 Small dogs, top 10 Medium dogs and top 40 Medium dogs are invited to the finals.

- At the finals each dog runs two contact rounds and two non-contact rounds.

- To determine the South African Agility squad, points are calculated as follows:

Finals points + 1/3 of the regional trials points = Total points

- All dogs (irrespective of height category) are placed onto one scoring table.  The top 9 dogs (provided not more than 6 are in the same height category) will be awarded spots in the Individual competition at the AWC, the top 4 dogs in each height category will be awarded spots in the Team competition at the AWC.

The logistics

- Each year a National Course Coordinator is appointed.  This person has to source courses, historically the majority of courses were designed by local judges (in 2010/2011 it was approved that competing judges could also submit courses), in 2013 courses were sourced from the Norwegian AWC judge.

- Courses are adapted by the National Course Coordinator and coordinates for each obstacle is determined, using an A/B Baseline system.  For hurdles and the tyre jump only a centre coordinate is determined.  For the contact obstacles, tunnels, weave poles and long jump a start coordinate and end coordinate is determined.

- Each province nominates a non-competing provincial course coordinator.  The National coordinator will send the courses to the provincial coordinators once they have been selected.  Provinces can then run the regional trials in the months of January, February and March.  It is not very often that provinces can manage to run the courses on the same day.

- Should there be a mistake on the course plan or a query, the provincial course coordinators should phone the national coordinator to seek clarification.  It is also the responsibility for the provincial course coordinator to set the angles of each jump, which has to be done using a course plan (since only a centre coordinate is given for the hurdles).

- Courses are supposed to be at a grade 3 level.  Speeds used are supposed to be an average of the speeds used at the previous year's AWC.

- The courses at the final are also supposed to be of a Grade 3 level, however the judges have the discretion to set the speeds to what they want.

That is the system in a nutshell.

Now for the last 3 years, I have been researching, studying, investigating and calculating the effectiveness and fairness of the trials.  Two and a half years ago, roughly, I submitted my preliminary findings to my provincial committee.  My research included the statistics of local results, photos, video, as well as extensive research into the qualifying systems of other countries, focussing on countries with the best medal histories at the AWC.  Our provincial committee then continued the research and eventually submitted a full report and presentation to the National Agility Committee in August 2012.  Response has been few and far between, it has come to my attention that the full information with regards to our findings have not reached all handlers and/or committees.  I am therefore going to present the evidence here, as this is the most public forum I have available.

Here are the facts as to why regional trials, as we know them, are NOT a fair or practical selection system:

Before I discuss all the aspects of the trials, I would like you to read and keep the following in mind.  Remember with our point system, 1 fault = AT LEAST 2 points, and points can be directly translated into time, 1.23 seconds = 1.23 points on a clear round.  In 2013, which provided to be our most competitive year, as the AWC was local, the difference in getting a spot or not was as follows:

Small Team: Point difference between 4th and 5th dog: 4.68 points
Medium Team: Point difference between 4th and 5th dog: 2.08 points
Large Team: Point difference between 4th and 5th dog: 2.25 points
Individual Spot: Point difference between 9th and 10th dog: 2.23 points
The closest point difference for a spot, was the 0.58 points that separated the 5th medium dog (which was awarded the reserve spot) from the 6th medium dog

Looking at this model, we have to keep in mind that the regional trials only account for 1/3 of these points.  So per round in the regional trials we are looking at the following equation:

To make up the points in a regional trial:  (points missed out) x 3 (since only a third of the points will count)/6 (since only your 6 best rounds out of 8 will count) = points per round that could have gotten dog a spot in the team.

Small Team: 4.68 points x 3/6 rounds = 2.34 seconds/points per round
Medium Team: 2.08 points x 3/6 rounds = 1.02 seconds/points per round
Large Team: 2.25 points x 3/6 rounds = 1.125 seconds/points per round
Individual Spot: 2.23 points x 3/6 rounds = 1.115 seconds/points per round

This is just some silly examples to try and demonstrate the impact each small aspect of the course can have.

- Ground Conditions and Weather:  The provinces that run regional trials, vary from coastal to inland cities, this affects humidity and temperature.  Average temperatures in January (as per the South African Weather Service) vary from 25 degrees Celcius to 31 degrees Celcius. We have a province that is a winter-rainfall area and a few provinces that is summer rainfall areas.  This will obviously affect the grass growth/hardness of grounds in said provinces. According to the South African Weather Service, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town battle continually for the 'windiest city' in South Africa, with Cape Town experiencing winds of 1.6m/s 95.6% of the time and Port Elizabeth 95.7% of the time.  Meanwhile here in Johannesburg, we can hardly spell wind and certainly don't know what it feels like on a regular basis.

- Differences in equipment.  Because there are parameters for various obstacles (instead of set measurements), equipment differ very much from province to province.  Here in Johannesburg, our cross bars are 30mm pvc, some with wood-filling and others without.  Our older hurdles have angled jump cups as pictured below, while our newer hurdles have rounded, shallower cups, all metal.  From my travels, there are variations of angles cups, round rubber cups, round metal cups.

Some provinces have wood cross bars, others have pvc, varying from 30mm-50mm (all within the rules of course).  This of course will affect the statistical probably of a cross bar falling, even if hit with the same trajectory at the same force.  I will work out an average example for you of how one knock can affect a dog's final points:

The course is 150m, set at 4.1m/s (the speed used for contact agility in 2012) which puts the SCT at 36.58 seconds.  A dog running at 4.4m/s will run a time of 34.09.  If it is a clear round, he will be awarded 12.49 points, however with one knock, he will be awarded 8 points (so lose out on 4.49 points).  The dog will lose 1.49 points that it could have carried through.

The see-saw is especially important where equipment differences are concerned.  I used my own dog to compare various see-saws in the country:








For those that can't watch the videos, Gauteng's seesaw tipped in 1.11 seconds, FS in 1.51 seconds, EP in 1.79 and KZN in 1.99 seconds.

I also did a comparison of one of our lightest competitors in South Africa doing two different cloth tunnels.



Let's use the see-saw example, my dog gains 0.88 seconds on the see-saw each time.  So let's say I ran 3 clear rounds in contact agility in the regional trials that will count towards my final score, it will work out as follows:

0.88 seconds x 3 rounds = I would have gained 2.34 points in the regional trials on the see-saw ALONE.  Which will equate to 0.78 points towards my final score.  That added to all the other factors, could definitely mean getting a spot or not.  Not even taking into consideration that those 0.88 seconds I gain could very well earn me a winner's bonus point.

We also have Dog Walks lengths that differ, weave pole diameters, tunnel lengths, contact surfaces.

There is also the matter of timing equipment.  We were the last province to get electronic timing, so for years we had the advantage or disadvantage?  Now we have a timing device with multiple beams, which basically means that it is much more likely that the time will stop when the first part of the dog breaks the beams.  Other provinces have a single beam timer, which is generally set to the height where the chest of most dogs would pass over the obstacle, which means the timer would stop fractionally after the first part of the body has passed the plane of the last obstacle.

-  Judging calls.  First of all, in 2013, Johannesburg and Western Province used an up-contact judge for every single trial.  As far as my knowledge goes, no other province made use of an up-contact judge, but I could be corrected on this matter.  Once again having travelled through most of the Agility world in South Africa, I know that judges disagree very much on refusal calls.  It has recently come to light that one of the provinces in general deem it acceptable to run with a toy in the pocket, while it is a complete taboo in other provinces.

- Difficulty in setting up angles and courses.  Even with a course plan and a central coordinate, it is very hard to set up exact angles, and the smallest differences could influence a dog's time.  In the example below, you can see that (due to no fault of the people involved), a course was set up in two provinces with the tunnel two different sides of the dog walk frame.

If we once again look at it mathematically on a contact course, you needed 1.125 seconds in one round to be on or off the team, so 1 see saw and 4 spots where you could gain a mere 0.2 seconds, that would have made the difference!

Now that I have discussed some of the motivations against the regional trials, I would also like to point out certain scenarios that actually happened in the last few years, this is not aimed at anyone at all!  And sometimes things just happen, but that is the point, by sticking with a flawed system, we are opening up more opportunities for things to go wrong.

-  A video was accidentally published of a trial on social media before all provinces had completed the trial.
-  The coordinates on the first contact trial in 2013 did not work out, Gauteng and KZN was running this trial on the same day, both provinces set up the course on 'feel' from the course plan, using different coordinates.  Effectively we did not run the 'same' course
- There is a province that places second bars on all the hurdles that are jumped twice.  The reasoning is that the dog still has to 'jump' the second time if it dislodged a bar the first time.  This is not within the Agility rules, but is a regular occurrence.
- An official instructed a judge not to call faults on the break-away tyre if it broke because no other province was running with a break-away tyre.
-  A province replaced the cloth tunnel with a rigid tunnel and ran their round like this.  The national course coordinator was not informed and all other provinces ran with a cloth tunnel.
- After certain events, some provinces were instructed to not divulge any details or video of their trials at all, which to me is concerning, since surely we should be transparent in this matter.

Several solutions have been suggested for the regional trials:

I would like to start by pointing out that none of the below suggested solutions will solve the problem of equipment, grounds and environmental differences, but I will list the suggestions with my comments on them.

- Have a travelling coordinator or judge that can judge/observe and/or give input on course set up in all the provinces, in order to try and ensure that all provinces compete on the same terms.  This would be very costly first of all and is money that could rather be spent to develop Agility in South Africa.  This would also be a logistical problem, as there are 5 provinces that run the trials, so that is 5 provinces, 4 trials which would equate to 20 separate days that would have to be booked for running trials.
- Set two coordinates for each jump to determine the angle as well.  Which would mean double the work for our poor National course coordinator, but we would still sit with tons of problems.
- Standardise equipment across the country.  Well this is the dream of course, but honestly, most of the provinces don't have the money to upgrade all their equipment at once, this would take many, many years.  A person/body would have to be determined to oversee this project.

Why do we have trials?

The truth of the matter is, that even in 2013, when the amount of people to declare interest in being selected for the team almost DOUBLED, we only had 25 large dogs, 7 medium dogs and 7 small dogs paying their deposits to make Team South Africa.  In the last 5 years, ALL dogs that entered the AWC trials were invited to the finals.  Therefore the trials has NEVER been used to short list dogs or limit the numbers, as we just don't HAVE the amount of registered dogs.  In fact, MANY more dogs run in the trials than dogs that put down their deposits.  So why are we allowing more dogs to compete in the finals than are intending to go to the AWC?

The main motivation for the trials is ensuring 'consistency', which I am all for (the consistency that is).  But should dogs be penalised purely based on which province they live in?  As for finding other methods to ensure consistency is taken into consideration, please see some of my research below.

Having researched many qualifying systems and not including selection panels that some countries make use of, there are generally three qualifying methods that are followed:

- Handlers have to travel across the country and compete in different parts of the country.  This qualifying always leads to a final that is held over a weekend.

- Dogs have to meet certain requirements (a certain amount of clear rounds/wins/speeds) to be eligible and then travel to a selection weekend.


- A single weekend event where all dogs eligible (and only those dogs with intent to go) get together and have to run their rounds.


Now for many South African handlers, it would become much to expensive to travel across the country and then once they have made the team, pay a huge amount of money to travel to Europe.  So I don't think the first option is really viable for us.

The second option would be viable I think, determine a certain amount of clear rounds each dog has to run at certain speeds.  Example:  The requirement to go to the final is 6 clear rounds, 4 of which have to be contact agility, at a minimum of 4m/s in the year preceding the Finals.  The objections that was brought to this is that some provinces have fewer shows than others, as well as the difference in measuring from judge to judge.

The third option is our best option in the current environment, however I would suggest increasing the final from the current 4 rounds, to 5 or 6 rounds to increase the consistency requirement.  This option also most accurately simulates the actual AWC event, which tests the handler's ability to handle the pressures of such a big weekend event.

Please note that while the actual proposal is the work of many people, including input of team mates from various provinces.  I am open to actual, factual input.  I am open to good suggestions.  You are welcome to ask away if you may have any questions.  However if you are one of those that are just planning to say 'because' but can't counter-argue my facts, maybe you best rather not comment.

While I have the regional trials to thank for my spots on the team in both 2012 and 2013 (since I had rather terrible finals), I still feel it is not the way to go and doesn't make logical sense.  I really hope that this post serves to broaden the awareness of all South Africans that has AWC dreams in their future.