Clean Run - January 2016 - 20

Judge's Eye

Course Design and You, Part 1
By Cindy Deak

Welcome to the first installment of Judge's Eye. I'd like to provide a little background
on how this series came to be. I started agility 25 years ago and have seen a lot in my
years. I am an agility judge for multiple venues, a long-time competitor, and I instruct
agility classes both privately and for a local club. Often times while teaching a Masters
class at a local dog club, I'd throw out some of my judging pearls of wisdom and folks
would stop and stare at me with befuddled looks. Time and time again I found that
many handlers had no concept of the rules and their application, how judges develop
courses (and why), and how knowing these small details could help them run their
own dogs more successfully in competition.
Students suggested I write a book; I thought they were being kind. Then one day
I was at a trial and happened to be sharing one of my pearls with a former World
Team member, and they mentioned how beneficial sharing this information could
be. Hence, Judge's Eye was conceived. I hope you enjoy the information presented
here and in future articles, and that you too will benefit from what I have learned
through the years. Special thanks to all the Florida folks who encouraged me to share
my knowledge.
Choosing the first topic was tough, but I have decided to start from the beginning.
How and why courses are created, designed, and end up at the trial in the ring.
Every organization has specific course design guidelines and rules that judges
must follow. These include attributes like minimum and maximum distances between obstacles, number of obstacles per course, allowable approach angles, and
safety guidelines. They also dictate which obstacles can be used for various levels.
One of the most important things the guidelines may state is how many challenges
or options are required for each type of course and also how many side switches there
must be. A challenge/option is a place on course where there is a choice to be made,
either by the dog or handler, and poses a threat of the team potentially incurring an
error. Some common examples of challenges across various venues include potential
off-course obstacles, tricky weave pole entries, obstacle discrimination, forced distance, etc. A side switch is where the handler and dog will switch sides on the course.
Side switches can be done while in full view of the handler (like at a jump), or they can
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be blind switches (at a tunnel) where
the dog and handler are not visible to
each other.
Judges take these guidelines and create courses based on them. Very active
judges can design well over 100 courses
a month. In most agility organizations,
once the courses are designed, they are
submitted to a person who reviews and
either approves/disapproves of each
course. I have heard of a single course
taking a judge as much as eight hours
to design. Once you've been doing it for
a while, however, many judges get that
time down to an average of an hour a
course. Think about all those hours that
go into the courses prior to a judge ever
showing up at an event!
Whatever venue you compete in, you
should take the time to locate that venue's course design guidelines and rules.
If you are aware of how many challenges
and side switches are supposed to be on
a course, you will be better able to read
and negotiate the course for your dog
before the course even makes it to the
ring. Most of the rules can be located by
searching on a venue's website or looking in the appropriate rulebook.

Clean Run | January 16

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run - January 2016