Clean Run - February 2011 - 45

Ready, Set, Trial!
By Jamie McKay, CPDT KA

How to Find and Enter Trials
Regulations pertaining to dog registration, eligibility, jump heights, obstacles, classes, and title requirements are specific to each agility organization that sanctions trials. So you’ll need to familiarize yourself with an organization’s rules before you enter one of their trials. The organizations all have online rule books available. Organizations that permit training in the ring can be a good starting venue for green dogs and handlers. Each organization also has a calendar of events on its website so that you can find the dates of upcoming trials. Once you’ve found a trial to attend, you need to get a premium or test schedule for that trial. The premium contains all pertinent information about the trial and includes a blank entry form. The premium can be downloaded from the event page of the sanctioning organization’s website, the hosting club’s website, or the trial secretary’s website. The trial secretary prepares the paperwork, processes entries, sends confirmations, and records and forwards scores to the sanctioning organization. The trial secretary may be a professional or a club
February 11 | Clean Run

member who volunteers for the position. If you do not have access to the Internet, you can request that a test schedule be mailed to you. When you read the premium, pay close attention to the timing required for your entry. Postmark on a specific date or opening on a specific date means that entries will not be accepted before this date. First received means that entries received on the opening day of the trial are accepted until the trial limit is reached. Some trials may offer unlimited entries while others have a predetermined number of entries. Trials that have a random draw statement accept entries until a specified date, at which time entries are drawn. If a random draw trial does not fill (reach stated entry limits), everyone who entered gets in. Trials can fill quickly or not at all. It’s prudent to ask local competitors whether it is advisable to send your entry via an overnight service. Online entries are offered for a few trials, and some organizations allow day-of-show entries. You will also find the closing date, after which no entries are accepted, in the premium. Jump height is determined by the height of your dog at

the withers (where the base of the neck meets the top of the shoulder blades) and is specific to the organization sanctioning the trial, as are the requirements for obtaining a permanent height card. Your dog will get measured by the judge at the trial; however, to figure out what height to put on the entry form, you can measure the dog yourself using a yardstick and a ruler held perpendicular to the yardstick and over the dog’s withers. If your dog measures close to the cutoff between two jump heights, you can enter the lower of the two jump heights. But be prepared for the higher jump height because if your dog measures over the cutoff at the trial, the dog will be moved into the higher height class. If, however, you enter the higher height and your dog measures at or below the cutoff, you may not move down to the lower jump height. Most organizations offer a division that allows you to jump your dog at one height lower than the one he measures into; for example, this division is called Preferred in AKC, Performance in USDAA, and Skilled in NADAC. In some divisions,

http://WWW.PBASE.COM/LESLEYLOU

Clean Run - February 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run - February 2011