Clean Run Magazine - April 2008 - 87

Agility Organization Compiled by Brenna Fender American Kennel Club By Sharon Anderson The 2007 statistics are in and the agility program has proven its continued popularity once again. There were 2,014 trials held and a record entry of 826,408 dogs. In its ﬁrst year, the new FAST class was popular; teams earned 7,160 FAST titles in 2007. Many dogs earned MACH titles: MACH, 553; MACH2, 298; MACH3, 172; MACH4, 86; MACH5, 52; MACH6, 43; MACH7, 29; MACH8, 20; MACH9, 16; MACH10, 10; MACH11, 6; MACH12, 7; MACH 13, 5; MACH 14, 6; MACH 15, 3; MACH 16, 3; and MACH17, 2. For 2007, the number one dog and handler team is Maureen Waldron with her Keeshond MACH17 Molly. A dog and handler team representing the AKC will run agility at the Crufts Dog Show in Birmingham, England, on March 8, 2008. Carrie Jones and her Border Collie, Jive, will run three times in one day at the biggest dog show in the world. All runs will be held in the main arena with thousands of people watching.The ﬁnals will be held at night with the group judging and will be ﬁlmed by the BBC. This is the ﬁrst time international agility will be featured in front of the evening reserved seats. English royalty is expected to attend. The 2008 AKC Agility National Championship was held in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on March 28-30. Be sure to visit the © MATTALLISONPHOTOGRAPHY.COM AKC website (www.akc.org) to view all the results of the event. The plans are ﬁnalized for the AKC World Team Tryouts in Hopkins, Minnesota, on May 2-4, 2008. All information is posted on the AKC website at www.akc.org/events/ agility/world/. The ﬁnal results will be posted as the event occurs and the team selection will soon follow. Plans are already underway for the AKC Agility Invitational in Long Beach, California, on December 12-14, 2008. The host hotel and convention center, The Westin Long Beach, is familiar to most competitors. The Queen Mary and the wonderful Aquarium of the Paciﬁc are within walking distance of the hotel, as is the beautiful tourist area of Long Beach. Some of the ﬁnest restaurants on the ocean where people sit outside and eat at the waterfront are also a trolley ride away. The trolley picks you up at the hotel and it is a ﬁve-minute ride to restaurants that vary from burgers to ﬁne dining. Hope you are working on being one of the top ﬁve MACH-pointed dogs of your breed so that you will earn the honor of being invited. Dogs On Course in North America By Jim Mills DOCNA has extended grandfathering in at experience levels until February 1, 2011. Our goal is to have more experienced dog/handler teams take the opportunity to move to a level at which they compete in other agility organizations in Standard, Jumpers, and Gamblers. This will give the true beginner handler teams the opportunity to earn placements with competitors of the same status. A competitor may choose only one organization from which they wish the points/clean runs/qualifying scores to be applied toward Standard, Jumpers, and Gamblers. Handlers may not mix organizations. At the time of dog registration, competitors should submit, along with the registration form payment, a copy of the dog’s achievement level documentation (title certiﬁcates or points reports). Since some organizations may be behind in issuing certiﬁcates, competitors may instead submit a copy of personal records of a dog’s achievements (a spreadsheet or other document showing dates, trials, events, judges, qualiﬁers, titles, and so on). In the event that competitors have neither of these available, they may complete an Experience Level Grandfathering Application, available on the forms page at www.docna.com/FormLibrary.aspx. DOCNA trusts competitors to submit truthful and valid personal records. Competitors might ﬁnd the need to move their dogs to a different division, perhaps as the dog ages. DOCNA offers a unique opportunity to move Qs; we believe if you have earned these at a more competitive level, you should be able to take them with you. April 08 | Clean Run Handlers may move their dogs between divisions (those they are eligible for), transferring any qualifying rounds not designated toward an existing title. For example, if a competitor wishes to move from the Competition division to Select, Veterans, or Grand Veterans division, it would be a lateral move and qualifying rounds can be moved. Other lateral moves include going from the Select division to either the Veterans or the Grand Veterans division, moving from the Veterans to the Grand Veterans division, and moving from Junior Handler to Select, Veterans, or the Grand Veterans division The Veterans division is for those dogs that have reached seven years of age, but are still physically capable of doing competitive agility, or dogs being handled by anyone 60 years of age or older. Jump heights are 4", 8", 12", 16", and 20" in the Veterans Division. DOCNA recognizes not all veteran dogs will age at the same rate; some dogs may require additional assistance as they grow older. Those competitors entering the Veterans Division who feel that their dog may require additional time and that a lower jump height would be in the dog’s best interest (rather than using this assistance to gain a competitive advantage), may choose to jump the dog 4" lower than the ofﬁcial Veterans’ heights. In the Veterans division, courses may not contain double or triple jumps. Standard course time for Veterans will be 15% more than Competition division standard course times in each event. For more information on DOCNA, please visit our website at www. docna.com. 87

http://www.akc.org http://www.akc.org/events/agility/world/ http://www.akc.org/events/agility/world/ http://www.docna.com/FormLibrary.aspx http://www.docna.com http://www.docna.com

Clean Run Magazine - April 2008

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