Clean Run - November 2019 - 20

TRIALING
ning at the lower end of the allowed
yards per second (YPS) could earn
enough points to qualify. But if your
dog is slow to turn, or takes a long
time to perform any of required obstacles, you may still get into trouble unless you recognise that the time might
be tight and you plan accordingly.
You can count squares on the course
map and add up the yardage that way,
or you can pace it out once you get
to the walk-through. But mostly you
should be able to eyeball the obstacles
and the distances between them; a
Snooker course with both a set of 12
weaves and a dogwalk will take longer
to run than a course without weaves
and with the teeter as the only contact. Ditto for a course with multiple
combinations.
Most entry-level Snooker courses will
have a flowing and smooth closing
sequence, so you should be able to
count on your dog running at their
best speed during the closing. So,
try to figure out the time the closing
should take you to complete based
on what you know about your dog's
average YPS on a Standard course, and
how it might be affected by the specific obstacles in play on the Snooker
course. For example, my dogs will take
much longer to perform weaves than a
straight tunnel, even though both obstacles take up about the same space
on course.
To figure out your dog's average YPS,
look at a few of your recent Standard
runs. Take 5 seconds off for the table
count (if a table was used) and divide
the course yardage, which is on the
results sheet. This will give you a reasonable approximation of your dog's
speed on course. You can also look at
your dog's average obstacle performance time, which we learned about
in my article on Gamblers in the March
2019 issue of Clean Run. This need not
be a super accurate calculation; you
mostly just don't want to be surprised
by the horn sounding way earlier than
you had planned.

Once you know if the closing is longish
or shortish, and if there are any obstacles that might present special time
constraints, you will know if you can
afford to spend a lot of time running
between obstacles spaced far apart on
the course, or if you have to try for a
shorter path. In any case, do the right
thing by your dog and present the
obstacles in a safe and sane manner.
Just as for Gamblers, you should plan
to handle the entire Snooker run like
a numbered course, and plan where
to place your turns and your cues.
Because a Snooker opening path can
end up looking like a plate of leftover
spaghetti, this can be hard, but to do
otherwise is unsafe and unfair to your
dog. So, even if your planned path is
twisty and turny like nobody's business, your dog needs a clear approach
and solid cues.
Note: "Not all points are created equal."
That doesn't sound like it makes any
sense, but it is true! You will generally earn points at a more rapid rate
during the closing than during the
opening. This is because the closing is
normally pretty flowing so your dog
can run faster, and there are no pesky
red jumps to interfere with progressive
point accumulation.
So, don't waste time in the opening
doing a fourth red and the 3-point
obstacle (for a total of 4 points) if it
means that you will run out of time
before you get to do the 7-point obstacle. Of course, doing that fourth red
may be a sound strategy if you are not
sure that your dog will perform the
7-point obstacle, or if you have already
taken the 7-point obstacle out of play
by knocking a bar, but as a general
rule, your dog will probably earn fewer
points per second in the opening than
in the closing. So be aware of what
your trade-offs might be when planning your course.
Take your time going through this
article to ensure you understand the
basic concepts. Next month, we'll put
some of the ideas into practice using
an actual Starters Snooker course
from a trial. D

Claire Duder is a companion animal veterinarian who practices in rural Ontario, Canada. She runs agility with
her Border Terriers Sydney and Rory. Claire can be contacted at ckduder@sympatico.ca.
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Clean Run | November 19

Clean Run - November 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run - November 2019