Comment

Comment by Cheri on January 13, 2011 at 8:14am

NADAC courses are more "open". The obstacles are further apart and the dog has more of an opportunity to stretch out and run at top speed. I believe this is because the goal in NADAC is speed and distance handling. AKC courses are usually tighter and have more twists and turns. The goal in AKC is to test your teamwork under different circumstances. Dudley prefers the opportunity to run as fast as possible on the NADAC courses. He's all about running as fast as he can.

 

As for what is best for first time competitors, that's a judgement call. Everyone has their preferences. I can give you my opinion but it's based on the preferences of my dog and my handling style. Dudley likes to run and I handle from a distance so we do better at NADAC. That said, between the two venues, AKC and NADAC, my recommendation would be to start with NADAC. There are more games, less equipment, the atmosphere is more relaxed, and the rules are not as rigid for Novice handlers. To me that makes it more Novice friendly. NADAC will allow "training" in the ring. No toys or treats (and you're not going to Q if you train in the ring), but as long as you're not excessive with your training it's allowed. For example if your dog doesn't stick their 2o2o at the bottom of the A-Frame you can take them back and load them to a 2o2o position on the contact and then release them. If you did that in AKC you'd be whistled off the course for training in the ring. Like I said you're not going to qualify but qualifying is not always the goal. When you're Novice the first goals should just be 'experience' and 'fun'. Think of it as a class in a different place. If you Q that's a bonus.

Plus with NADAC there are games you can enter your dog in before they can do all the equipment. I started entering Dudley in NADAC as soon as I could because he is soft and needed to be exposed to the trial environment over time to get him comfortable before I started to have expectations. I started him in Jumpers and Tunnelers in NADAC. Jumpers in NADAC has only single bar jumps and may have a tunnel (no weave poles). Tunnelers is just what it sounds like. It's a course made up of all tunnels. That's Dudley's favorite obstacle so, as long as you don't care whether they do the course correctly, it's a great way to build confidence in a soft dog that enjoys tunnels. They're doing something fun and are praised for doing what they did. 

 

I think that's an important key point in expectation level when you start trialing also. Don't think of this as a trial or test but as another class. Dogs don't generalize so going to a trial is going to appear to them as something totally new while to us it seems the same. Make sure to be happy and excited for their efforts. It's a good practice right from the start to ALWAYS praise them for their efforts. When people ask me how Dudley did he always did great. He gets praise and a reward after EVERY run. I, on the other hand, sometimes have some challenges--no cookies for the handler! But given the input that I provide to Dudley, he always does a fantastic job! I think it's very important to learn this attitude from the beginning. You and your dog will have a ton of fun for a long time.

Comment by Carrie Ritter on January 13, 2011 at 2:35am

Cheri, what is the difference in NADAC and AKC courses? I am at the point where we are considering getting ready for trials. There are so many associations to pick from too. What is best for first time competitors?

Comment by Cheri on January 12, 2011 at 2:49pm

I do Rally with Dudley once a year basically. I enter him in Rally at Cardigan Welsh Corgi Nationals. He's got his RN but since he got it, he's decided that Rally judges are evil beings who might goose him from behind or something. He now does Rally looking over his shoulder, staring at the judge, and attempting to side step if he thinks they're getting too close. *sigh* I'm going to start working with him more to get him over this hump but probably won't enter him in the next level of Rally. Like you said, it's like piano lessons to him. Heck AKC agility is almost piano lessons to him too. Dudley SO prefers NADAC! He really shines on a NADAC course. He's got over 80 qualifying runs in NADAC and we've never traveled out of town to do NADAC. We travel often to do AKC and have nowhere near as good a record in AKC as we do in NADAC. In NADAC we're going for all our Superior titles (with the exception of Hoopers which I hate). We're within 1 Q of having all our Superior Novice titles and are just a couple of Q's away from moving up to Elite in one game. I love that NADAC allows you to "stay and play". Offering the Superior titles just gives you the benefit of more practice in a real trial situation. I don't understand why more people don't take advantage of that opportunity.

 

Comment by Gail and Ashton on January 12, 2011 at 2:31pm

You go Cheri and Dudley! That is a well thought out plan!

 

My husband is working with Ashton towards their first trial this March at our Kennel Club's spring agility show. Ashton LOVES agility and we think this is the performance sport for him. Getting his last legs in Rally Excellent are going to be, unfortunately, the complete opposite. :P I'm pretty sure Ashton sees it like the difference between playing on the playground equipment at the park or staying inside for a few hours of piano lessons. LOL

Comment by Cheri on January 12, 2011 at 12:27pm

My training is continuing. I've got a 2 year plan that I just started working on. I want to go to AKC Nationals in 2013 because it's going to be close to where I live. Here's my plan. From December 1, 2010 to November 30, 2011 I'm working on my AKC handling skills while running Dudley at his full jump height. Up to now we've been in Preferred and am in Ex B Std and Ex A JWW in Preferred. Moving up to his regular jump height put us back at Novice so I have easier courses to work on my AKC handling skills and work out the kinks.

Once November 30 rolls around then I will decide whether I want to compete at Nationals at our regular jump height or at our Preferred jump height. You have to compete at the Preferred jump height for the entire qualification period so I need to make my decision as to which height I'm going to stick with for the coming year. I should know by then whether he's okay at 12" or put him back down to 8".

Then I start the qualification period on December 1, 2011. I plan to winter in Texas in January through March of 2012 and plan to enter a trial every weekend in January and as many as possible in February and March to start off 2012 with a bang! Then, hopefully, by November 30, 2012 we'll have enough double Q's and points to have qualified for Nationals in April of 2013.

That's my plan!

I have a trial in a week and a half. I'll be doing the Sunflower KC trial in Lawrence KS the weekend of Jan 22. I'm going to try out some of my new handling skills so I don't expect to qualify. But it will be a great learning experience.

Comment by Megan on January 12, 2011 at 12:02pm

So how has everyone's agility training going? Any trials coming up in the near future?

Comment by Judy & Taffy on August 21, 2010 at 10:10am

The Agility registration form we filled asked if Taffy had done an obedience class.
We answered "yes"! We just didn't elaborate on how badly she behaved :) All she really needed for Agility was sit/stay. After 6 weeks she is the star of the class!

Comment by Nancy on August 20, 2010 at 5:17pm

most basic agility classes will require a sit .. stay ... and down. It couldn't hurt.

Comment by Amanda & Sophia on August 20, 2010 at 5:12pm

really wanting to get my corgi into agility classes but should I take her through obedience classes first??

Comment by Charlie and Bode's Mom on June 19, 2010 at 5:19pm

Way to go!!! Congratulations!

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