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Agility

Through these various organizations, agility is open to every pure-bred or mixed-breed registered dog of at least 12 months of age. The purpose of an Agility Trial is to afford owners the opportunity to demonstrate a dog's willingness to work with its handler under a variety of conditions.

Agility is a sport that appeals to all dog lovers - from young people to senior citizens. It has great spectator appeal. Agility is designed to demonstrate a dog's willingness to work with its handler in a variety of situations. It is an athletic event that requires conditioning, concentration, training and teamwork.

In an Agility Trial, dog and handler work together as a team combining athletic ability and training to negotiate a course of obstacles within a prescribed time period. As the dogs negotiate the course they must constantly be alert to the verbal cues and body language of their handlers.

The AKC offers three types of agility competition. The Standard Class has contact obstacles which have yellow "contact zones" at each end. Contact obstacles include A-frame, dog walk and seesaw. The dog must place a least one paw in the contact zone in order not to receive a fault. This encourages safety in training and in running the course.  Standard courses may also include open tunnels, closed tunnels, weave poles and a pause table.  Jumps include the tire or window jump, broad jump, panel jump and the single, double and triple bar jumps. 

The Jumpers with Weaves class has only jumps, tunnels and weaves poles with no contact objects to slow the pace.  Dog/handlers teams can therefore race through a course composed primarily of jumps demonstration a dog's speed and jumping ability.  This is a very fast course requiring instant decisions by the handler and close attention from the dog.

There are also Preferred Standard and Preferred Jumpers with Weaves Classes which afford an opportunity for a greater variety of dogs, and their handlers to participate in the sport of agility because of the lower jump heights and.

Time to Beat and the FAST classes are additional tests of strategy skill, accuracy, speed, timing and distance handling, to demonstrate a dog’s athletic ability and willingness to work with its handler in a fast-paced atmosphere over a variety of agility obstacles. As indicated by the title, the FAST class uses fifteen (15) point-valued obstacles and/or obstacle combinations. The course will include a ‘Send Bonus’ or distance element that will award a bonus of twenty (20) points if completed successfully, and is identified as the ‘Send Bonus.’

All competitions offer increasing levels of difficulty to earn Novice, Open, Excellent and Master titles. As the classes become more challenging, the dog is required to demonstrate higher levels of training and interaction with its handler.  After completing both an Excellent Standard title and an Excellent Jumpers title, handler and dog teams can compete for their MACH (Master Agility Championship) title.

The maximum attainable score in any class is 100 points. The qualifying score (for placement) is 85 or above, with no disqualifying faults such as displaced bars on jumps or missing a contact zone (the area on an obstacle within which the dog must step). The higher the level the fewer faults allowed.

Contact our Facilities Director for questions about renting our Agility Field.  Want to compete but don't know where to start?  Download this brochure Getting Started in AKC Companion Events which will introduce you to the AKC Sports of Obedience, Rally, Tracking and Agility. 

Or, visit the AKC's website for detailed information about AKC Agility.

For more information about agility, try these sites:
	CPE	ASCA	UKC	NADAC	USDAA

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