#usdaa

[wyrddogs]

This was Kermit’s first time actually competing in an agility trial-- at the previous one I only had him entered as FEO.

His Jumpers Starters run was amazing. I think he was a bit tired by then because he was slowing down a bit on the final stretch, but again I love the enthusiasm. He had a great time and was very popular with the audience.

I believe he was also the only 4-inch dog entered in the trial.

#kermit #dachshund #agility #usdaa #literally we left the ring and a bunch of people ran over #'if I'd known dachshunds could do agility I'd have done it with mine!' #'maybe I need one of these' #'what an amazing little dog' #the judge told me she'd wished she'd known I was entered #because she would have given me her dachshund shirt #anyway run dachshunds in agility #it's great

[lloonlloon]

Wow… amazing how well the dog runs when you handle decently… *surprised pikachu*

#6 seconds over time 😭😭😭😭 #we have never got a Grand Prix qualifying run 😭😭😭😭🔫 #estrella #dog agility #USDAA #Grand Prix

[twobigears]

Rule updates from USDAA! Including a 8″/P4″ height for @wyrddogs!

additionally:

no spreads for Championship dogs below 12″ (new), no spreads at all in Performance (unchanged)

dogs may no longer jump higher than their measured height in Performance (good!!)

minimum age for competition lowered from 18 months to 15 months (terrible change, throw it in the trash!)

long jump length will be twice the jump height, rather than arbitrary lengths it used to be

Rapid Title Advancement - start competition at any level, so you can skip Starters and go straight to Masters if you want (also terrible, but people wanted this)

and more!

#dog agility #agility #USDAA

[groenendaze]

Do you have any tips for getting into dog sports? I've got an 8-month-old dalmatian/gsd/pit mix (my absolute best friend and also the bane of my existence, teenagers are a menace lol) who's crazy smart and athletic. The stuff you do with your pups looks awesome and I think we'd both really enjoy it! I'm just not sure where to start to look for clubs/events/etc. Any advice is appreciated!

Dog sports are one of those things where you either just happen to accidentally fall into it or you fight tooth and nail to find a place.

Some of the best ways to find places are to reach out to trainers/competitors in your area or close to you (FB and instagram are the easiest for this imo - if you have found any!). The rest depends on the sports you want to do and where you're located. A good way to try and find more sports would be to see if there are any in your area: google your city + "dog training club" or the sport you're looking for. See if any places offer classes (classes are a GREAT way to get started and test the waters!). Or look for events in your area and go watch! I wouldn't recommend trying to volunteer my first time watching an event, but it's a great place to get started and look for people who might know more people in your area that could help you. Most people are nice and like helping newbies out, but there are always some bad eggs in the pot!

Unfortuently, I'm not super great at finding non-American events, so I apologize if you aren't in the US! But if you are, there are a couple websites that you can check out. For AKC sanctioned events (FastCAT/AKC agility/Rally-O/Confo/etc), AKC has an event calendar.

For things like disc, you can check out UpDog's event page, Skyhoundz event page, USDDN (international), UFO (international), Quadruped, or AWI.

Agility has a couple besides AKC: UKI, CPE, NADAC, and USDAA.

Dock has a few with the main one being NADD and Ultimate Air Dogs.

For flyball, UFLI has a tournament list page. NAFA also does tournaments but I only do UFLI and NAFA's website looks like hasn't been updated since, like, the 90s.

There are other sports, like bitesports (PSA/IGP/Mondio/French Ring) or racing (AOK9, etc) but I know nothing about the racing world and bitesports are one of those sports (much like Flyball tbh) where you'd need to reach out to a club first because a club will make or break a dog.

I got into agility back in like, 2019 or something because I took classes from a local facility and went to some AKC events and asked around. I got into PSA because I googled "bitesports [city]" and found the closest club was an hour a half, so I emailed them. And then made that drive every weekend for 10 or so months haha (I put so many miles on my car). Moved to Wisconsin and reached out to a disc club local to me asking for a private lesson in disc on Facebook, ended up accidentally getting invited to play Toss & Fetch and my disc obsession spiraled from there. Ended up getting into flyball because I made friends with a lot of flyball people at disc. Everything else I've tried (like barn hunt/herding/etc) was a combination of looking on the AKC event page and going "I can do that", a friend going "you can do this, come to X event", or me frantically googling locations or sports or classes or private lessons.

When I first started out, I struggled a LOT. In Texas, there were quite a few places and clubs around me, but I only had about three months of that before I moved to Arkansas, which was a dog sport dead zone. I didn't have the connections or knowledge to even know where to look to get access to those places. It took me months to find the one single place where I could rent an agility field. I spent most of my time throwing a frisbee in a park not even knowing that disc was a dog sport I could compete in. Luckily, where I am now is pretty dominated by the sports I love and I've made a lot of really amazing connections which helps with knowing the who's/what's/how's of everything!

Good luck and I hope this helps!

#if you are local to me feel free to reach out too and I can help more! #or if you need help in a specific sport - i know a Lot of disc clubs and people and quite a few flyball ones now too

[border-collie]

Ever's half sister is kicking ass at USDAA internationals and I'm so excited for our future

[whatisshelties]

Every time I enter an AKC trial it reaffirms my decision not to compete in AKC agility.

I think it's mostly the courses. They are just not my cup of tea. My opinion is also currently flavored by "I don't like these jump heights for my dog."

I also can't say I'm a fan of watching so many other dogs that are jumping higher than they want to because Preferred is for "old dogs." There were a lot of dogs that looked clunky jumping and then would pull off, pause, or go around if the handler was not 100% on top of it. I guess you could blame handling, but I'm like...if that jump was lower the dog would have taken it. (My dog would be included in the clunky jumper category, but he's already in Preferred and I'm going to be gone ASAP.)

Handlers that do both NADAC and AKC are much more willing to put their dogs in Preferred.

I am once again irritated that Mud can only compete in NADAC, ASCA, and CPE if I don't want to jump him 20" or 24". He can do like...Veterans USDAA, but I think that's a special class/division clubs have to offer and he needs to be 8? I think??? People be like "Branch out and try new orgs." Yeah, not jumping my dog with arthritic shoulders at 20" or 24".

#dog agility #i feel like the main reason i've even tossed around trying other orgs is to like see ppl i haven't seen in a billion years #and maybe meet some new ppl???

[pawsitivevibe]

I'm hoping to start a drop-in "try this course" thing at my agility club this year. I'll build a course from a different agility organization and whoever wants to can come run it.

Going to do a lot of NADAC courses, but I might throw in some CKC. Maybe CPE?

Are there any other organizations I should look at for interesting or different courses? My club runs AAC, has an IDAL team, and has started hosting UKI too. I think USDAA is pretty similar to AAC, but with tighter more awkward courses, so I don't think I'll look at that. I don't know if AKC is similar to CKC? I assume so?

Honestly I *might* just do NADAC courses, since they prioritize nice and flowing courses with no weird angles. I would love to see interest in NADAC take off around here. I know it's pretty popular out West, but not so much in Ontario.

I do really want to do more "games" courses that we don't have in AAC. So something other than Gamblers, Snookers, Jumpers, or Steeplechase. IDAL actually does a lot of fun games that I've never seen before, which is nice. I also really want to maybe run a Teams games night, where everything is a pairs course and your partner is randomly assigned. AND I kinda want to run an Updog fun night to see if I could drum up interest in that at the club.

I would honestly run so many fun free things at the club if I was allowed to, but everything always has to go through the board and SOMEONE always has to be a naysayer. 🙄 Lemme just tell ya, it's a miracle I've got Hoopers off the ground. And even now that I've won that, promises of equipment are being backtracked on, and it's really annoying..

#agility #dog agility #dog sports

[petnews2day]

Greenfield Recorder - Franklin County Fairgrounds hosting regional dog agility competition

New Post has been published on https://petn.ws/Uclfv

Greenfield Recorder - Franklin County Fairgrounds hosting regional dog agility competition

GREENFIELD — Hundreds of canines and their handlers will compete at the Franklin County Fairgrounds on April 26 through April 28, vying for top honors in the United States Dog Agility Association’s (USDAA) New England Regional Championship. Organized by the Playing Agility With Style (PAWS) club, the New England Regional Championship is one stop on […]

See full article at https://petn.ws/Uclfv #DogNews

#Dog News

[toccata11]

"Zip is a multiple champion. She competed in three different agility disciplines (AKC, USDAA, and NADAC) and achieved the championship title of Master Agility Dog Champion (MACH) four times in AKC... But on January 8, 2011, everything suddenly changed. Zip was fetching sticks with a group of children at a Saints’ playoff party when she became the victim of a “hit and run” reckless speeder. Her very active lifestyle came to an abrupt halt.  Emergency surgery was performed that night to repair her broken back (technically, a T-13, L1 dorsal vertebral subluxation) and the tear in her lungs from broken ribs. She also had a left ischium (hip) fracture... [after surgery and rehab] Then one day I brought her to agility practice. It was too hot to leave her in the car so my husband put her on a mat near the field. Suddenly Zip appeared at the base of the AF. She’d crawled 60 feet from her mat; she wanted to play agility. A friend and my husband decided to put the bars down on the course and I was handed a leash attached to Zip’s wheelchair. They said, “Run her.” I had reservations but Zip was gleefully barking by this time..."

#youtube

[jacksonleoblog]

usdaa

Seeking for joint health for dogs online? Antinol engaged USDAA to collaborate on a partnership that would help shed light on the important topic and raise awareness of common mobility issues faced by aging dogs and dogs engaged in sport. Get detailed informatiopn at Antinol USA.

[trubluebecca]

I finally started to work on a print for Cynosport today after doing some thumbnails the other week. My thought was to do a Wild West theme. It would kind of go with the piece I did for 2017 NADAC Championships that featured agility in space.

I just haven't been feeling it. Today I was playing in SketchUp to try and layout the background at least somewhat realistically for an agility course and get some help with perspective and all that. That's all the progress I've made with just over a month to the show.

Then I realized all the work is probably going to result in only a couple sales of $20 prints. Of course every piece is valuable experience and has potential to be used in a portfolio or sold forever as prints. That said, if I value this as a $300-$500 illustration, add on the cost of prints, a couple purchases won't cover the investment.

My NADAC Champs posters weren't wildly popular each year I did them. I think I sold more the first year than the second. The second I wasn't selling them in person. I just sold pre-orders online and shipped a few to the site to be sold by someone else.

I suspect commission orders are going to be the bulk of my "sales" at the show. I'm planning to offer gift certificates, which I also suspect will do well so close to the holidays.

For kicks here is my SketchUp mock up with the photo I wanted to use as a base for the dog slapped on top of it, lol. I was planning to modify the dog to look more like the one in the logo on the Cynosport website. Pretty much just need to color change the the dog to have an urajiro pattern, lol. I wanted to have a desert background with saguaros and stuff. Maybe make the equipment look kind of ghost towny, lol.

Another factor in my lack of motivation is that I'm not so well acquainted with USDAA staff and feel like I might be stepping on toes if I try to sell a print too closely inspired by their logo. Wouldn't have a problem contacting NADAC staff, but USDAA (or any other org, lol) I'm not as comfortable with.

I had two commissions come in this week, and I'd like to get them done before I end up swamped at the end of the year. I'd like to get the rest of my products order from printers this week. Maybe I'll change my mind if I get everything else done and have the time to finish the piece and get prints ordered, but I have my doubts it will happen.

#i took taht photo myself #in 2009 lmao

[wyrddogs]

Had an amazing time on Saturday at the USDAA trial! This was Kermit's second-ever trial and it was also my first-ever USDAA trial. Fun!

I entered Kermit in Starters Standard FEO because he's not quite ready for teeter outside of classtime. So we skipped the first few obstacles to focus on the a-frame and weave poles. He totally rocked it! He skipped a bunch of poles in the weaves but I love his enthusiasm so I'll take that over precision until he gets more practice in the trial setting.

I was Planning on working on the dogwalk in today's Standard FEO but my oil light came on while I was driving home. Sigh. Oh well.

#kermit #agility #dachshund #usdaa

[lloonlloon]

Will you guys look at this freak. She refuses to expend any less than maximum effort for every bounce 🙄

#pls stop taking off so early too! god! #estrella #dog agility #USDAA #jumpers

[twobigears]

why do you disagree with "if he stops then that's a him problem?" re: wyrddogs post on kermit's agility class

This need the full quote for context:

“You are learning to handle the course. If he stops that’s a him problem."

Sarah Stremming has talked about this concept multiple times on her podcast and I have similar thoughts. Agility is fucking hard and complicated for both dog and handler! I think it better serves both halves of the team to separate things into "we are training the dog" and "we are training the handler" and reinforce based on that.

If a session is currently about the handler learning, then it needs to valuable and well-paid for the dog to stick through it. If I want to work on reduced/delayed reinforcement, then that needs to be done with behaviors and/or handling that can be executed with little/no issue since the main challenge is the delayed/reduced reinforcement.

I hope that helps!

#replies #ask a question #Kermit is a good man and i love Him #cannot wait to see him rocking USDAA courses now that he can play there!!

[randyuniverse]

IMG_6104 by Matt Drobnik Via Flickr: Sunday is funday with LCDA in Charleston, SC

#matt #drobnik #lcda #low #country #dog #agility #usdaa #charelston #sc #2017

[border-collie]

Once I have a full agility set up, I can do USDAA from home and then it's going to be all over for you bitches

#PLUS I CAN FINALLY TRAIN RDW 😍 #still cant believe the deal my mom found #an entire full aluminum set for 2k from someone who is retiring