Dog Agility Sport

The dog cannot be confined to a leash during agility competitions. As the clock ticks on, the dog has to complete various obstacles, ranging from jumps to pipes as spectators watch from the stands.

Dog agility is a knock off of equestrian stadium jumping, but it now has its own obstacles, rules and scoring agenda separate from the original root source. There are numerous organizations that cater to dog agility participants.

In the United States, you can find organizations that conduct trials through local dog training clubs. These groups adhere to the rigid international rules for agility performance.

During a dog agility competition, the participants are judged, not only on speed, but also on physical performance within the obstacle course. Each country also has its own set of domestic rules they sometimes go by, such as scoring that is handler-based rather than performance-based.

Ideally, the organization handling the trial will ensure that the agility obstacle course is designed with the safety of the dog in mind. For instance, if a dog calculates distance wrong, he won't get injured on the jump bar because they're displaceable. And surfaces are roughened up before competitions to ensure the dog doesn't slip or slide and get injured during an agility competition.

During an agility competition, the animals and handlers will participate in various obstacle courses that offer different levels of challenge based on the pet's level of ability. When the trial begins, the handler has to maneuver the dog through the course without use of a leash or reward, beating the complicated course in the least amount of time.

As the dog and its handler participate in more agility trials, they will usually move up to a higher level of competition, where the courses get more complex and higher levels of skill are required.

When a dog does something wrong during a competition, it's known as a "fault," and they are penalized if they go over the standard time calculations. Dogs of equal size are pitted against one another in divisions. Then the animal that participates in the agility training and garners the shortest time and least number of faults wins, along with its handler who helped guide him through the course.

When you participate in the sport of dog agility, chances are you'll begin by joining a local group and handling your dog on a local course. But eventually, you may want to enter the world of master tournaments, such as the United States Dog Agility Association.

When it comes to scoring a professional trial for a dog agility competition, there are three basic ways the performance can be scored - standard scoring, time-plus-faults scoring, and points-based scoring.

With standard scoring, the dog and handler are judged against the STC, or Standard Course Time that is pre-determined by a judge overseeing the agility competition. The exact time will be set according to the level of the competition, depending on if it's a starter, advanced, or masters trial.

In standard scoring with dog agility competitions, faults are still assessed a penalty. The winner is whoever has the shortest period of time with the fewest penalties. If there's a tie, then the fastest time wins.

Time-plus-faults scoring is determined by speed. The score of the handler and dog in the agility competition is calculated by the actual time on the course plus penalties. So if the time score was 38.27 seconds on the course, but the dog incurred 9 penalties, then the score would be 47.27 seconds.

In this case, the winner of the dog agility competition is whichever dog has the lowest score overall. If a tie erupts, then a jump-off is used to determine the winner. The last scoring choice is points-based scoring.

With points-based scoring in dog agility competitions, the winner is determined according to gamblers, snooker, and other classes. Judges assign values to a certain obstacle, and each performance has a time requirement.

The points are accumulated throughout the obstacle course. If the dog achieves something, such as no faults, then he is given extra points for his performance in the dog agility competition.

With points-based scoring, the highest points-earner is the winner. Ties are broken using the fastest time as the key to winning the competition. As you go from beginner or starter status to masters-level champion, you'll pick up the rules for each organization along the way.