Every dog agility organization is unique, and if you are going to beginning heading to competitions, one of your first steps will be to determine the correct grouping or class for your dog. Typically, agility classes are divided into two distinct categories – Standard and Nonstandard. Within those two categories, you must learn about each of the classes within them.
Standard Agility
For most of us, especially as we begin our dog agility careers, the standard class is where we compete. Dogs competing in the standard class will be divided up by age and size, but the courses will all include the same basic equipment. For instance, in the USDAA, the largest American dog agility organization, this equipment includes the A-frame, teeter, dog walk, weave poles, a pause table, an open tunnel, collapsible chute, tire jump and an assortment of other jumps or hurdles. The height of the equipment might vary, as junior competitors, senior competitors and smaller breeds might necessitate different heights. However, performance and time penalties also typically are standardized in this category.
Nonstandard Agility Classes
In the USDAA, there are four classes under the Nonstandard Category and these include Gamblers, Jumpers, Relay and Snookers. Other organizations, such as the North American Dog Agility Council (NADAC) also use some of these classes. If you have your heart set on one of these four classes, be sure to select an agility organization that offers these classes. In addition, the scoring, timing and rules can vary depending on the organization.
Gamblers truly take dog agility to the outer limits. For this class, your agility run comprises two distinct parts. During the first part of the run, you and your dog are scrambling to acquire as many points as possible during an allotted period of time. Each obstacle has a specific point value, and the goal is to go through as many obstacles as possible. The second half of the run relates to distance handling, and the handler must direct the dog at a distance through a series of obstacles. Gamblers is a class in both USDAA and the NADAC. The American Kennel Club has a similar dog agility competition known as “Fifteen and Send Time” or FAST.
Jumpers is a class that basically focuses on jumping, as the name suggests. Contact obstacles, including the A-frame, dog walk and teeter are excluded from the agility course. Dogs must traverse a series of hurdles as well as tunnels. Occasionally weaves are part of the course, but this is not always the case. If your dog excels and jumping and tunnels, this might be a great option for you.
Relay is a team dog agility competition which includes two or more competitors as well as handlers. There will be at least 15 obstacles on a relay course, and probably more. Each dog in the team must perform a set number of obstacles during their run. For this event, dogs must be grouped according to size. After all, you would not want to have a team consist of a dog under 12 inches with a dog that is 22 inches or higher, as the jump heights are different for these two dogs and you certainly wouldn’t expect a small dog to be able to safely navigate higher jumps.
Snooker is an interesting class and is loosely based on the cue sport of Snooker, however dogs obviously aren’t holding cues and knocking balls into the pockets of a snooker table. Although, that would make a lovely velvet painting, but we digress.
Snooker is a complicated game, and it involves heading out onto the agility course and completing various obstacles, each of which is assigned a color. Each obstacle also has a point value assigned to it. There are four jumps designated by the color red. For the opening sequence, your dog will enter the course, go over one red jump and then complete an obstacle of your choice, then do another red jump, then another obstacle of your choice. Then the dog completes a third red jump and then one more obstacle of your choice. The dog cannot do the same red jump or same obstacle. Once this combination of red jumps and obstacles is complete, the dog must complete the rest of the obstacles on the course that were not already completed.
These nonstandard classes typically are meant for advanced agility dogs and handlers with a bit of competition experience. Once you get your feet wet with standard competitions, you just might be tempted to join in on the fun of these special dog agility competitions. If you are just getting started with agility in general, we have a huge selection of dog training equipment, including several handy starter kits to get you going.
