Agility show debut - Epic and I!

Well I looked it up but I am like that.

Large dog- for dogs measuring over 17" jump 25.6" Whoa!
Medium- 13.75"-17" dogs jump 17.7"
Small for dogs under 13.75" jump 13.75"

Interesting. So really little dogs and those just over 17" are at a real disadvantage.

My dogs Diva and Ember would be Small dogs. Birch still a medium dog, barely. Gives a new light onto your competitions over there.
 
Exactly Dr Shelli. On a good day Merlin measures just under 17" on a bad day just over. In BAA I can choose to put him in either the mini or medium class, in KC he would be jumping 8" over his own height! Absolutely no way!

KC have come under a lot of criticism for there height divisions, especially as independent shows are offering four heights with much more realistic measurements. Many people with 17" dogs have given up on KC, I even found the editor of the KC agility magazine complaining about it.

I'm not sure who the KC is aiming at, but it isn't for people with dogs who aren't the perfect size.
 
Even as a newbie I've picked up on this. I'm now training in a slightly more advanced class so we have 'large' dogs and the difference in jump height between medium and large is visually alarming. :eek2:

Personally I can't see the need to have the jumps at this height for any dog/breed. I don't think there are any very large dogs competing and it would be dangerous for Giant breeds anyway to try and jump that height.

The majority of competitors seem to be collies/collie type and even they are making a significant effort to clear the jumps, way more than the smaller height dogs need to. Epic for instance is on the small/medium cusp and can if necessary jump medium without stretching himself. Other than collies, the large breeds seem to be retrievers, GSDs, Pointers etc which are all less springy. I know they should all be able to clear that height but would be concerned about joint stress doing it repeatedly in the agility context rather than once or twice in the gundog context.
I'm also surprised there is no 'ground line' and the jumps look very airy with just one single pole. Presumably dogs are not like horses and don't need a ground line?

I've noticed some (not KC) shows offer 'Micro' course for Toy breeds and other tinys and I think the jump height was 8" which seemed a very good idea. :smile2:

When I was starting out, I very much wanted to do Working Trials. However I was deterred by having to put my 15 1/2" sheltie over a 6ft scale and 9ft long jump. Even the lowest CD level requires this. Unfortunatly the KC performance discplines seem to be geared towards Border Collies (they dominate in pretty much everything). I find this very sad as many breeds are equally able to perform to a high standard, they just don't do it in the same manner the collie does. The options seem to be to train your non-collie to work like a collie or get a collie if you want to succeed.
On the plus side though, the KC permits all dogs to compete, whatever their breeding. I think the FCI only allows registered pedigree breeds which is rather unfair IMO.
 
Those are my thoughts exactly Julia. My friends 7 year old BC has developed arthritis in her wrists, which my friend believes is a direct result of her doing agility at the full KC height. She has had to be retired and will spend the rest of her life on restricted exercise. All for the sake of ridiculous jump heights!
 
I was reading a discussion on this last night (jump heights) and was interested to see the views of those against a 4th height. It seems the issues are primarily - if a fourth height was introduced then why not a 5th, 6th etc and there would always be dogs the 'wrong' side of the height. What was interesting though was that the height of the jump was considered a safety feature to slow dogs down (primarily BCs I would think) and they would apparently just crash through lower jumps. I would think that was a training issue though. :confused2:

BAA sounds like they have the right idea in allowing handlers to chose which height they feel is appropriate. It's refreshing to find that there are a variety of organisations running agility shows to cater for everyone. I wish there was in obedience too. I might try and get to a BAA show at Littleport one day as that's not too far to travel (used to show there frequently).
 
I am sorry that I'm so late to respond--I wanted to make sure I had plenty of time to read your report :) I'm so happy to hear that it went well. Kudos to you for focusing on the positive--sounds like there were so many good things!

What a good boy, Epic!
 
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