How do you earn points?

A

Ania

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OK, so I am taking Maia to foundation agility classes. She is doing well. I also went to a Lynda Orton Hill agility seminar as an auditor (she trains with Susan Garrett and teaches at 'Say Yes Dog Training'.) It is all a bit overwhelming to be honest. I know it will take years before I can enter her in a trial.

I was wondering, in agility how do you get 'points' towards a title? Is it like in conformation, where only the 'winners' get the points? I think I get how you earn the Q's, but I could not find anywhere explaining how you earn points. I read that you need so many points and Q's for certain titles, and each organization will have different amounts required, but no where did it say how you get the points? I wish there was a book or something that explains all the rules for newbies like myself.
 
For novice-excellent a, you just need 3 Qs per title. For your MX and MXJ (your excellent b titles) you need 10 Qs each. For your MACH, you need 20 double Qs (q in standard and jumpers in the same day) and 750 MACH points. You can start earning MACH points once you are in excellent B. You get 1 point for each second under course time you are. Say course time is 65, and you run it in 47. You'd get 18 MACH points for the run. You can also earn multipliers. If you place first, you get double the points. So if you won the class, and you finished 18 seconds under course time, you'd earn 36 MACH points. If you place second, you get 1.5 times the points. If you finished 18 seconds under course time, and came in second, you would get 27 MACH points. You don't get multipliers for 3rd, 4th, or no placement.
Ideally, a person has a fast AND accurate dog who can earn both MACH points and double Qs at a good rate. Often though, either there is a slow but accurate dog who winds up needing to spend more time working on points, or there is a fast dog who doesn't double Q quite as often, and winds up having to work on double Qs to finish a MACH.
 
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Points

Stacey did a great job explaining it. Shadow went with my friend to NY this weekend to a trial. I can not run till I go to the orthopedic doctor tommorrow to find out what I did to my knee two weeks ago.Anyways, he won the Ex.B Satndard class and picked up 50 MACH points.JWW No Q. But in Standard his time was 41.17 yardage was 176 yards and SCT time was 67 seconds.How does it work in UKC? Is it similar with the titles 3 legs for Novice etc?
 
A Q is a qualifying score. The early levels will allow you to incur some faults and still qualify. Novice being the most lenient, open allowing I believe a wrong course and refusal (unless it's jumpers) and excellent you must be perfect.
 
Thank you. That helps a lot. This is so new to me. I want Maia to do well, so I'm trying to learn as much as I can about the rules and everything else. training is hard as is - for me more so than her! I'm learning to have patience, lots of it. The hardest thing for me is to just learn to have fun and relax! (or so my instructor tells me) Thanks again.
 
Lovely said:
Okay, thanks guys!! (And sorry Ania for high-jacking that part!)
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No problem, I didn't know all that either! There seems to be so much to know. I want to know when I get to learn it all - the rules that is. Maia is going to be 1 this week. I feel like I am behind in her training already! but most of all, MY training! They say that your first agility dog will not be your best one (b/c you are still learning) and that makes me so sad, b/c I think Maia has what it takes - she is totally bonded to me, loves to run and is fast, is learning quickly, has the drive, is very agile and loves to play tug (which according to my instructor is important in her training as it builds the drive and motivation). SO I am trying to learn as much as I can, as quickly as I can so I don't let her down.
 
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