Thoughts on AKC?

[Sharon]

Akc

Thank you for making my point perfectly Sharon. In AKC you can HAVE mistakes. You can't in NADAC, not even in Novice. And there are definitely no time faults; if you're over, you don't Q, at any level. Therefore, moving up in AKC is easier.

As for people, I agree. If they're snotty at an AKC trial, they probably are at other trials and it's just those people. Which could just be my area. I have gotten more negativity from that venue overall. But, I have also met some wonderful people too.

We can agree to disagree, but you're not going to change my mind. AKC is overall easier to title in, IMHO. And that's all it is, my opinion. And people are people...it could be a regional thing, but again, this is what I've experienced so you can't really say I'm wrong, but I could be the exception, not the norm.

You are right that we can agree to disagree and I don't agree with you and leave it at that.But wll say that if moving up in AKC is easier then there would be a heck of lot more MACHS!!!JMO

 

[corbinam]

You are right that we can agree to disagree and I don't agree with you and leave it at that.But wll say that if moving up in AKC is easier then there would be a heck of lot more MACHS!!!JMO

I don't think that Cheryl is saying that getting a MACH is easy, it is just easier to move from Novice to Open to Excellent in AKC simply because of the number of Qs required.

In NADAC you need 10 Qs and from the easiest level it has to be a 100% clean run. In AKC, you only need 3 Qs and in Novice some faults are allowed (I think).

 

[Sharon]

Akc

I don't think that Cheryl is saying that getting a MACH is easy, it is just easier to move from Novice to Open to Excellent in AKC simply because of the number of Qs required.

In NADAC you need 10 Qs and from the easiest level it has to be a 100% clean run. In AKC, you only need 3 Qs and in Novice some faults are allowed (I think).

Getting a Q isn't easy at all in any venue.Tell people I know who are still in Novice in AKC that and they will say basically what I say.Maybe for the slower dogs it might be easier and the velcro dogs.

 

[ClantyreSheltie]

I have to say you would have thought I had MACH'd for the cheers that went up after getting QQ #1 yesterday. I haven't found anyone to be outright mean.

I know there are some snarky people, and some really clueless people, but you will have that no matter where you go. I don't do the other venues because I don't want to learn the rules. You can't take a step back towards your dog on a lead out? No repositioning yourself? What is that? It makes no sense, and illustrates why I don't do other venues.

 

[3Stars]

In NADAC you need 10 Qs and from the easiest level it has to be a 100% clean run. In AKC, you only need 3 Qs and in Novice some faults are allowed (I think).

You're close - the 10 Qs is the long route k9kreationz referred to - because the courses often require your dog to work so fast and at such a distance, many people do the 10 Qs through each level because it gives them a chance to get consistent results before moving up. It's a great option - one of my friends has a dog who doesn't like working at a distance, so she's moved up to Elite in everything else but stayed in Open for Chances. She's hoping both she and her dog gain more confidence and experience before moving up a level. So far I've been going the short route - 3 clean Qs for the title, but if my dog was having difficulty with anything I would definitely consider doing to the long route for that class.

FaST is very similar to Gamblers with a few rule differences, and I personally think the sends (gambles) tend to be less challenging than what you're probably accustomed to seeing in NADAC, at least at the levels above Novice.

T2B is similar to USDAA Steeplechase. There are no Novice, Open or Excellent classes, all dogs are entered in either Regular or Preferred. The obstacles are jumps, weave poles, a-frame and/or teeter. If both a-frame and teeter are used, each is performed once. If only a-frame or teeter are on the course, then it is performed twice. Runs have to be entirely clean to qualify and points are awarded based on your time relative to the fastest clean run in the height class.

It's good to know there are a couple of options for games. This discussion has evolved into a comparison, which I'm okay with - it's still answering my original question, and I'm learning more from this than I would have if people had just stuck to the question, so in the same spirit another thing I like about NADAC is the "games". I originally thought I would hate the "games", but they give us a great opportunity to clean up specific skill sets in a competition environment. On the Tunnelers run we work on speed, Touch and Go is about hitting the contacts, Hoopers is great for handling skills, and I use weavers to practice our entries and speed. I don't really care about Qing in the games, but they're fantastic for working on specific skills. I don't enter them every trial, but it's nice to have them there if I choose to.

I know there are some snarky people, and some really clueless people, but you will have that no matter where you go. I don't do the other venues because I don't want to learn the rules. You can't take a step back towards your dog on a lead out? No repositioning yourself? What is that? It makes no sense, and illustrates why I don't do other venues.

It's considered training in the ring, which is fair enough. I lost the Q once because a particularly nice smelling female dog was in before Starr, so he put his nose on the ground. I took a few steps back to get his attention, and that DQ'd us. Actually, the 2 dogs before him and 1 dog after Starr were all DQ'd for the exact same reason. Lesson learned - we went back to training and worked on keeping his nose off the ground when I leave him.

For some reason, not a lot of people on this forum seem to do NADAC, but based on this discussion, I'm extremely happy I started in this venue - it appears it have given me the skills needed to easily transfer over to other venues.

 

[k9kreationz]

I think you'll have fun in AKC. You'll get to (re)learn and utilize a lot of different handling techniques that you don't typically see in NADAC. the tighter courses brings on a whole new level of handling and you have to adjust from NADAC. You won't have to deal with obstacle discrimination (I forgot about that. I recall one course having two tunnels butted up against one another, talk about crazy, lol). Well, you do, but it's not as extreme. Oh, and I forgot to mention, as a Novice, you get to check in later and run later. Which means, no 7am briefing and you don't have to be there all day. However, once in Excellent levels, you do tend to sit around more between runs. I do miss my 1pm check-ins and 3-5pm runs. lol

I'm glad you'll have a friend there, it always makes it easier. Has that person run AKC? If so, it'll make it even more enjoyable. If they haven't run NADAC, let me know. I can point out some things you need to do that is different in AKC. If so, you are going to have so much fun. And yes, always ignore the snarky people and enjoy your day with your dog, regardless of what happens.

I admit, I did a search for your threads because I was trying to get a feel for the level of your dog. I did remember the course memorization issue though. See, with experience comes memory. It really is scary at first, but after awhile, you somehow just learn to remember it easier, faster, w/o a map, etc.

 

[k9kreationz]

I have to say you would have thought I had MACH'd for the cheers that went up after getting QQ #1 yesterday. I haven't found anyone to be outright mean.

I know there are some snarky people, and some really clueless people, but you will have that no matter where you go. I don't do the other venues because I don't want to learn the rules. You can't take a step back towards your dog on a lead out? No repositioning yourself? What is that? It makes no sense, and illustrates why I don't do other venues.

I love that about any venue. When people cheer and rally around a team. It makes you, as a handler, feel so great. Congrats again!

 

[ClantyreSheltie]

Oh, and I forgot to mention, as a Novice, you get to check in later and run later. Which means, no 7am briefing and you don't have to be there all day. However, once in Excellent levels, you do tend to sit around more between runs. I do miss my 1pm check-ins and 3-5pm runs. lol

Ha! Tell that to the Novice people who ran at 8am this weekend, then didn't run the other course until 3. I hate Novice because it is so spread out. The whole goal is to be OUT of Novice/Open.

I ran my two Excellent courses less than two hours apart.

It totally depends on how the trial is scheduled and what game classes are offered. But putting Novice/Open before Excellent allows the Excellent classes to be offset enough to reduce conflicts.

 

[3Stars]

I think you'll have fun in AKC. You'll get to (re)learn and utilize a lot of different handling techniques that you don't typically see in NADAC. the tighter courses brings on a whole new level of handling and you have to adjust from NADAC. You won't have to deal with obstacle discrimination (I forgot about that. I recall one course having two tunnels butted up against one another, talk about crazy, lol). Well, you do, but it's not as extreme. Oh, and I forgot to mention, as a Novice, you get to check in later and run later. Which means, no 7am briefing and you don't have to be there all day. However, once in Excellent levels, you do tend to sit around more between runs. I do miss my 1pm check-ins and 3-5pm runs. lol

I'm getting excited! I took a look at a couple of AKC courses last night - I think the biggest thing we'll need to focus on will be working angles on those tight courses. I'm excited about working on my handling - I love challenges, and that will help me no matter what venue I end up in. I guess the later check ins are a fair trade for only doing 4 runs.

I'm glad you'll have a friend there, it always makes it easier. Has that person run AKC? If so, it'll make it even more enjoyable. If they haven't run NADAC, let me know. I can point out some things you need to do that is different in AKC. If so, you are going to have so much fun. And yes, always ignore the snarky people and enjoy your day with your dog, regardless of what happens.

No, she hasn't run AKC either - she's actually the one who asked me if I would compete in AKC with her (no one else around here competes in AKC). I'll take all of the advice I can get . I think the plan is to continue with NADAC for this fall, and then try AKC in the spring and make a decision after a couple of trials as to which one to continue with. I can't really afford to compete at two different venues simultaneously, especially with all of the other dogsports we do - it gets really expensive, really fast.

 

[k9kreationz]

Ha! Tell that to the Novice people who ran at 8am this weekend, then didn't run the other course until 3. I hate Novice because it is so spread out. The whole goal is to be OUT of Novice/Open.

I ran my two Excellent courses less than two hours apart.

It totally depends on how the trial is scheduled and what game classes are offered. But putting Novice/Open before Excellent allows the Excellent classes to be offset enough to reduce conflicts.

Oops, forgot about that. Yes, it depends on the schedule. Over here, they run it pretty much the same way everywhere. Games are before JWW/Standard. And JWW/Standard Open and Novice run after Excellent.

So, when I started, games weren't really around yet. Which meant, I didn't start my runs till later in the afternoon. Once I moved up to Excellent, I was there at 7am and done by about Noon. Now, with the games. I'm there about 8-9ish and done around 2ish. I feel bad for the Nov/Open group if they do the games, cuz it means they're there from 7-5pm to run 3 runs. Yikes!

To the OP, I would check out the running schedule. If you're not interested in the games and the schedule is like mine, I'd just go for the regular classes. If it's all over the place, maybe make a day out of it.

Thanks for pointing that out Rachael, I always forget that in different areas, the schedules aren't the same.