Agility People! What equipment do you have at home?

[DarkenStormy]

I run NADAC, USDAA and ASCA. We love the NADAC and ASCA - nice open flowing courses and all about time. USDAA is hard for us because I have a bigger fast dog who has to jump the 26" height, so the tighter courses are harder for us. And with USDAA because of the height and the HUGE spread jumps, I usually only do one day, as opposed to the 2 with NADAC. I wish we had CPE - or just more trials in general. Our trials stop between Memorial Day and Labor Day because of the heat. It really sucks that we don’t have any good indoor venues besides Perry, and AKC is the only one that can afford the Perry venue.

I don’t do AKC - there aren’t as many classes for us to enter and its VERY stressful for the handler and the dog.

[bdj]

Wow, you guys must have more trouble with AKC than I’ve ever had! Around here the trials don’t fill up terribly quickly - actually, I’m not sure that the last few trials I’ve run have even technically filled - they’re not hurting for entries, but you certainly don’t need to overnight them, either. I do know of one venue up in NJ (Dream Park) that fills in a hurry regularly, but that’s not the norm here. (Actually, in my experience, it’s the NADAC trials that you have to get your entries into tout suite! - one club even gives its own club members priority, so that kind of sucks if you’re not a member.)

AKC courses are a total mixed bag - I’ve had some beautiful flowing ones, and (this past weekend, actually) some tight, trappy ones. In my experience, the ones that I think are going to flow often don’t and the ones that I think are going to be really technical and tough end up running really smoothly.

I’ve also gotten to the point where I prefer the fewer runs per day in AKC - once again, in my experience, NADAC trials run all. day. long., which wears me out in the worst way - and I started feeling like, if I was that exhausted, how must my dogs feel? AKC trials locally run two rings, so chances are good that if things go smoothly (no huge course rebuilds, etc.) I may start early, but I stand a pretty good chance of getting home before dinner time, especially if I don’t stick around afterwards to socialize. NADAC only runs one ring, which is nice, because you know you won’t have any scheduling conflicts, but, oy - from first run to last made for a very long/late day.

As far as friendly - eh, it is what you make it - if you go out there with a good attitude and want to make friends, you will - if you don’t, you won’t. (And I think that goes for just about EVERYthing, not just agility).

[DarkenStormy]

BDJ that’s interesting about your NADAC trials running longer. We tend to dread USDAA days because those are a lot longer for us than the NADAC ones. I think USDAA gets more entries - it’s 2nd to AKC in our area.

I didn’t have trouble getting into the AKC trial but when I got there it was just too much for us in terms of energy level.

I love ASCA - short days and it is SO laid back. Great for training - we just love it to go and have fun.

[wendy]

BDJ that’s interesting about your NADAC trials running longer. We tend to dread USDAA days because those are a lot longer for us than the NADAC ones.

ditto- NADAC trials are relaxing, they run one ring (no conflicts), and you can get six runs in and be home by 4 pm; USDAA trials they often have multiple rings running (so you have to try hard to figure out where you need to be when) and getting home by suppertime can be a lost cause. I like the more runs per day- if I’m going to pack up and drive out and spend the day I want to get my time’s worth in runs.

friendly- I’ve never been to a trial where people WEREN’T friendly, but as I said, I don’t do AKC trials and have heard some nasty stories about uber-competitive handlers at such events.

[bdj]

Y’all are lucky! I know I went to a few NADAC winter trials where we got to the site before the sun came up (for an 8am start) and I didn’t get home till way after dark (like 7-8pm) - That’s with an hour plus drive time on each side. I haven’t run any USDAA, so I don’t know how long they run - but I’ll definitely keep that in mind when/if I ever run USDAA! (I have one dog currently running agility, and three more that don’t - the “home team” - with no one at home to back me up, so I really do have to factor how long I’ll be away from the house into trialing!)

Wendy, don’t let the stories about the buttheads keep you from running AKC - the nice folks outnumber them by about a million to one!

[clm08]

bdj, thanks for the info about weave poles that are not the standard 24" - I am new to agility and have really scaled back weave pole practice at home because I didn’t want to create an issue for my dog, in case muscle memory is involved in how well or fast they weave. He is also a smaller dog and seems to be able to weave faster at home (I think they are 22") than in trials or in class.

Interesting that a lot of people think the AKC environment is less friendly or more competitive. My experience is limited since I’ve only been to NADAC and AKC trials (and one TDAA), and I’ve found friendly and competitive people in both venues.

[wendy]

I’m so over-booked (and money concerns) as it is with my pup in heavy training about to start trialing (so excited! she looks like she might be a solid 100% Q-rate dog right now at the tender age of 13 months) and the older one (totally spectacular and FAST but still working on that accuracy thing, let me tell you speed is over-rated unless you are a much more brilliant handler than myself) that AKC is just not even under consideration- two weekends a month is the limit and we often have to pick and choose between APDT rally, NADAC, USDAA, CPE. Often how long the drive is to the venue is the deciding factor. I like the “ten minutes to a local park” or “fifteen minutes to the air-conditioned indoor venue” trials a lot better than the “get up at 4 am and drive for 3 hours” venues.

anyway, weave poles: my beast has incredible fast weaves, to the point that even if I sprint full-out (and I’m pretty fast, I practice) he beats me to the end. He was trained on the old 22". First time he encountered 24" (at a trial) he popped out and looked puzzled. Second time (same trial) he was obviously slower through them. After that, regardless of spacing, he’s just gone through them with his usual speed and skill. My pup I’ve been careful to expose her to varying spacing of the weaves from day one so she should be ok regardless of what spacing the club has decided to offer for that day.
I’ve seen other dogs who were trained on 22" exposed to 24" for the first time: some slow down, some speed up, some seem confused, but after a few exposures they just adapt. The bigger dogs seem able to do the 24" faster than the 22" after a quick adjustment period; the smaller dogs seem to have more problems with spacing differences.

[Hannahsmom]

I have three homemade PVC jumps, a homemade tire jump, a small training pvc teeter (wondeful to teach with), a pvc pause table and stick in weave poles. I also have a contact training board. What I would love is a true contact trainer and a tunnel. Those with a couple of jumps is all I need. I do have 6 2X2 weaves for my original training of my kids. I would recommend buying the video if you don’t already have it.