CPE agility question...

[SarahandSam]

I’m about to send in my CPE registration and trial entry for an upcoming CPE trial, and I’m a little confused about the specialist and enthusiast categories. What is the purpose or benefit to registering in either category? The rule book is frustratingly vague…

My dog is an 8-year-old dachshund; in NADAC we are doing veterans, and unless there’s something I’m missing about specialist or enthusiast, I guess I’m going to do the same for CPE… As a dachshund, he’s going to jump 4" anyway, but anything that can give additional time is good, since his little legs can only carry him so far and he keeps missing out on qualifying scores by a second or two in NADAC…

[SarahandSam]

…Bueller?

Even my trainer didn’t know!

[bdj]

Don’t know myself, but I’ve got an email out to a friend who does CPE pretty regularly.

After checking the rule book, it looks like Specialist gets you a 4" jump height deduction, Enthusiast lets you jump 8" lower, and both give you an additional 5 seconds over course time. Veterans seems to let you run at the lower jump height, but I don’t know that you get the time benefit.
With an 8 year old Doxie, I’d guess you aren’t going to be doing more than 4" jump height, right?

[SarahandSam]

Yeah, with the breed exemption he will always get to do 4", so I’m not too concerned about the height… but any extra time would be very helpful for him! Thanks. (:

[bdj]

Heard back from my friend and this is what she said regarding the differences between Regular/Veterans and Specialist/Enthusiast:

“In some of the games classes, the E & S do not need as many points as R & V. I think CPE has the different levels to accommodate the not so speedy dogs.”

Guess that pretty well covers it - I suspect if you needed any other info, you could try the trial secretary? I think my friend has had pretty good experiences in contacting them for other questions regarding entries and stuff, and I’d hope they’d be pretty knowledgeable as far as that kind of info.

Good luck!

[wendy]

most people use the enthusiast/specialist categories to get the jump height reduced for dogs that have physical limitations- a heavy build, an old injury- that the owner doesn’t want to risk aggravating by jumping at regulation height.
Since you’re already down at 4", you don’t have to worry about that.

CPE course times are much more generous for the regular classes than NADAC times are, so if you’re missing NADAC-Qs by only a second or two you should do just fine running in the regular classes.

[Hannahsmom]

You already have your question answered, but welcome to CPE! I started out a couple of years ago in AKC agility but then started my young dog in CPE first and have come to really enjoy it. It’s probably my favorite venue even though I do AKC and USDAA also. My dogs are plenty fast, but I just find the atmosphere and the games a lot of fun.

[SarahandSam]

Thanks everybody! I have to e-mail the trial secretary anyway, so I’ll double-check with her, but I think veterans should be fine. I’m looking forward to trying CPE–NADAC has been really fun, but the local venue that does the CPE trials is really nice and I’ve heard it’s a great atmosphere too. If I can just keep all the darn games straight in my head. I never could learn poker… (:

[Hannahsmom]

My first venture into CPE was from AKC agility. Talk about ‘deer in the headlights’ with all the games. LOL. You’ll be a lot better coming from NADAC. What I have found with CPE that reading the rules is very confusing, you are better off entering and asking fellow exhibitors for help and explanation. Some of those games, like Snooker, you are better off playing it then trying to read how to do it! I have learned to love the games of course and now really miss them in AKC which is why I do USDAA also. I just have to be careful to keep my behavior criteria exactly the same for all venues and go to the strictest criteria.