AKC tends to have up to 3 rules changes over the course of each year (usually on January 1st, July 1st, and/or September 1st).
I went over the July changes right before I disappeared, and in September, we didn't really have any changes other than some for the clubs and how they go about registering for trials. Among them, the recording fee has gone up by 50 cents for each entry, and our local clubs are making us pay that. Doesn't seem like much, but a dollar here and a dollar there add up over time.
In January 2012, we have quite a few obstacle changes coming up though, so here they are:
- Most notably, the chute length is changing. I believe its length has been 10-12 feet up until now. Well, starting January 1st, the length is changing to a mere 6 feet (well, between 6' and 6'6" technically)! That's a crazy short chute, you have no idea. A short one like that is allowed to be used during bad weather right now, and I saw it in action at the last two trials we went to (because it was rainy and muddy, but that's another story), and boy is it short. It's practically a joke - dogs come flying out of the thing. It will be interesting to see this become the standard, but I don't suppose it'll be any advantage to me. Currently, I actually like that the chute is pretty long, and Philip gets stuck in the momentarily - it gives me a chance to catch up and collect myself, I don't get many of those on course with my lightning dog. Now they are taking even that one spot away - sigh...
- The tunnel is seeing a small change in that a 4" spacing between the ribs is now required (used to be up to 6"). No real effect to competitors from that one.
- Weave poles now officially require 24" spacing between the poles (used to be between 22" and 24"). They've been pretty standard already though, so no effect from this change either.
- Double and triple jumps are now emphasized that no solid sides will be allowed, i.e. all bars must be visible from all sides. Nothing new really, all doubles and triples I've seen so far have been non-solid.
- The wings for all jumps are now described as being 16"-36" wide (24" recommended), and 26"-42" high. Not sure what that's changed from, but it's highlighted, so I'm including it :)
That's all for January changes. More changes will be coming in July (new titles mostly), but that's still a bit away, plus it could still change, so I'll save those for later.
Friday, November 18, 2011
Monday, November 14, 2011
Updates
Wow, it's been a looong time since I've written anything here. Sorry for my lack of presence :( We are still competing, and I thought I'd give a quick update on our current status:
In AKC, we are now up to 4 QQs and 280 MACH points. I'm not even worried about the points at this point as I'm absolutely sure we'll have 750 way before we reach 20 QQs. Philip often gets a single Q in a day, and he is so fast, that he earns points like no other. Double-Qs are a bit harder to come by for us. We just got the 4th one yesterday as a matter of fact :) Philip finished his MXJ title yesterday as well (i.e. 10 Qs in Excellent JWW)
Also in AKC, Philip got his Excellent FAST title over the summer, finishing the last leg we needed in Excellent A. I was worried we wouldn't get it in time before the local clubs stopped offering FAST much, but he managed to finish it on the second to last try :) Since I was signed up for one more, I gave it another shot in an Excellent B run, but Philip didn't Q in that one,and we haven't done FAST since (not that it's been offered much anyway). I think that we are done with FAST for good though. The next title Philip could get in it would need 10 more Qs, and with how rare it has become, it would take forever to get them. Plus, it always requires lots of sitting around, waiting for the run, since FAST is usually at the end of the day.
On the other hand, we've started running in T2B instead! I'm really enjoying it, as the runs are always very quick, and our local clubs usually make them the first run in the morning, so no lingering around needed to wait for the run. Philip seems to have an "all or nothing" attitude for T2B right now. He either pays attention to me, runs fast and clean, earning 1st place and 10 points, or he fails miserably and gets an NQ because he's being a brat. So far, we've had 6 tries at it, and qualified 2 times, both with 1st place, so we have 20 points.
Other than being fun, a great advantage of the T2B for us is that it lets Philip get his "crazy" out if he has some in the morning. I'd much rather him bombing a T2B run and being collected in the regular runs than the other way around. Of course, quite often he bombs all 3 runs of the day anyway - brat!
In USDAA, we only had one trial since my last update here, which was back in June. Since Philip only needs Standard and Snooker Qs to finish his Advanced title, that is all I signed him up for. He bombed the Standard run on Saturday, and then wasn't feeling too well on Sunday (too much fun the day before = sore and slow Philip), so he had no Qs that weekend at all. So we are still in the same place in USDAA.
So there you have it, a quick update on our progress. We have 2 more AKC trials in December, and then that'll be it for this year. We'll see how it goes!
In AKC, we are now up to 4 QQs and 280 MACH points. I'm not even worried about the points at this point as I'm absolutely sure we'll have 750 way before we reach 20 QQs. Philip often gets a single Q in a day, and he is so fast, that he earns points like no other. Double-Qs are a bit harder to come by for us. We just got the 4th one yesterday as a matter of fact :) Philip finished his MXJ title yesterday as well (i.e. 10 Qs in Excellent JWW)
Also in AKC, Philip got his Excellent FAST title over the summer, finishing the last leg we needed in Excellent A. I was worried we wouldn't get it in time before the local clubs stopped offering FAST much, but he managed to finish it on the second to last try :) Since I was signed up for one more, I gave it another shot in an Excellent B run, but Philip didn't Q in that one,and we haven't done FAST since (not that it's been offered much anyway). I think that we are done with FAST for good though. The next title Philip could get in it would need 10 more Qs, and with how rare it has become, it would take forever to get them. Plus, it always requires lots of sitting around, waiting for the run, since FAST is usually at the end of the day.
On the other hand, we've started running in T2B instead! I'm really enjoying it, as the runs are always very quick, and our local clubs usually make them the first run in the morning, so no lingering around needed to wait for the run. Philip seems to have an "all or nothing" attitude for T2B right now. He either pays attention to me, runs fast and clean, earning 1st place and 10 points, or he fails miserably and gets an NQ because he's being a brat. So far, we've had 6 tries at it, and qualified 2 times, both with 1st place, so we have 20 points.
Other than being fun, a great advantage of the T2B for us is that it lets Philip get his "crazy" out if he has some in the morning. I'd much rather him bombing a T2B run and being collected in the regular runs than the other way around. Of course, quite often he bombs all 3 runs of the day anyway - brat!
In USDAA, we only had one trial since my last update here, which was back in June. Since Philip only needs Standard and Snooker Qs to finish his Advanced title, that is all I signed him up for. He bombed the Standard run on Saturday, and then wasn't feeling too well on Sunday (too much fun the day before = sore and slow Philip), so he had no Qs that weekend at all. So we are still in the same place in USDAA.
So there you have it, a quick update on our progress. We have 2 more AKC trials in December, and then that'll be it for this year. We'll see how it goes!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
