Wild Weavers

I’ve named this game in homage to the “Wild Weavers” an agility franchise in central Ohio that burst onto the scene about six or seven years ago and is now winking from existence as those who ran the franchise are shying away from public classes in order to pursue other opportunity. Their students will scatter and find new homes; and all will be right in the world.

So here’s to the Weavers who burned so brightly and so briefly. I am reminded of a famous passage by Jack Kerouac (On the Road):

But then they danced down the street like dingledodies, and I shambled after as I’ve been doing all my life after people who interest me, because the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes “Awww!”

Briefing

Wild Weavers is scored Points then Time. Jumps are worth 1 point and the weave poles are worth 1 point for each pole if the handler is between the curl of jumps and the weave poles; or worth 2 points for each pole if the handler is on the outside of the curl of jumps while the dog weaves away. So… a complete set of weave poles is worth 12 points if the handler is inside; and 24 points if the handler is outside.

The Qualifying Course Time (QCT) shall be:

• 20″+ dogs 45 seconds
• 16″ dogs 48 seconds
• 12″ dogs 53 seconds
• 8″ dogs 57 seconds
• 4″ dogs 60 seconds

Scoring does not end after the completion of the 15 obstacle set; instead the handler should direct the dog to begin again. And so the dog and handler continue to work the sequence until the whistle marks the end of scoring. To stop time the dog must be directed over the #15 jump (in either direction).

The dog will be awarded the points for his greatest forward progress through the weave poles should the time whistle sound while he is engaged in a performance of the weave poles.

A Note on Faults

If a dog drops the bar on a jump he will not earn the point for that jump and may not earn a point for that jump on subsequent performances. However, the dog must be directed to go between the standards (complete the jump) on each successive numbered occurrence of that jump.

If a dog goes wrong course there is no fault. However the dog may not earn new points until he resumes the correct course.

Refusals are not faulted.

There are no specific faults in the weave poles. However if the dog misses the entry or pops out of the poles at any time he must be directed back to the beginning of the weave poles to resume the performance. However, the dog will be awarded the points for his greatest forward progress through the weave poles should the time whistle sound while he is engaged in a performance of the weave poles.

Qualifying

The dog is required to earn 48 points to qualify.

Discussion

This game is truly a variation of “Time and Score”; a game invented by Kenneth Tatsch and Jean MacKenzie in the early 1990s after they returned from an agility trip to the U.K. By evolution we suspect that Time and Score was nudged aside by another game invested in speed and foundation training for technical obstacles… the Steeplechase.

You’ll note that it’s possible to qualify without earning the bonus points for distance handling. We’ll leave the bonuses to the bold and the brave and those who want to distinguish themselves by higher placement.

Is it cheating to make the game of the week out of a foundation exercise I’ve been doing with my dog in my two-a-days? Let’s just call it an advantage. As I always say “it ain’t showing off if it don’t work.”

Bud’s Google-proof Trivia Contest

In the study of English grammar “Absolute” and “Relative” are types of a part of speech. To what part of speech do they refer? And, what are the other types of this part of speech?

First correct answer, posted as a reply to this blog post, wins a free copy of the June Jokers Notebook.

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Questions comments & impassioned speeches to Bud Houston: BudHouston@hughes.net. Check out my latest publication the Jokers Notebook ~ Dog Agility Distance Training Plan – April 2010 available on the Country Dream Web Store: http://countrydream.wordpress.com/web-store/ . Readers of my web log get a discount: Enter “special04” in the box for the discount code. And that will take $5.00 off the price of the order.