I’ve been a bit quiet I suppose. We’re entertaining the last agility camp of the year here at Country Dream. And today was the conclusion of the third day, of four. It’s a private camp attended by several women from Western Maryland and their dogs.
For me life is about to get very interesting. On the morning after this camp ends I’ll head for Kansas City where I have a three-day USDAA judging assignment. I’ll return home for one day, and then fly to Jacksonville, FL for to judge a USDAA trial there. Now as it happens, I have to go to Okalahoma after Florida… and I don’t so much as have time to return home. So from Jacksonville I’ll fly to Dallas… and drive up into Okalahoma. There I’ll be attending a four-day NADAC judging clinic, followed by a three-day trial for judging under supervision.
I’ll be home again about the 4th of December, or so.
League Play This Week
This game is Four Leaf Clover – Dealer’s Choice variation. All dogs will have 50 seconds to perform. Note that the dog starts and stops on the table. It is the handler’s job to draw the dog into the box at center and then perform each of the “leaves” of the clover – you’ll note that two of them are simply pipe tunnels at the corners of the box; one is a pinwheel; and one is a set of weave poles.
“Dealer’s Choice” means that the handler can solve the four different leaves of the clover in the order and direction of his own choosing. There might very well be in this sequence an optimal strategy for order and direction.
Four Leaf Clover is scored Time Plus Faults Less Bonus. Bonuses are earned when the handler sends the dog out of the box to perform the obstacles outside of the box. The pipe tunnels are worth 5 points; the pinwheel and the weave poles are worth 10 points; and the table both as a recall at the start and a send at the finish is worth 5 points.
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Questions comments & impassioned speeches to Bud Houston: BudHouston@hughes.net. And Check out my latest publication the Just For Fun Agility Notebook #30 available on the Country Dream Web Store.
Bud Houston's Blog 
November 18, 2009 at 9:39 am
This is a neat variation on the game, Bud. With three different types of obstacles in leaves, it is more interesting than the typical version consisting of a jump-tunnel-jump sequence in each leaf. The ability to pick the direction and order of the course provides a nice strategic element. What faults would you impose other than knocked bars and, perhaps, failure to perform? Would you include a bonus for the dog performing the entire course while the handler remains inside the containment box?
November 19, 2009 at 12:09 pm
To be sure. It’s like we say in the TDAA, “anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.” The immediate difficulty with the variation is that now there are no real wrong course implications and so the judge must make a determination whether to judge the set of obstacles kind of like a “what’s my line?” arrangement… meaning that an obstacle attempted has been used up, or to ignore the number of performances on an individual obstacle and thing merely about awarding bonuses.
What we decided to do is give a 10 pt failure for an obstacle *not* performed. And so the handler has an obligation to do each of the leaves of the clover (if possible) even if it means running outside of the box and forgoing the bonus.
I also discovered straight away that I have to be very clear in briefing what constitutes a “petal” of the clover. It means jump out… outside obstacle(s) and jump back into the box.
Thanks for the note.