The weekend before last I had a fun weekend judging USDAA for Sky Blue Events in Indianapolis. They are fun people in that part of the world.
Course design took longer than judging. I worked pretty hard for this trial. I’m mostly enthralled by the problem of “leveling”. That means I want to present to each level of competitor (Starters, Advanced, Masters & Extreme) a course that is appropriate and balanced. I try to have a vision for each level. I had at least one course that my mutterer made me promise to never to do again (the last Masters standard for the record). For the most part though, I loved the courses and watching those Hoosiers solving my riddles.
League Play Game
Okay here’s what we’re playing (from Top Dog, of course).
Jumplers
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Briefing
This is a simple numbered course. If the handler can run the entire course without ever stepping inside the red box, 15 bonus points will be earned. If the handler can run the entire course without ever leaving the red box, 25 bonus points will be earned.
Jumplers is scored: Time, Plus Faults, Less Bonus. 0
Qualifying:
4″ 60 Seconds
8″ 53 Seconds
12″ 48 Seconds
16″ 43 Seconds
20″+ 39 Seconds
If you want to play along with us… click. Visit our web site and see what other courses and games we are running: http://topdogagilityplayers.wordpress.com/
The Back Pass
Okay, I have a new agility “movement” for you. There’s not many of us doing it yet. I’ll predict, however, that in ten years it will be a stock movement in the sport of dog agility.
I call it “The Back Pass”. It’s a simple concept: On command, your dog circles your body. The two types of Back Pass are: clockwise, and counter-clockwise. For a couple years I have been studying and practicing the Back Pass and have found a rich variety of possibilities for this movement in agility competition.
In the next few days I will try to video some applications for the Back Pass. Of course I’ll share those with you.
The tricky part that scares the hell out of even experienced dog trainers is that if you ever want to own the Back Pass you’ll actually have to train your dog to circle your body. But I will go out on a limb here and say that it’s just about as complicated as teaching a dog to do the collapsed tunnel. It seems a bit like Mission Impossible at first; but then the dog gets it, and you go on.
Quoth for Agility Nerds
You find the things that you Love, and you love them the most that you can.
~ Wil Wheaton
[Click HERE if you are a nerd.]
Blog904
Questions comments & impassioned speeches to Bud Houston Houston.Bud@gmail.com. The web store is up and running. www.dogagility.org/newstore. I have five volumes (over 100 pp each) of The Joker’s Notebook available on my web-store at an inexpensive price. These are lesson plans suitable for individual or group classes for teaching dog to work at a distance.
Bud Houston's Blog 
May 14, 2013 at 12:52 am
Funny, I use the “back pass” when throwing frisbee for my dog so he doesnt have to fling around and mow down another dog behind him. I’ve seen this used at a startline too, when someone wants a running start and not a leadout – it can buy a little time.