I did not get a chance while at home to post my last web log entry. The installer for my internet satellite got here about 11:00 in the morning on Tuesday and didn’t finish doing his thing until nearly dark. Of course all my attempts for the next several hours to get my router to work were fruitless. I suppose I’ll have to hire me a geek. I stayed up late to watch the election coverage; and so naturally had to hang for Obama’s midnight speech.

I set the floor for our Thursday fun run this morning. With a late flight I got to have a rare long morning before taking off for the airport. It was a fairly major shift of equipment.

TDAA Judges’ Clinic

I’ve led a lot of these clinics. And I really must confess that I’ve never felt so unprepared as I am now (I’m on the plane from Atlanta to Portland at this very moment). We have about a dozen participants in the clinic, including six new prospective judges, three for continuing ed, and two who want to become new Judge Advocates.

On the other hand, I’m pretty sure this is going to be an atypical judges’ clinic. I’m going to dig right in with these guys so that they understand rules for performance and as much as might be possible in the context of two days of course design lecture and practice.

We’ll be holding this clinic at Cash’s Arena where Dwight and Paula Cash run an interesting agility franchise. I’ve known for a time that they are one of a number of training centers around the world that have an ongoing agility league in the model that I laid out at Dogwood over ten years ago. I heard that he was making accommodations for us in a separate building so that they could do their league play without getting in our way…

Well this is too good an opportunity to pass up. I’ve sent back word volunteering our services for the conduct of his league play sessions. It sounds like he’s tickled by the proposition. Dwight has sent to me his floor layout and rules for the game of the week. I’m not positive of the schedule; but will get it sorted out when I arrive. I’ll try to arrange for our new judge prospects to judge all of their league play participants. Of course it’ll require close supervision; meaning that they won’t get to be wrong.

What some people mightn’t realize is that the rules for the TDAA were originally drafted based on my JFF rules and rules for league play. It’s delightful that I’ve been an influence on the world in this way.

Game of the Week

Week 2 - Connect the Dots

Briefing

The purpose of this game is to accumulate as many points as possible in the allotted time by connecting the dots. The “dots” are the contact obstacles on course. The “line” is any other obstacle on the course taken between the “dots”.

Scoring

Connect the Dots is scored points then time. Points are awarded on the following schedule:

“Dot ” obstacles are:

· All the contact obstacles – 10 points

“Line” obstacles are:

· Jumps – 1 point

· Tunnels, Tire, and Double Jumps – 3 points

· Weave poles with 12 poles – 5 points

Time stops on the table. Open dogs will have 50 seconds and mini dogs will have 55 seconds. The timekeeper will blow a whistle at the allowed time to indicate the end of scoring. The dog will lose a point for each second, rounded down, over the allowed time. If the dog goes to the table or is directed to the table before the expiration of the allowed time, there is no time penalty and point accumulation stops.

Examples:

1. An Open dog earns 75 points and touches the table at 54.78 sec. His score would be 75 minus 4 (54.78 rounded down to 54, minus allowed time of 50 = 4 faults)= 71 points.

2. A Mini dog earns 55 points and touches the table before his allowed time ends. His score would be 55 points (no reduction because he has no time faults)

The Ifs and the Buts:

· At least one “line” obstacle must be performed between a “dot”, but the same “line” obstacle may be performed only once for points between the “dots”, and may be performed only twice for points overall. Taking a “line” obstacles more times is permissible, but it will not count.

· There is no limit for how many times a “dot” may be performed.

· If a “line” obstacle is faulted, then all points in that “line” are lost since the last “dot”, through the faulted obstacle. After faulting an obstacle, the handler must direct the dog to perform at least one eligible obstacle to earn points at the next “dot”.

· An obstacle performed in a faulted “line” of obstacles does not count against the number of times that obstacle may be performed.

· A jump with a knocked bar is no longer an eligible obstacle.

· If the dog faults a “dot” the “line” score since the last “dot” is not added to the score.

· If a “line” obstacle is not performed between a “dot” the last “dot” is not scored, but the dog may continue and accumulate points at the next “line” obstacle(s) and then the next “dot”.

· If the time whistle blows, the last “line” obstacle(s) performed before the whistle are counted in the score without performing a final “dot”.

· It is not necessary to do a “line” obstacle before performing the first “dot”.

Judging: The judge will call out the points and the word “fault” if an obstacle is faulted. The scribe will write down the numbers and put an “F” in the line of points, if an obstacle is faulted. This will indicate to the scorekeeper that the points before the “F”, since the last “dot” should not be added to the score.

Analysis

From a TDAA point of view what this game lacks is a definition of qualifying criteria. Clearly they don’t have to go through this fire drill in routine league play. So, I’ll ask my judges what qualifying criteria they might set for the game.

There are a couple of interesting approaches to establishing qualifying criteria for games. One might simply draw a line through a few interesting strategies and apply TDAA rates of travel to see what might be reasonable. I’ve also found the USDAA gamblers system to hold pretty true in most dog’s choice point accumulation games (Q = High Point Obstacle Value * 1/10^th Point Accumulation Time).

I’m not positive that the original version had a points-off penalty for going over time. In the TDAA a judge is allowed to create variations of a game. From a course reviewer point of view I ask only that the judge create additional interest in any variation. Clearly, the time penalty adds some interest.

Standard Course

Clearly our only weakness in judging this game is that we know none of the performance faults. I’ll be careful to make sure I understand which system CAT is using before we get underway. It might be necessary to have a judge doing TDAA signals while another judges under the league play rules for performance.

Questions comments & impassioned speeches to Bud Houston: BudHouston@earthlink.net. And Check out my new publication the Idea Book – Agility Training for a Small Universe available at www.dogagility.org/store.