Agility Animation courtesy of Narcy.com and K9 Kartoons!
Agility is the world's fastest-growing dog sport. Agility dogs race against the clock around a course of challenging obstacles, listening for their handler's commands to guide them. Speed and accuracy are required to advance to the next level of competition. For more about agility, see the obstacle descriptions and agility links below.
Jumps come in many different varieties. The single bar jump, with one bar set at the dog's jump height, is the most common jump seen at all levels. Panel jumps which are solid wood, double and triple jumps with two or more bars set in ascending heights up to the dog's jump height, the tire jump that the dog jumps through, and the broad jump that is much longer than it is high, are also used in different levels of competition.
Tunnels are very simple obstacles, often the dogs' favorite especially with smaller dogs. The open tunnel is basically a long tube, while the closed tunnel or chute is open only on one end so the dog has to burrow under the fabric.
On the A-frame, the dog must ascend the up ramp touching the yellow contact zone, and descend the down ramp, touching a second yellow contact zone.
On the dogwalk, the dog must ascend the up ramp, touching the contact zone, run across the high middle plank, and descend the down ramp, again touching the contact zone.
On the teeter, the dog must ascend the ramp, touching the up contact zone, cause the board to tip and ride it down, then descend once the board hits the ground and touch the down contact zone.
The table is the least favorite obstacle of many agility dogs because they don't like to stop when they're having so much fast fun! The dog must jump onto the table, assume a sit or down position, and stay for five seconds.
The weave poles are the most difficult obstacle to train and perform, but the poles are clearly the spectators' favorite! The dog must enter to the right of the first pole and weave in and out through a line of six or twelve poles.
Intro to agility and obstacle descriptions from Dusty's Doghouse
These are some of the group members' favorite agility links. For personal homepages and other links, see the Links section of the group's Yahoo! web site. The main organizations that sanction agility trials are AKC, USDAA, NADAC, and AAC. Two great sites for agility information are The Dogpatch and Agility Ability.
Rally Obedience
Rally is basically a mixture between agility and obedience. A dog and handler follow a timed course that has been set up by a judge. The exercises, which are shown on signs and include Sit, Forward, Fast, Slow, and "U" Turn, are more obedience-like than agility. The agility benefits come through because you can talk to your dog and the requirements are less rigidly precise.
The sport was invented in 1992. A top obedience handler was sitting at work eating his lunch and wondering why so many obedience competitors have stopped competing. One word: agility. The sport of agility had taken the world by storm. Former obedience handlers had switched off into agility for a more relaxed and fun atmosphere.
This man wrote down the benefits of agility, such as the less stressful atmosphere and permission to talk to your dog, and combined them with the challenge of obedience training. So he came up with the idea of Rally-O, made up signs and obstacles and tried them with his Golden retriever. The dog loved it and he had just invented a new sport, which he called Obegility. He presented it to his obedience trainer, who wasn’t sure it would catch on.
It did! It was first recognized by ADPT who changed it to Rally because of all of the signs. New obstacles were added for more variety and a fun challenge. Then AKC accepted it as a non-regular class, and in January 2005, it will be a titling event. UKC is also adding it to its class list.
Thanks to group memberCourtney Williams for the Rally info!
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