Agility

It is a sport in which a handler directs a dog through an obstacle course in a race for both time and accuracy.  Dogs run off-leash with no food or toys as incentives and the handler can touch neither dog nor obstacles.  Consequently the handler's controls are limited to voice, movement and various body signals, requiring exceptional training of the animal and coordination of the handler.

In its simplest form, an agility course consists of a set of standard obstacles, laid out by an agility judge in a design of his or her own choosing. The course is roughly 30m x 30m, laid out on an outdoor grassed area (the ring), with numbers indicating the order in which the dog must complete the obstacles.

Competition Basics

Each course is different and handlers are allowed a short walk-through before the competition starts. During this time, all handlers competing in a particular class can walk or run around the course without their dogs, determining how they can best position themselves and guide their dogs to get the most accurate and rapid path around the numbered obstacles. The handler tends to run a path much different from the dog's path, so the handler can sometimes spend quite a bit of time planning for what is usually a quick run.

The walk-through is critical for success. The course's path takes various turns, even U-turns or 270° turns and can cross back on itself. Any obstacle can be used more than once and obstacles can positioned very close to each other. The dog and handler must be able to clearly discriminate which obstacle to take and it is common for courses to be arranged so that the handler must work with obstacles between themself and the dog (layering), or at a great distance from the dog (distance handling).

Printed maps of the agility course, called course maps, are often made available to the handlers before they run to help the handlers plan their course strategy.  The course map contains icons indicating the position and orientation of all the obstacles and numbers indicating the order in which the obstacles are to be taken.

Each dog and handler team get one opportunity to attempt to complete the course successfully.  The dog begins at obstacle #1 and upon the permission to start given by the judge, is instructed by their handler to proceed around the course. The handler typically runs near the dog, directing the dog with spoken commands and with body language (the position of arms, shoulders, and feet).

Speed counts as much as accuracy, especially at the higher levels of competition and takes place at a full-out run for the dog and, in places, the handler as well.

Scoring of runs is based on how many faults are incurred.  Penalties include course faults, such as knocking down the bar of a jump or refusing to negotiate an obstacle and time faults, which are the number of seconds over the calculated standard course time (SCT) taken for the run.  The SCT is determined by the judge based on the competition level, the complexity of the course and other factors.

A Pass or Qualification is awarded for completing the course without faults and within the SCT.  Places are awarded for clear rounds according to the fastest times.

Titles are awarded by the Royal NSW Canine Council (trading as Dogs NSW) after a set number of qualifications have been gained.  Titles are designated by letters after the dog's registered name.   There are several classes for which titles are awarded; Agility, Jumping, Open Agility, Open Jumping and the Games - Gamblers, Snooker and Strategic Pairs.  Not all classes are offered at every event (trial).