Clean Run - February 2016 - 50

As an exhibitor I encourage you to pull course maps from a judge you are curious about.
One good site for getting maps is www.agilitycoursemaps.com. You can then look at the courses
and see if the judge has a particular style they use on many of their courses. This will give you
added insight as to what you might expect from them.

who feel these obstacles should never
be first or last; for example, some believe that placing a spread jump first or
last results in more dropped bars. However, most judges try to create courses
that please the majority of exhibitors.

distance from the finish jump to the ring gate. AKC utilizes 20' from the last obstacle to the ring gate; USDAA is 15'. It is important to know how much space you
and your dog have for set up and finishing the course. It is also important to know
the penalty should your dog run out of the ring either intentionally or accidentally
after the final obstacle. All organizations also recommend keeping a good amount
of lateral distance between the first and last obstacle so the finishing dog does not
interfere with the next dog setting up.

Let's talk a bit about safety on the course
since this is one of the biggest factors in
course design. The majority of organizations have specific rules governing how
far each obstacle must be from the wall
or ring barriers, ring entry/exit, and from
each other. For instance, AKC requires
at least 15' between the exit of most of
the obstacles, including jumps, to a wall
or barrier as well as at least 15' between
obstacles. USDAA has several variations
on jump landing areas, anywhere from
12 to 15'. Most venues require obstacles
that are parallel to a wall or barrier to be
at least 4' to 8' from it. These distances
also apply to off-course obstacles that
the dog might take. Figure 2 is a section
of a course section showing how a judge
would apply safe distances.

Figure 3 shows how important it is to consider the ring gates when designing a
course. On the sample course, the #1 chute is intended to be a potential challenge
coming off the #19 teeter. While a perfectly appropriate challenge, this obstacle
placement makes it impossible for the next dog to safely enter the ring and set up
to run. Look at the position of the in gate relative to obstacle #1. If the handler was
entering the ring or walking to set up for #1 and the finishing dog decided to take the
off-course chute, there could be a problem. The dog entering the ring would have
to be held up until it was safe, a delay that could add quite a bit of time to a trial day.
One of the last key ingredients in course design is figuring out if the course can be
judged. To determine this, the judge looks at the "judge's path;" the path they will
walk for every run. They determine if while walking that path they can meet the agility organization's rules of where they need to judge from. They also determine if while
on that path they can effectively steer clear of the majority of running dogs and handlers. Once they determine that the path will allow them to see what they need to
see and stay out of the way, the final consideration is how much will they be walking.
Judges come in all varieties, shapes, and sizes. As a judge you need to be sure you
can be where you need to be to see and make appropriate calls, and that you can
do it the same way from the first dog to the last dog of the day. Many judges wear
step-tracking devices while judging. For myself, at a very full trial where I'm judging Standard-type classes, I can log 12 to 14 miles on average per day. I have heard

Another safety distance to consider is
the distance to the start jump and the

WALL
20'

In this situation, the next dog to run cannot
safely enter the ring through the in gate until the
dog on course has completed #19 and made
the turn toward #20.

18'

1
15' 15'

2
1

There are 15' between the exit of the #3 tunnel and the off-course
jump and 15' between jump #2 and the off-course jump. There
are also more than 15' between the off-course jump and the wall
if the dogwas to take the jump.

Out Gate

In Gate

Clean Run | February 16

http://www.agilitycoursemaps.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run - February 2016