Here's a challenge for dog agility folks!
This is one of the current games for the International Dog Agility League. Which is a great program that I highly recommend! You join a team, film the monthly courses, and submit them to earn points and titles, and compete against teams all over the world.
This game is called Copycat. And I have a challenge for you: how would you handle this for your dog? Not for a hypothetical perfect, fast dog who can do distance sends. YOUR dog, with their strengths and weaknesses.
The thing that makes this tricky is the rules of the game:
You must use the start and finish lines
You are trying to earn as many points as possible in 45 seconds
You may perform each obstacle twice to earn points
Jumps are worth 1 point
Tunnel and tire are worth 3 points
Contacts and weaves are worth 5 points
Obstacles must be performed correctly for points. Hit the contacts, don't knock the bars, perform the weaves correctly. An incorrectly performed obstacle is a waste of time.
No copycatting! This means that you cannot perform two obstacles with the same point value in a row. This means no going back over the same obstacle, no two jumps in a row, no tunnel to tire, no teeter to weaves, etc.
So what's your course plan? What obstacles are you ignoring because your dog isn't good on them, or takes too long? What's your path like? Are you sending your dog out? Is your dog slow? Fast? Are you going to try to do every obstacle twice? Do you think you can really get them all done in 45 seconds following the rules about no "copycatting"?
