Flying Poodles

The AKC Invitational

I went to the AKC Agility Invitational last weekend. That was interesting. The five top pure-bred dogs (meaning: breeds approved by the AKC only) from each breed were invited. So: five extremely competitive border collies… and only one British bulldog. I tried to watch all of at least the 20″ and 24″ dogs, but didn’t manage it. I also watched a lot of 12″ dogs run… and made a special point to watch Nipper, an 8″ Parson Russell terrier, run, for reasons I’ll explain below.

Some observations:

• Small dog handlers have a huge advantage in travel situations. I loved watching the small-dog people set up their crates. They took a shoulder bag off their shoulder and put it down in the crate space. From the other shoulder, they took another shoulder bag and put it next to the other one. One bag for food, leashes, treats, toys, etc.–and the other for the dog. Most of those dogs traveled in the cabin under the seat.
• Big dog handlers need wheels to carry everything.
• Miniature poodles clearly have advantages over the standards. The five top poodles were all minis. I don’t think it’s just the additional time, I think it’s a combination of factors.
• Small dogs get a lot more strides between jumps than big dogs.
• Small dog handlers have less of a challenge when correcting mistakes because they have more strides to do it in.
• The fastest big dogs bounce jump two jumps that are 15′ apart, if the handler has chosen the line well.
• Great Danes can run tunnels pretty fast but watching a Saint Bernard go into a tunnel is scary because you’re afraid he’ll get stuck.
• Greg Louganis was a hell of an athlete when he was a diver in the Olympics (and before that)… and he still is. He and his dog Nipper were a real pleasure to watch.
• It may be easier to get a MACH with a smaller dog. The top dog of 2007 was a papillon who is MACH 17.

The Invitational is interesting partly because of all the different breeds, but I’m not sure the selection method really pulls the best dog in each breed. It’s based on number of Qs and speed points, so dogs that enter more trials are preferred over dogs that enter fewer trials, even if the Q rate and speed of the less-entered dog are higher. In my cynicism, I found myself wondering how much the AKC collected in entry fees from the dogs and handlers who were attending the Invitational. One dog had 80 double Qs… so that’s 160 entry fees, or $480 from that dog alone. There were 360 dogs there… If you assume most dogs spent $300… that’s about $100,000. (The AKC gets a per-run fee, so do judges, clubs, etc. Handlers spent a lot more than $480 getting there, but that’s the AKC’s part.)

I also didn’t like the method used to determine who went to the finals. It was four clean runs, then the best times. So the top ten dogs (of different breeds, so not two border collies) were not necessarily the fastest, just the most consistent. I think time+faults would make more sense.