Flying Poodles

Handling Excellent FAST–Some Observations

Yesterday at the Evergreen State Shetland Sheepdog Club trial at Argus Ranch, I watched the Excellent FAST competitors from my in-ring seat as a bar setter. I love bar setting in the Excellent ring. I learn so much from watching the best handlers on the course. No one is talking to you, you see every run with no distractions, and you get to feel good about having such a good seat; the Clubs need their volunteers to run the trial.

The judge was Lisa Potts. (She also has a poodle.) I enjoyed running her Open and Novice courses, finding them challenging but not impossible. I liked that she made a point of complimenting really nice runs. Thanks very much to Lisa Potts for her permission to post the course map here. This is the Excellent FAST course:

Okay, let me say upfront that several people decided during the walkthrough that they would do the course only for training, because they didn’t want to be forced to layer a jump. I’m going to ignore any runs that were clearly for training when I discuss what people chose to do.

For those of you unfamiliar with FAST, it is a strategy game that requires that the handler accumulate 60 points (in excellent), which includes a required distance challenge (the send) worth twenty points plus the value of the obstacles. The obstacle value is set by the judge as part of the course design. In this course, the send is worth 33 points, so getting a Q would require 27 additional points and a successful send. There is a limited amount of time to complete the course. Every second over is deducted from the points earned before time ends.

If you’re trying to understand how people handled the course, I suggest printing out the course map and tracing the routes described with a color pencil. It really helps to use one color for the handler and one for the dog.

The send was 5-1-7 (jump, jump, weave). Not many competitors completed the send successfully–fewer than five of a class of 30.

The most common opening was a leadout to the entry end of tunnel 4, followed by the dogwalk and a swing to tunnel 3 (9 points to this point, 18 to go). From there most handlers did a cross to put the dog on the left over the A-frame (ten more points, 8 to go), over the two jumps (1, 9, points finished) and around to the send and out over the finish jump.

One handler, who did Q, took the dog over the broad jump with the dog on the right, then front crossed to put the dog on the left for the 1-9 jump sequence and the send. Still short on points, she swung the dog back and took the 8-point jump in the corner, then ran hard for the finish jump, finishing as the horn went off.

Another option, which I saw two people use unsuccessfully, was to lead out from the dog between the dog walk and the finish jump, take the 1-point jump, then the A-frame, then the 1-9 sequence (all with dog on left, total to here 21 points (6 points to go if the send is successful), then the send. From there, they pulled the dog back to the 8-point jump, then over the broad jump and around the one point jumps and the 3-point tunnel (in one case) or out (in the other case). Both of these handlers crossed the line to complete the send, so they didn’t Q, but they did complete the course within time.

Finally, a competitor who was clearly avoiding all contacts chose to do the 4-point tunnel, the two jumps to the 3-point tunnel, the 1-point jump after the tunnel, the broad jump (total to here 15 points, 12 to go), the 1-9 jump sequence (2 to go), the send, the 8-point jump (by stepping in after the weaves were complete, putting the dog on right, and sending the dog from left to right over the jump), and ran hard for the finish jump. I believe this worked for her, although my memory of exactly who Q’d and who didn’t is hazy.