usdaa board changes A-frame!!!

newfire's picture
Submitted by newfire on Mon, 2007-03-05 19:43.

from the usdaa website

A-Frame Standards

The Board has revised the regulations for the A-frame, setting the height in the Championship Program for large dogs at no less than 5'9" and no more than 5'11", and for small dogs and all dogs in the Performance Program, no less than 5'3" and no more than 5'5". The final regulations will stipulate the range of angles in order that the standard will be more accurately specified and not be impacted by different construction standards. (In adopting the change, it was noted that the IFCS standard is may be changing to 5'11", or 180cm).

The effective date is April 1, 2007.

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TracyE's picture

Re: usdaa board changes A-frame!!!

Submitted by TracyE on Mon, 2007-03-05 21:09.
Yeah!  We can hopefully play together with our beloveds longer now!  So very many people are going to be happy with this news!  5'11" is better than 6'3".  Victory in baby steps, eh?
Olga Chaiko's picture

Re: usdaa board changes A-frame!!!

Submitted by Olga Chaiko on Tue, 2007-03-06 00:09.
It's going to be 5'9", I hope, and not 5'11" that the clubs are going to set their A-Frames at at the trials. Most likely 5'11" at the Regionals and the Nationals, since those count for the World Team points..

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR SUPPORT OF THE "SAY NO! TO 6'3" A-FRAME!" CAMPAIGN!

Give USDAA another few years and maybe they'll lower the A-Frame to the "industry standard" 5'6", ;-)..

And check out the 5'3" - 5'5" height for the mini's! Lovely!

Olga.
newfire's picture

Re: usdaa board changes A-frame!!!

Submitted by newfire on Tue, 2007-03-06 05:00.
I am going to make a point of writing to the board to thank them for changing the A frame height.  I think it reflects well on the Individuals making up the board and their consideration for the dogs and the long term health of usdaa agility.   ...elizabeth 
Becky Walton's picture

Re: usdaa board changes A-frame!!!

Submitted by Becky Walton on Tue, 2007-03-06 13:03.

Woo Hoo! This is GREAT news!! Thanks for the update!

agilityaddict's picture

Re: usdaa board changes A-frame!!!

Submitted by agilityaddict on Tue, 2007-03-06 14:21.

We are doing our first USDAA trial on April 14th so this is great timing!  Just wish it was 5'6" but, heh, it's a start!  Do you think I should practice at 5'9" or also at 5'11"?  Phoenix has never seen anything higher than 5'6".

Wendy

Re: usdaa board changes A-frame!!!

Submitted by hycaliber agility on Tue, 2007-03-06 15:58.
My guess is they will have the a-frame at 5'9"... that's what we're expecting anyway... you should probably practice a few of each though... 5'9", 5'10", 5'11"... it's only 3 inches so she should do just fine! :)
Olga Chaiko's picture

Re: usdaa board changes A-frame!!!

Submitted by Olga Chaiko on Tue, 2007-03-06 22:49.
OK, Tim Humphrey and I went to the training field to practice with Yang Yang and Gina today and we put the A-Frame to 5'9". Gina has done a few 6'3" A-Frames in her limited USDAA showing and she always gets startled by the first 6'3" A-Frame and then runs it just fine for the rest of the trial. Yang Yang never seen a 6'3" AF in his life.  So, we put the AF to 5'9" and I gave Luz a go first. Luz didn't care. Luz does 2o/2o. Gina and Yang run the AF. Gina's striding was about 6" off for the first 3 or 4 goes, then she leveled out and ran it pretty much the same as 5'6". Yang Yang didn't seem to notice the change.. We didn't try 5'11".

Olga.
newfire's picture

Re: usdaa board changes A-frame!!!

Submitted by newfire on Wed, 2007-03-07 06:16.

So in your opinion, training a good 5'6" Aframe will convert over fairly readily to a 5'9" ?  did you go back to a 5'6" to see if that performance had changed??

 

elizabeth 

Olga Chaiko's picture

5'6" vs. 5.9"

Submitted by Olga Chaiko on Thu, 2007-03-08 00:01.
I would tend to think that a good 5'6" AF should convert to 5'9" without problems for most dogs, however there still will be some dogs that won't transition that easily. One should expose their dogs currently in competition to the 5'9" AF and see for themselves.

Olga.
agilityaddict's picture

Running Aframe

Submitted by agilityaddict on Wed, 2007-03-07 08:49.

Hi Olga,

 I am really interested to know how you guys taught your running contacts.  At this point I am happy with the stop on the dw and teeter but would like to get rid of the stop on the aframe.  Did you just use the hoop and the stride regulator?  I did put stride regulators on at one point but I think you can do more harm than good if you're not sure where to put them.  Just wondering if you could offer any assistance in training this.  Also do you have any specs for making the stride regulator and hoops.

Thx.

Wendy

Olga Chaiko's picture

Re: Running Aframe

Submitted by Olga Chaiko on Thu, 2007-03-08 00:39.
Well, we haven't really taught Yang and GG the running contacts YET.. we are in the process of teaching them and I won't expect to say it's a done deal for at least another year. Training running contacts is a very lengthy procedure. We do running contacts practice twice a week and try to put in at least 3 to 9 repetitions on a contact a have in the class setup the other 3 days..

If this is any indicator of our progress, both Gina and Yankee managed to get to Ex-A and Open FAST levels..

I use Hit It! boards on both AF and DW. DW has Hit It! boards on the up and the down contact, it helps with spotting. Both Gina and Yang Yang are wise to the beep of the Hit It! boards and reinforce themselves when the boards go off as the doogies run over them.

I use stride regulators on both AF and DW and I did go through a period of trying to figure out where the most beneficial spots for the dogs would be.. It's not really that hard to see where to put your SR's. BTW, first you should teach the dog that he is supposed to stride over the SR's. I still move the SR's a bit from time to time, depending on the sequence and the presentation of the  contact obstacles.

And I use the hoops too...

Yes, it's a lot of stuff, ;-0..

And sometimes I take some stuff off and run the obstacles "naked"..

And sometimes we have great success, and other times the contacts remain elusive..

So you have to ask yourself if you really want to make the commitment to invest in this endeaver..

Actually, the hardest part is not the training and the rigging and the commitment, but having enough guts to accept missing the contacts, or hitting them and being called anyway..

The second hardest part is handling the running contacts. Because the dog is not just going to somehow run them with you doing whatever you are used to be getting away with with the 2o2o contacts. Get this guys, the dog is ACCELERATING on the downside. It's a lot of speed and you have to support it.

The reason I decided to train running contacts on these youngsters is because I like the challenge and Tim, the braveheart that he is, went along with me, ;-)..

It's a great thrill to run the contacts, judge's calls be damned, ;-)!!

Olga.
newfire's picture

Re: Running Aframe

Submitted by newfire on Thu, 2007-03-08 06:13.

One 'joy' of the running contact is the hear the judge (who is not always expecting to see a dog accelerating on the dogwalk) muttering something like oh...sh.... as they suddenly have to accelerate to judge the down contact! I actually think that the various organizations should consider getting a variety of really good video of a number of different running contacts, play them at normal speed to let people see what the judge has to see then run them back at slower speed to see if the calls you just made were correct. Some judges really seem to have a hard time watching the yellow not the dog. With a Mini like Pippen who hits the DW with his rear feet only it can be hard to see as the default seems to be watching the front feet (if you are not watching the yellow). I say this not as a criticism for judges but as something that may help EVERYONE see just how difficult training and maintaining such a behavior may be (certainly without aides like the hit it board)!!

Olga is right, it is a thrill to have running contacts and I will be training Wisp to run her dogwalk! ...................elizabeth

Olga Chaiko's picture

Re: Running Aframe

Submitted by Olga Chaiko on Thu, 2007-03-08 23:58.
Right on, Newfire!

Let's get on with teaching Wisp to run her dogwalk. Step one: lower the DW and get her to run it.

Olga.
newfire's picture

Re: Running Aframe

Submitted by newfire on Fri, 2007-03-09 05:58.

with the dog walk low the problem will be keeping Wisp off it ...not having her run over it!  will video it!  as it is way more fun than Bang! ....elizabeth

 

 

agilemutt13's picture

Re: Running Aframe

Submitted by agilemutt13 on Sat, 2007-03-10 20:44.

I stepped up to the challenge with Wrinkles =) I'm not worried handling-wise because I can usually keep up with him, I do train sprinting in track :P But Olga, I actually wanted to ask if you could get a video of one of your running contact training sessions with Yankee. I'd love to see a big dog (like wrinkles) run the contacts and see how it works. I'd really appreciate it if you can, thanks!

~Helen and Helen's Dream Come True "Wrinkles" OAC, NJC, OCC, TN-N, CGC

Olga Chaiko's picture

Re: Running Aframe

Submitted by Olga Chaiko on Sat, 2007-03-10 21:34.
Right on, Helen!

We will try to videotape a segment on the running contacts training. There is a logistics snag though: we tape AgilityDynamite! on Wednesdays, but my contact training sessions are on Tuesdays and Fridays, ;-(.. But we'll see what we can do..

Olga.