The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Holding Areas

Today I’m going to talk about what happens in the last couple of minutes before you step into the ring to start your run, and how a bit of consideration can make everyone’s day less stressful.

Holding Areas

All rings should have a roped-off area next to the entry and exit to the ring. Often there is a rectangular area that runs the full width of the ring, with the scribe’s tent placed in the middle of it. In indoor venues a club might take advantage of existing fencing for their holding area.

This space is there for three reasons:

• To give the handler and dog who are about to go space and privacy, so that they can concentrate on their run
• To provide some space around the exit so that the dog and handler don’t come running out and crash into someone who is walking past
• To keep the running dog’s treats and toys safe from opportunistic theft by passing dogs

There are a few rules and some basic etiquette about how to use this space. Most of it is common sense to experienced competitors but we forget to explain it to newcomers, so here’s all the dos and dont’s.

As a Person at a Show

• Stay out of the holding area of a live ring unless you are helping to run the show. Do not allow your dog (or child) to go in there either.
• Don’t stand right at the entrance and exit of the holding area, especially when you have your dog with you. Remember that not all dogs are friendly with other dogs, so keep a pathway clear for them to get in and out of the ring without any hassle.

As a Competitor

• You should move into the holding area promptly once the previous dog has started its run. You can go in earlier if there is enough room, but give the other dog and handler a big “bubble” and don’t distract them.
• Toys and treats are not allowed in the ring itself – the holding area is the place to gather them all together and put them in the bucket or give them to the lead runner. If there is no lead runner you might have to leave them on the ground.
• If you are confident to walk into the ring off lead, you can remove that in the holding area too – but you can also walk into the ring with your lead, then unclip it and toss it behind you.
• You can – and usually should – enter the ring while the previous dog is in the second half of its run. If the last part of the course will bring the dog back towards the start area, wait until it has gone past before you enter. If you are worried that your dog might chase the previous dog, enter the ring with your dog on lead.
• You must start your run from inside the ring proper. Check that all four paws of your dog are on the right side of the rope. If you start outside the ring you will be disqualified.
• When you have completed the course, you must put your dog’s lead back on before you leave the holding area.

As a Call Steward

• The running order board should be placed in a location where people can see it from a wide variety of angles. It should be at least a few metres away from the holding area, and face away from it so that people won’t hover there and make it hard for handlers to get into the ring. It should also be away from high traffic areas (e.g. aisles between rings).
• The next person to run should move into the holding area as soon as the previous dog has started, if not earlier. If they are away with the fairies or busy gossiping, don’t be shy about reminding them.
• Your goal as a call steward is to make sure that there is somebody in the holding area at all times. If you do this well, it doesn’t actually matter whether you have a good view of the ring, so feel free to set yourself up right behind the scribe’s tent if that is the best place.

As a Lead Runner

• It’s perfectly OK to walk through the holding area as you take the leads up to the finish line, but do make sure that you aren’t impeding the scribe’s view. Don’t make conversation with handlers in the holding area – let them concentrate on their run. The exception is if you need to tell them that there is going to be a delay before their run (e.g. if the previous dog peed in the ring or there is an issue with the timers).
• The bucket or lead should be placed close to the ring edge of the holding area, roughly in line with the last two obstacles. Putting it too far to the back encourages dogs to zoom through the holding area, grab their lead/toy and carry on into the space where other people and dogs are walking – this is exactly the problem that the holding area is intended to prevent!

Coming up on Thursday – some training tips for dealing with a bucket-driving dog.

Twenty years ago we didn’t have holding areas and we usually set our dogs up just outside the ring. One day I turned around to discover that a two-year-old child was hugging my dog! Have you had a strange start line experience? Do you have any other tips to keep these areas safe and stressfree?