The New Graduation Points Threshold in Practice

I’ve already explained what’s changing about graduation points, but for those who want the short version of how graduation points will work in 2023:

• In a class with 16 dogs, 2nd place will get 1 graduation point. If there’s 31 dogs, 2nd place gets 2 points, and 3rd place gets 1. And so on and so on, every time the class size goes up by 15, there are more points on offer.
• 3 graduation points “counts” as one win to graduate to the next level – BUT you also need at least one 1st placing. You can move up to Senior with 2 wins and 3 points in Novice, or 1 win and 6 points. If you have 9 points but no wins, you’ll be staying put.
• Graduation points can only be earned if you go clear.

Today I’ll look at a few examples of how things would work, considering Novice classes from 2022. I’ve chosen to focus on Novice because this is usually the largest class which dogs can graduate out of, so the effects might be more significant here.

Real World Example #1 – Very Large Show

Let’s consider the Novice 500 classes at this year’s NZDAC. These had between 111 and 115 entries.

Second place would have earned 7 points, and third place would have earned 6 points. Remember that 3 points is equivalent to a win, but you still need at least one actual win to graduate. Any dog getting 2nd or 3rd in Novice 500 at this year’s NZDAC would have 6+ graduation points (2 win equivalents), and only require one win to move up to Senior. It’s actually possible for these dogs to move up to Senior with just 2 clear rounds in Novice – their placing at the NZDAC and their win.

4th place would get 5 points. 5th place would get 4 points. 6th place would get 3 points. In each of these classes, 6th place was at least 4 seconds slower than 1st place. 3 points equals a win, so these dogs would all have been a bit closer to moving up to Senior.

7th place would get 2 points, and 8th place would get 1 point.

Thirteen Novice 500 dogs would have gone home from the NZDAC with at least 3 graduation points, equivalent to one win. Seven dogs would have gone home with at least 6 graduation points, equivalent to two wins – and four of those only had one clear round in Novice that weekend.

Real World Example #2 – Medium Size Show

For this example I’m looking at North Otago’s March 2022 show in Oamaru, a convenient travel distance from both Christchurch and Dunedin. This isn’t the largest show in the South Island (some Christchurch shows are bigger, especially the indoor shows in the winter) but it’s certainly not small.

In 2022 the Novice classes were not split, and had entries of 81 and 76 dogs – enough for the second placegetter to get one graduation point.

Under 2023 regulations, the 500s would have been running by themselves, with 38 dogs on Saturday and 7 dogs on Sunday. The other split would have had 43 dogs on Saturday and 9 on Sunday.

All of these classes would have had two graduation points for second place, and one graduation point for third place. The class size is just a little shy of 46, the threshold where second place would be worth 3 points – equivalent to a win.

Real World Example #3 – Very Small Show

Southland Dog Training Club is New Zealand’s southernmost club. Due to the low population density of the lower South Island, its shows are usually small – surprisingly small to the occasional North Island visitor who pops in.

The smallest show Southland held last year was in March. There were 49 entries in Novice on Saturday, and 45 on Sunday.

Under 2023 rules, these classes would have had two-way splits, again with the 500s competing by themselves. There were 27 500 dogs on Saturday, and 24 on Sunday. The other split would have had 22 dogs on Saturday, and 21 dogs on Sunday.

All of these classes would have had one graduation point on offer for the second placegetter. In Novice 1 there were 7 clear rounds – 4 from 500 dogs, and 3 from other heights. In Novice 2 there were 4 clear rounds – 2 each for each split under today’s rules – so every dog that went clear would have gone home with some credits towards their graduation.

Real World Example #4 – The Consistent Novice Dog

I’ve found it difficult to pick examples of dogs to look at without inserting my own opinions about which dogs are ready to graduate to Senior and which aren’t yet. I’ve decided to be brave and try one example – the dog that had the most Novice clear rounds in 2021. I’ll keep this anonymous, although I’m sure some inquisitive people will look up the results to find out who it is.

This dog graduated to Novice/Intermediate status in 2021, with one win in Starters and one win Novice. It did not have any further Novice wins in 2021, and I don’t have time to look at other results that might have earned graduation points that year, so let’s assume it started 2022 with a clean slate – no wins and no graduation points.

This dog had 21 clear rounds in Novice in 2022, with one win, two second places, and four thirds. It competes in the 500 class.

With variable splits and the new graduation points thresholds in place, it would have had:

• Two wins
• Two second placings worth 1 graduation point each
• Five third placings worth 1 graduation point each
• Three fourth placings worth 1 graduation each

Except it wouldn’t have, because that adds up to 10 graduation points plus one win. The dog would have graduated to Senior in June, as it racked up enough wins and points with its first 10 clear rounds to move up.

What Will the Impact Be?

Graduation points will be on offer in almost every class. In any class with 46 or more entries, the second placegetter will receive 3+ graduation points – equivalent to a win. In any class with 91 or more entries, the second placegetter will receive 6+ graduation points – equivalent to two wins.

In the short term, some dogs are going to graduate a lot earlier than they would have otherwise. Some will be “best of their height” dogs that normally compete in unsplit classes. Some will be “consistent money dogs” like the example dog I profiled above, which had 7 top three placings in 2022.

This will have the effect of making our shows a little more top-heavy as dogs progress up to Senior more quickly. And that will make Novice classes smaller, reducing the number of graduation points on offer, and slowing promotions up the grades again.

We’ll have a graduation system that is very sensitive to class sizes. Whenever they begin to get a bit larger, dogs will be moving up to the next class more quickly, and they will shrink back to their “normal” size again.

I think that 46-dog threshold is going to be very influential. Where there are 46 dogs in a class, two dogs effectively “win” and graduation happens more quickly. At the moment it’s rare for a split Novice to get more entries than that, although the WAG show in September had 60. The new thresholds might prevent this from ever becoming common, even if our sport grows significantly in size – instead, we’d see Senior classes growing larger.

What if the effects are more pronounced, Novice classes become much smaller, and young/new dogs often progress through the ranks more quickly? Most experienced competitors won’t mind too much I suspect.

It will change the experience for newer handlers with their first or second dog though. At the moment these handlers often focus on mastering Novice skills for the first couple of years of their dog’s career before they start to learn the sexy Senior stuff. If the speed limit is increased on the road to Senior, they will need to learn these skills earlier because they likely won’t have two years in Novice to prepare – consider the example of the Novice dog above that would have moved up six months, when it might otherwise have taken 2-3 years to pick up three Novice wins.

Whatever happens, I’ll (hopefully) still be out there having fun with my dog and trying to put together the best run we possibly can. One of the things I love about this sport is that there are so many different types of goals that you can aim for, besides just winning up the grades.