In the last post I went through a list of things to pack. Now the big day’s arrived and you’ve turned up at your first agility show! This post covers the etiquette for hanging out at an agility show with your dog all day. Part 3 will look at what you should actually do before, during and after your run.
When You Arrive
- Drive into the show venue slowly – there may be dogs running around off lead.
- For your first show, it’s best to turn up at least 15 minutes before your first course walk. This gives you a chance to walk your dog around the venue and let her see the sights.
- If you see other people running their dogs off lead, it’s a safe bet that this is the right place to toilet your dog.
- In the toileting area each group of dogs has an invisible “bubble” around them. Basically it’s not polite for your dog to be closer to somebody else and their dogs than he is to you. You can toilet her off-lead if she has a good recall around other dogs, otherwise it’s better to keep the lead on.
- If you are going to throw a toy, throw it into an empty space where there aren’t any dogs nearby.
- Now’s a good time to change your dog’s collar if it has tags on it.
The Morning Briefing
- Show managers and ring managers are both responsible for making the day run as efficiently as possible. Judges are responsible for designing the course, ensuring it is safe and appropriately challenging once it’s set up, and judging you while you run.
- There will usually be a morning briefly just before the first courses are walked. The show manager will introduce themselves and the judges to everyone, and explain things like which areas of the venue are out of bounds, what the catering arrangements are etc.
- You’ll usually be told which ring is which at the briefing. If not, check the call boards beside each ring for clues.
- If it’s your club hosting the show, there will be a jobs roster that you need to check.
Biggest Etiquette Rules
- Always leave the car with more poo bags than dogs. There’s no such thing as too many poo bags.
- Be careful where you throw away your doggy doos. The wheelie bin beside the ring might be for jump poles, not poos. Some venues (like schools or council parks) ask clubs to provide their own bins to collect the crap, rather than have it stink up the venue’s bins until they are next emptied.
- If you see a jump fall, pick it up unless there is a helper nearby doing it. When clubs are a bit short of helpers this is usually the first job that gets neglected. If you can pick it up without bringing your dog, food or drink into the ring, please do. Similarly, help with height changes whenever you can – it all helps to make the day go a bit quicker for everyone.
- Don’t sit right next to the ring. Try to keep a 5m margin between yourself and the ring if you’re sitting down. This minimises distractions to dogs in the ring (particularly beginner dogs), and leaves a walkway for people to get past with their dogs without going right next to the ring either.
- The judge’s decision is always final. Judges give up the chance to run their own dog, and spend all weekend building courses or standing in the middle of the ring. It’s a very tiring role, and they don’t get paid. Please treat them with respect, and don’t loudly disagree with a judge’s call, whether you’re in their earshot or not.
Keeping Our Dogs Safe
Agility shows have a lot of dogs in a small amount of space. Not every dog likes every other dog, and this environment can be stressful for a lot of dogs.
- You won’t be allowed to leave your dog tied up unsupervised at the show at any time, whether to your car or to a post near the ring. This rule is intended to prevent unsupervised interactions between your dog and the other dogs (and children) at the venue.
- Dogs should be on lead unless they are in one of three places – the ring, the warm-up area, or the toileting area.
- As mentioned above, when your dog is in the toileting area, he should remain closer to you than to other dogs.
- Don’t allow on-lead dog-dog interactions unless the other owner can see you and your dog. Be prepared to move away if the owner (or the other dog) says they don’t want the dogs to meet.
- When you have your dog with you, keep away from high traffic areas (call boards, ring entrances and exits) until it’s nearly your turn to run.
- Ask if it’s OK before you feed someone else’s dog. If you are throwing treats on the ground for your dog to find, try to make sure they all finish up in your dog’s mouth.
- If you are bringing kids, make sure they understand not to approach unfamiliar dogs without asking first. Encourage them to play loud boisterous games as far away from the rings as possible.
When to Walk the Course
- At a big show there will probably be a strict time limit on walking the course. At a smaller show, the show manager may just wait until everyone seems like they’ve had enough. The shortest time limit I’ve seen is 7 minutes, so don’t freak yourself out about this too much.
- At some shows there will be a flag that is raised to show when the course is ready for walking. Wait outside the ring before the flag goes up unless you are helping to build the course. If there is no flag, wait until you hear someone announce that it’s ready to walk, or see other people walking it. If you’re not sure whether the people in the ring are building it or walking it, ask first.
- Sometimes a course will be left open to walk while other rings are running. If this is the case, the club will likely be expecting that everybody will have walked it as soon as the other rings finish, so that they can start the class straight away. This means that sometimes you will need to walk one course while you are waiting for your turn to run another one. I know most people prefer not to do this, but you can’t expect the whole show to wait for you to walk the course if you’ve already had plenty of time to walk it.
- On the other hand, you might find yourself in a situation where you are about to run in one ring when another course opens for walking. If you have some flexibility to move further down in that class so that you can walk the other one first, that’s a good option. If not, let a show or ring manager, the call steward for the other ring or the judge know that you’ll need a bit more time. Focus on your run first, then get over to the course you need to walk as quickly as you can afterwards.
Walking the Course
I’m not going to cover the practical details of how to walk a course and choose your handling moves here – I might write about it another day, but hopefully your instructors have already given you some practice at that.
The biggest course walking no-no is carrying food and drink into the ring – even a coffee or a water bottle. Often you can leave this on the scribe’s table as you enter the ring, or ask someone to look after it for you.
Walking a course is a lot like driving in the suburbs. You need to maintain some awareness of what’s going on around you. There will likely be intersections where two streams of traffic meet. And you wouldn’t (I hope) stop in the middle of the street while you’re figuring out how to get to your destination – if you want to stop and think about a tricky bit, “pull over” to the edge of the ring where you’ll be out of other people’s way.
If you see your instructor or someone else you know walking your course, it’s fine to join them and ask them to help you walk it. Agility people are usually very encouraging to newcomers, and happy to answer questions – but remember that they will also need to plan how they will handle their own dog. If your question isn’t about the actual course, it’s best to direct it at somebody who’s already finished walking the course.
By the way, it’s totally acceptable to walk courses that you’re not entered to. Once you get a bit more experienced, this can be a good way to prepare yourself for the higher grades. But if you’re not in the class, wait until most other people have walked it first, so that you’re not contributing to congestion at the tricky spots.
End of Day
There will usually be a prizegiving at the end of the day, where all the ribbons are presented. This can take a while, so bring a chair! Prizegiving can be a great opportunity to sit around, cuddle with your dog, and socialise with your friends. Do try and keep the chat for between classes though, so that everyone can hear what’s going on.