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Agility Link

Image by Brandon Day

NALA at Whangarei Dog Training Association offers the following NALA events:

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There are two sets of rules/regulations that cover Agility Link competition:

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Don't worry if these look super scary! We will help you learn the relevant rules over time.

Standard Link

The Standard Agility competition is open to dogs 18 months and older.

Each month a course is published in the National Agility Link Association magazine, and it's this course that we do. There are two course types:

  • A jumpers course, set at Jumpers C level, consisting only of jumps and tunnels. The hoop, long jump and brush fence may be present.

  • An agility course, set at Novice level, which may contain weave poles, the A-Frame and/or the dog walk in addition to the standard obstacles seen in the jumpers course.

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Each dog's run is judged, according to normal agility rules, with one exception:

  • There are no faults or refusals on the weave poles (with the exception of touching the dog), but they must be correctly negotiated.

The time and faults for each dog is recorded and uploaded to the results website. The total score for the month is your time, plus any faults. If you had a clear round, 5 is subtracted from your score. After the end of the month you can see how your dog did within its size category (600, 500, small).

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The three WDTA dogs with the best score each month have their scores added together and this counts as the club's score in the Team competition section.

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At the end of the NALA year (April - March) the top few dogs (usually calculated from the best 8 runs out of 11 possible) in each height group win a ribbon. The number of ribbons available varies with the number of dogs competing, but in recent years has been around 10 ribbons per height group.

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And lastly, your performance in NALA (clear rounds, results compared with other club members, etc) contribute towards the NALA Link Cup and Novice NALA Cup awards at our annual prizegiving.

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Footnote

  1. Note that NALA rules stipulate that "No previous practice over that particular course is allowed." This means you shouldn't set up the course or parts of it at home to practice beforehand. Once you've run the course for the month you are welcome to set it up and run it as many times as you like.

Veterans Link

Veterans agility is open to any dog that has retired from competition.

The veterans course is a short 8-12 obstacle course consisting of jumps and tunnels. Bars may be set below the dog's previous competition height, including at ground level. This allows for older dogs to continue to do something they love - agility - in a way that is safe for them.

Standard agility rules apply. And scoring is as for Standard Agility.

Junior Link

Junior Link is a separate competition to Standard Link. It is run on the same course as the Veterans Agility and consists of approximately 9-12 obstacles - jumps and tunnels only. It's open to children and young people up to 20 years old.

 

Beginners

You may compete in the beginners section if you are not yet competing in the Novice class at championship events.

There are two handler age groups in this section:

  • Under 12

  • 12-20

Dogs entered into the beginners section may run twice, but must have a different handler each time.

Dogs in the beginners section may also run Standard Link, but this must be with another handler.

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Experienced

You must compete in this section if you are competing in the Novice class at championship shows.

There are three handler age groups:

  • 8-11

  • 12-15

  • 16-20

Handlers under 8 years of age compete in the beginners section.

Dogs entered into the experienced section may run only once, and they may not run in standard link with a different handler.

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Joining Junior Link

In order to compete you must be a member of NALA and also WDTA. 

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