The Agility Bits Wait at the Start Challenge

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What is the challenge?

It's quite simple really. All you need to do is to train your dog to wait at the start of a line of three jumps and then recall the dog over the three jumps.

We've been trying this out at home and Jamie (left) is very steady and has no problem with the concept, providing the weather's cool enough and he feels like jumping.

The challenge comes when you have an excitable dog like Sasha on the right. She looks as if butter wouldn't melt when she's sitting in the garden but put her in front of a line of jumps and whoosh! Off we go. Like a lot of collies of her type Sasha either breaks the wait or she creeps and creeps until she's almost under the first jump. It was a challenge for me to train the wait and we still aren't doing full height with a wait. Then I heard about a lot of other people who are having the same trouble so it seemed a good idea to make it a challenge.

So there you have it. Can you turn your excitable agility dog into an excitable agility dog that waits at the start? If you complete the challenge you can print off a certificate to say that you've been successful and you can have your name added to the Hall of Fame.

How to take part

1) Read the rules of the challenge.

2) Decide which category you want to train for.

3) Train your dog. If you need help with this have a look at this thread on the Agility Bits forum If you want to make your own contribution to the discussion you are welcome to join the forum and add your comments.

4) Once you have trained your dog and you feel you have completed the challenge, fill in the simple form. There's a link at the end of this page. When you submit the form you will automatically be directed to a web page with your certificate. You'll need to print the whole page. I didn't know how to make a separate printable bit so I left it as a web page. If you wish, your name and your dog's name can be added to the Wait At The Start Hall of Fame. Yes, I know it's cheesy but it's a bit of fun. Now read the rules and start training.

The Rules

There are three categories in the Wait At The Start Challenge.
These are, Standard, Veterans and Anysize.

In all classes the handler must do the following:
Set up a line of three jumps.
Leave the dog in the wait and walk or run past the three jumps.
Call the dog over the three jumps.

Class definitions
Standard class
The Standard class is for Small, Medium and Large dogs. The jump heights and dog heights for this challenge are shown in the table below.

Size classification Dog's height at withers Jump Height

Large Over 43cm 65cm

Medium Over 35cm and less than or equal to 43cm 45cm

Small Less than or equal to 35cm 35cm

The line of three jumps should have a minimum spacing of 3.5m (12ft) between them.
Dogs in the standard category must complete the challenge at the standard height. These have been set at the Kennel Club maximum for each category and they are the heights your dog would be likely to jump at any Kennel Club show. How much do bet someone's going to email me now and say their dog didn't jump these heights at a KC show?

Veterans
To enter the veterans class dogs must be eight years old or more. The jumps can be a suitable height of your choosing. As an example, Jamie is in the large category and he has jumped 35cm in all the veterans classes so far. The jumps went down to 25cm for small and medium dogs. An elderly dog may want to jump lower poles but a large, sprightly eight year old may be happy jumping 45cm. That's why I've left it to your discretion. The spacing between jumps should be a minimum of 2.74m (9ft). You can make it more if you like.

Anysize
This is for dogs that for one reason or another aren't able to do full height jumps. The jumps can be any suitable height of your choosing. I've left it to your discretion as you know your own dog's capabilities and you won't want to push a dog too far. The spacing should be a minimum of 2.74m(9ft).

What to do when you've completed the challenge
Congratulations. It isn't easy to train a lively dog to wait in front of a line of jumps while you walk off. Please click on the button below and complete the simple form so that you can print off your certificate. Whatever you put on the form for your name, your dog's name and the category and date will appear on the certificate. If you find you've made a mistake when you've printed the certificate you can always come back to this page and click on the button and do it again. To print the form you can either go to file and print or right click on a blank part of the screen to the right of the certificate and click on print.