Don't Blink!

Where Liam and I went for the Hoopers trial, they use surveillance cameras so that means you can buy  videos of your runs. Since we haven't been doing Hoopers for very long, I bought photos, which I've already posted, and I also bought the videos of our runs.

In dog agility, runs usually allow about a minute and half, but most times dogs are much faster; I would say on average though you get about a minute in the ring. In Hoopers, you get points for a clean run as long as you are under 90 seconds. I don't think I saw a dog go that slow. Liam's slowest run was just over 22 seconds and his fastest run just over 17 seconds.

Don't blink, you might miss it!

If the videos aren't available in your browser, I've added a link to the YouTube videos of the same runs. Just click the link below.

Video of Liam Beginner Hoopers

Video of Liam Beginner Tungo

Video of Liam Beginner Parkour

Wordless Wednesday - Hoopers Photos

 

Whoop Hoop de Do!

Liam and I went to Guides Canins for a Hoopers trial yesterday. Guides Canins is about an hour and half away from me; it's not a bad drive as it's all highway, although my GPS wanted me to go cross country. I used to go there and camp when I was running agility with my other dogs but with Liam's eyesight I hadn't made the trip in years, not since before COVID. They've built a new facility in that time and it is spectacular. They have an indoor turf building, an indoor/outdoor dock diving pool, two large classrooms, offices, grooming rooms, and gender neutral bathrooms.   

Turf Hall

Entry to Dock Diving Pool

Dock Diving Pool

Classroom

This trip, we just went for part of the day so I left Teddy home.  We had to leave just before 7 am to get there in time to set up and give Liam some time for a walk before the trial started. We timed it right and  arrived just as they were opening the building. 

We ran 3 events. At the Beginner level, there are only 3 games, Hoopers, Tungo and Parkour; we ran one of each. In all of them you just follow the numbers and you can run with your dog but the judge will include distance challenges that are indicated by lines or by a handlers box. All of our runs included challenge lines. You earn points for getting a clean run but you can earn additional bonus points for being able to do the course from behind the challenge line or from within a handlers box. You might be able to see the line in this photo of us walking the course, they are marked with white tape.

Walking the Course

If you use the furthest line, there's 15 bonus points awarded to a clean run, the next line gave 10 extra points and the closest line gives you 5 extra points. A clean run under 45 seconds gets you 10 points and from 45 seconds but under 90 seconds gives you 5 points. But even slower dogs, if you can work the distances, can get good scores.

It takes 50 points in Beginners to get a title. Liam only needed 10 points in Parkour and Tungo to get his Beginner title in those games. I was pretty sure we could go clean but I wasn't sure how he would run in a new place and with so much distance between obstacles as we train in a smaller venue. I walked the courses using the 10 point distance line but in all of our runs I had to cross that line so we only got 15 points for each of our runs. Enough for his Beginner Tungo Dog of Canada and Beginner Parkour Dog of Canada. 

Now we move up to Novice in those games. Our next trial will be a virtual one and hopefully he'll get his Beginner Hoopers title then as we now have 35 points in that game.  There's also an overall title once you have all the titles at a particular level, so getting our Beginner Hoopers qualifying score actually will get us two more titles. 

We'll have to work on getting more distance though as the distance challenges just get harder as you move up. 

But we're still celebrating so whoop hoop de doo!  

Hoop, Hoop

Liam and I did another virtual Hoopers trial the week starting from 22 Mar. For virtual trials, you can practice the runs before taking and submitting your videos. 

There are four games now in Hoopers. In three of the games you can run with your dog or you can try to do part of the course from a distance. Doing the distance challenges earns you more points towards your titles.  This past year they added a new game called Challenge, in that one you have to stay in the Handler's Box for the whole run. It's only offered at Novice level and above. Liam is still in Beginners although that is now an optional level. 

At this virtual trial, we ran a Hoopers course that only has hoops and some barrels, a Parkour course, that has all of the obstacles permitted by Canine Hoopers Canada and a Tungo course that has only barrels and tunnels but in Beginners uses one hoop for the start. 

Liam got three clear runs and we got the easier distance challenge in each run so he got 10 points for each run. Five for the clean run and five bonus points. 

Liam's Hoopers Run

Liam's Parkour Run

Liam's Tungo Run

We have a physical trial at the end of April and there's another virtual trial at the end of May. Titles are based on points, in two of the games Liam now has 40 points; you need 50 points for the Beginners title in each game. I think Liam will be able to get those titles at the next two trials.

Then we'll be able to say Whoop, whoop or should I say Hoop, Hoop!

Whoop Whoop

I've been doing Hoopers classes with Liam for about a year now. Canine Hoopers Canada (CHC) has been doing virtual trials since there aren't a lot of qualified judges yet and so they can build the organization by getting people to play who otherwise wouldn't be able to. For the first time, they included a smaller space option that could be done at the facility where we take our classes. There were six events, two of each of the games. I entered Liam in one of each, two other students also entered so we got together Friday evening to set up and run the courses. 

With CHC, you can run the courses with your dog like you do in agility and get a qualifying score. Each qualifying score is awarded points and titles are point based. Each course will have distance challenges using either a Challenge line (CL) or a Distance Handler Box (DHB). If you have a clean run and have successfully completed a distance challenge you are awarded extra points, so the titles will come faster if you can work at a distance. 

Our first run was a Hoopers course. It had two Challenge Lines, a 10 point line and an easier 5 point line. Not sure you can see the lines in the image, the 10 point line runs across from the number 2, the 5 point line is just above the number 1. I didn't think Liam would be able to get out to the barrel at obstacle 6 and 13 with me behind the 10 point line so I ran it from behind the 5 point line. You can click on the link below to see our run. I did try it from the 10 point line, twice, and while Liam did go out the the barrel for obstacle 6, he wouldn't go back out again for obstacle 13. 

Beginner Hoopers 1

Our next run was a Parkour, very similar to Hoopers but it uses all the equipment permitted by CHC so there was a gate and a bottomless tunnel as well as barrels and hoops. This course had a handlers box; the judge had allowed two options for extra points, run the whole course from the box or just get the first three obstacles while you were in the box. You can't send your dog from the box to the first obstacle to start the course so your dog does need a sit stay to let you lead out to the box. Let me tell you getting obstacle three while in the box was harder than it looked as Liam wanted to wrap the barrel or he took obstacle 4 turning in the wrong direction. 

Beginner Parkour 1

Our last run was one called TunGO, it uses just barrels, tunnels and gates, with a hoop as the starting obstacle. The other students, who were with me, were doing all six runs so it was getting rather late. As a result, I decided to not even try this one from the distance lines but just run it with Liam.  Again the distance lines are not really visible in the picture. The 5 point line runs from obstacle 3 to obstacle 6. The 10 point line is about half way back from that towards obstacles 2 and 7. Perhaps you'll see them in the video as we were using red and blue plastic tubing. 

Beginner TunGo 1 

You're allowed to practice the courses at a virtual trial, For our Hoopers and TunGO runs, it was the first time Liam did either course. I did try the Hoopers two more times afterwards to try and do it from the ten point Challenge Line. For the Parkour, Liam was a little high and we had to start this one three times before we got a good run. You only submit what you think are clean runs to be judged. I uploaded our runs to YouTube and put the link to each run on the virtual trial's FaceBook group and waited for them to be judged.

Whoop, whoop, Liam got a clean run on each of our courses! We also got a 5 point bonus in the Hoopers course and a 5 point bonus for the Parkour. I wasn't sure about that one, I had to move out of the box so quickly to keep him in line for the next barrel that I thought I might have stepped out too soon. 

So whoop whoop, now Liam is on his way for his Hoopers titles. For those who've seen him run agility, look how smooth and steady he runs the courses. Now we just have to work more on our distance skills. For those agility handlers out there, come give CHC a try, your agility dog will learn the obstacles quickly, they know the body language already and you can work on  distance over time.