– AGILITY, PART 2 –
Conformation, Part 1 || Conformation, Part 2 || Conformation, Part 3
Conformation, Part 4  || Conformation, Part 5| || Conformation, Part 6
Top Twenty || Futurity || Parades || Agility || Best of Winners

December 5, 2005 – This week's DaDane is the second installment of a two-part series of photographs from the 2005 GDCA National Specialty's agility trials. Last week you probably noticed that many of the featured Danes had special "letters" (representing titles) following their kennel names. What do they mean? I asked JP Yousha, a Dane breeder and strong advocate of canine performance and companion sports, to explain:

COMPETITION AGILITY

LEVELS: Novice, Open, Excellent and Beyond...
Competition agility in the AKC has three basic levels of titling and two different types of courses, jumpers and standard. For basic titles you need three qualifying scores to gain a title. To qualify, your dog must complete a course of obstacles in the specified order and within a certain time limit.

You start off in Novice, then progress to Open, and after that comes Excellent level. The basic titles for the Novice level are NA and NAJ; for the Open level, OA and OAJ; and for the Excellent level, AX and AXJ. After you've achieved the Excellent level, you can compete to qualify for Master's level titles, MX and MXJ.

The "J" in a title's name indicates it was gained in a jumper's course. Jumpers' courses are based on speed; the obstacles are limited to tunnels, jumps and weave poles. Standard courses, in contrast, offer a wide array of obstacles to challenge the dog and handler team, including the pause table, the dog walk, and the A-frame.

"MACH" — The Ultimate Agility Title
Once your Dane has achieved the Master's level, you can strive to accumulate enough points and qualifying runs to achieve the ultimate prize in agility, the MACH, or Masters Agility Championship. A basic MACH takes 750 points (gained by seconds under standard course time) and 20 double Qs (where your dog qualifies in both jumpers and standard runs in the same day).

Preferred and "A" Classes
There is also a Preferred class in agility, where the jumps are set four inches lower and the dog is given 5 extra seconds to complete the course. There are also "A" classes for new exhibitors and dogs that have not yet titled. These classes give new exhibitors, new dogs, and younger dogs the chance to learn the ropes. Plus, the Preferred class enables older dogs to continue competing, instead of retiring. The Preferred class titles are NAP and NJP (Novice level), OAP and OJP (Open level), AXP and AJP (Excellent level) and then MXP and MJP (Master's level). There is no MACH for Preferred classes.

A Bit of History
There are currently two MACH Danes: MORGAN, aka MACH Morgan "Danger" Powers, CD, a black Dane bitch out of Colorado handled by Keri Caharer, and BO, aka MACH Desertwood's LV Mr Bojangles, CDX, RN, a black dog (male) out of Nevada handled by Zee Marie. The first Dane to get an Excellent title was a rescue called Tipper, CD, AX; the first Dane to achieve the top level in Jumpers was Linda Huckaba's JAIME, aka Glen Glo's Mad About You, CDX, RN, MX, OAP, MXJ, OJP. Jaime competed again this year at the National Specialty, at nine years of age.

One of the first Danes to achieve an upper level agility title, and a breed Champion to boot, was Sandy Schneider's LOTTIE who was, at the time, the most titled Dane in history and is officially: Hall of Famer CH Chauffeured Louts Elan, UDX, TDX, OA – this all was achieved even before the Jumpers course existed! Sandy was there at the National again this year, competing with her young Harlequin male, RINGO, Payaso's Ringo Starr v Witzn, CDX, RE, TD, who is just now starting his agility career.

The first Dane ever to title in agility was Cathy Mitchell and Georgia Thomas' FDCH Thavern's Serendane, CD, OA, again titled before agility even had a Jumper's class. The first Preferred title was gained by one of Teresa LaBrie's 'herd' of titled dogs, WYSIWYG's Nikko Blue's, AJP, who ended up all-breed ranked last year. Teresa was there again this year, and competed with FANG.

— JP Yousha, Chromadane

Now that you know how to "read" the agility titles, you may wish to revisit last week's Agility Danes to better appreciate their many accomplishments. Meanwhile, we'll start this week's line-up with MORGAN. Early last year Morgan became the first-ever Great Dane to earn the coveted MACH title. (To see more of Morgan, you can visit her website.)

— MORGAN — 
MACH Morgan "Danger" Powers, CD
(Sadie's Bravehearted Wallace x Wally's Stella Belle)
Breeders: Patti & Lee Petersen
Owner: Keri Caraher and Sean Higley

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— BO — 
MACH Desertwoood's LV Mr Bojangles, CDX, RN
(Sirblur's Why Not Yet x JGP's Las Vegas Connection)
Breeder: Linda Reese
Owners: Frederick Moss and Zee Marie

— NATTY — 
Paquestone N'Zaniri Rollnthndr, VCD1, OAJ
(Daynakin Xactly Rollin Thunder, CD, OA x CH Paquestone's Zaniri G'Nite Gracie)
Breeder: Ray Goldstone, T. and L. Kinney
Owner: Marta Brock

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— BARTLEY — 
CH Naples Midnite Shinning Star, CD, RN, NA, NAJ
(CH Naples Black Shadow x Naples Fairest Of Them All)
Breeder: Joe and Maureen Cornish
Owner: Lynn Dowd

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— MELODY —
Capstone's Melody, RN
(Express My Guy Spot x Venus Wilson-Caprata)
Breeder/Owner: Helen Barbeau

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— FANG — 
CH Ladoquerie Flashback V WYSIWYG
(CH WYSIWYG's Lothario v Longo x La Doquerie The X Files)
Breeder: Michelle Valois-Pesjardin
Owner: Teresa LaBrie

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— K8 (Kate) — 
Cheshire's XK8 Shaguar! Powers
(CH Sasdania-Vitag's Frozen Asset x CH Cheshire's All That N' Thensome, OA, AXJ)
Breeder: Shalein Bonney, Michael Shields
Owner: Keri Caraher and Sean Higley

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— PENELOPE — 
Daneridge's Penelope Steele, NA, NAP, NJP
(CH GMJ's The Zacharia P Steele x Daneridge's Camelot)
Breeders: Maryann Wilson and Greg Louganis
Owner: Suzzane Kelleher-Duckett

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