Beardedshadow t1_itf5qbf wrote on October 23, 2022 at 4:32 AM

Reply to comment by Magnus77 in TIL that the dogs in competitive agility don’t rehearse the course ahead of time. The courses are randomized at each competition, and the trainers (without their dogs) only see the layout beforehand on the same day. When the dog runs the course they are literally seeing it for the first time. by Pyraunus

See the last sentence again: the course is the challenge, not the individual obstacles

Changing the order, distance between obstacles, turns, etc -- all in conjuctiojn with front and back crossing with the handler is MUCH harder than most realize (hence the reason for this post) Handler's only get 1 or 2 walk throughs to plan the strategy for the dog

I've seen HUNDREDS of dogs competing in a few different sports, in the field pointing & retrieving, and in protection: it's both impressive to see first hand and humbling