There are several agility organizations that sanction agility trials. Each has a different set of classes that are offered, and titles that are awarded. The most common ones in the Great Lakes area are listed here in the order of inception.
United States Dog Agility Association (USDAA)
USDAA is the oldest agility organization in the US. It began in 1986, modeled after the British agility program which actually began as a “sideshow” event during the Crufts dog show in the late 1970s. USDAA offers several classes:
Standard (all the contact obstacles, pause table, jumps, weave poles and tunnels)
Jumpers (jumps and tunnels)
Gamblers (a two-stage course that starts with a time period to collect points by doing the various obstacles – for instance, contacts are 5 points, tunnels 3 points, and jumps 1 point – followed by a second time period during which the dog must perform a sequence of obstacles at a distance from the handler)
Snooker (a point-accumulation and strategy game patterned after the billiard game of Snooker)
Pairs Relay (a Standard-style course which two dogs run, the first half by one dog and the second half by the other, with the handlers passing a baton between them at the exchange)
Each of these classes are offered at three difficulty levels: Starters, Advanced and Masters.
USDAA also offers tournament classes, which include Grand Prix, Steeplechase, Team, and Biathlon. These events are held at the local club level to qualify for the annual National level competition, called Cynosport.
American Kennel Club (AKC)
AKC’s agility program began in 1994. It initially started with Standard as the only course offered, with 4 levels of difficulty: Novice, Open, Excellent and Master. They added Jumpers with Weaves (jumps, weave poles and (optionally) tunnels) in 1999, when they started their MACH program – Master Agility Champion. To earn a MACH, a dog must be at the Master level and earn qualifying scores in both Standard and JWW on the same day (a QQ) 20 different days. In addition, the dog needs to accumulate 750 MACH points, calculated as the number of full seconds the dog is under the Standard Course Time (SCT) for the run.
AKC has now added several other classes, including FAST which is a variant of USDAA’s Gamblers class, and Time 2 Beat, where the first place dog’s time is set as the SCT and dogs earn points depending on how close they are to that SCT. They have also added Premier Standard and JWW, classes with increased course difficulty to provide more handler challenge.
Canine Perfomance Events (CPE)
CPE started sanctioning trials about 2001. They have Standard, Jumpers, Snooker, Jackpot (their version of Gamblers), and Colors, Wildcard and Full House, all various point accumulation classes. There are titles for each class, and their championship titles require combinations of Qs in the various classes listed. CPE has several titling tracks, including Regular, Veteran, Enthusiast & Specialist – each with a different set of jump heights and course time requirements to accommodate dogs of all body types, speeds and ages.
UK Agility International (UKI)
UKI is the most recent organization to join the US ranks. Founded in 2004 in Britain, UK Agility is an international-style agility organization that promotes challenging courses which also allow the dogs to open up and run a bit more than most other US agility courses do. They have many of the same courses as USDAA – Standard, Jumpers, Gamblers and Snooker – and also offer Speedstakes (fast-paced with jumps and tunnels – usually LOTS of tunnels), Power and Speed (a 2-segment course with contacts in the first untimed section and a Jumpers-style second section which is timed), and Chutes and Ladders (a point accumulation course with tunnels and contacts that can only be taken once each). They have a tournament-style Masters Series, with Standard and Jumpers courses that have a combined score.
UKI trials allow the handlers the option of training with a toy in the ring, which can be very helpful for dogs who have become “ring-wise” and act differently when in a trial than in practice. They also have a unique “Mulligan” feature, which allows the handler to have a fun re-run of a course for a small fee (~$5) to see if they can meet the challenge successfully.