September 29, 2014

3 Benefits of Reviewing Past Courses

Earlier this year, we analyzed every course from the 2013 AKC National Agility Championship in preparation for the 2014 event and created our online class called the “AKC NAC Prep Course.” We designed the prep course to give participants three main benefits:

#1: Familiarization with the expected level of challenge

Courses at championship events have a higher level of difficulty than courses at a typical local trial. Working through our prep course gave first time competitors the confidence to compete like veterans.

#2: Understanding your team’s strengths and weaknesses

By trying different handling options on challenging sequences, handlers were able to identify which maneuvers worked best for them in specific situations before the competition.

#3: Practice of specific sequences that often recur at national events

Judges may use different obstacles but many of the basic handling challenges you will see at a big event have been used before, and will be used again. For some examples, take a look at the diagrams and video below.

2014 AKC NAC Challengers Course
2014 AKC NAC Challengers Course
2013 AKC NAC Std Course
2013 AKC NAC Std Course

The opening of the 2014 AKC NAC Finals course was almost exactly the same as the opening of the Round 1 course at the 2013 AKC Agility Invitational.

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