The Judge's tale...
 During 2010 Steve Croxford
was selected by the FCI Agility Committee to judge at the 2011 European Open in Bad
Hall, Austria. It was the first time that a UK judge had been asked to be part of the EO
team and more importantly, it was the first time that a British agility judge had been invited to take
part in an 'official' international FCI event. He was hoping it would be a memorable
experience but for all the right reasons. Post-event he can confirm that he wasn't
disappointed...
Before leaving for Austria, I wasn't sure whether I would have
an interesting enough story to tell agility people back home. For me agility is about the dogs
and handlers that take part, not really the judge. Everyone remembers winners, but does anyone
remember the judge who sets the course?
In
May 2011, I was advised of the judging schedule. I had been selected to set courses for
the Small Individual Agility heat, the Large Individual Agility Final and the heat for the
Large Team event. As far as I know, none of the judges for each of the events was announced
publicly until the week of the competition itself, so I felt duty bound not to let on to anyone
what classes I had been asked to judge.
In the months leading up to the event, I spent time playing around with course designs,
eventually arriving at three courses that I was happy with - courses that I felt would set the
right sort of test for an important event but, at the same time, permit handlers of varying
degrees of skill a chance to get round them. I had the opportunity to set one of them up in my
paddock to test my course and my judging positions. Having done this, I was fairly confident
about my course designs especially after they had been through the vetting process provided by
'Her Indoors.'
 What makes designing an FCI course a challenge?
The first thing is the ring size definition. FCI
rings are a different shape to KC ones - oblong instead of square. This doesn't sound like much to
worry about but it does have an effect on what you can - and can't - set up. Fortunately, I have
had experience of setting course for Olympia which provides a similar challenge. That said, it
still takes a while to get your eye in so to speak.
The second challenge is setting a course where the distance between obstacles is defined as 5 -
7 metres. This limitation gives a different perspective for both the minimum
distance and the maximum distance between obstacles. For instance, you have to think carefully
about setting hurdles too close or too far apart. Think about a box sequence or
pull-throughs, for example. Again, if you think this should be simple try it on one of your own course designs and see how you get on. Things you
can get away with as a judge in the UK are simply not possible under FCI rules. I have no
opinion on which system is best, but you do have to be a bit more disciplined under the FCI
system.
Getting there
Having sorted out my course designs, I turned my attention to planning the logistics of travel.
I was booked in on a flight with Ryan Air from 'London Stanstead to Linz. Having travelled with
this no frills airline before, I am aware that they can be a complete pain. They have so many
rules and regulations I had to do almost as much preparation for this as I did with my course
designs!
Ryan Air may be cheap, but they are notorious for catching you out with 'added extras,' and I
was determined not to get charged any more than I had to. I am a reasonably experienced
traveller and I prefer to carry hand baggage only as I have spent too many hours waiting at
baggage reclaim in my life already. It is really difficult, however, not to overfill a small
suitcase when you are away for five days especially if one has to fit in clothing for all
weathers and conditions.
 The maximum weight for a 'carry on' is 10 kilos for this company. I spent much of the week
leading up to the flight putting things in and taking things out of my flight bag. I think this
is the first time ever that I have weighed a travel case. If you thought that judging at a
major Agility event in Europe was stressful you should try travelling with 'Try-it-on'
Airways.' At least it gave me something else to think about!
I duly arrived at Stanstead on Thursday morning with a bag that I thought was about on the
limit, but at least contained enough stuff to get me through the weekend. This included wet
weather gear which at one point I was considering jettisoning in favour of weight saving. Good
job I didn't given what happened.
I was aghast when I arrived at the boarding area to find my
detailed planning might still go horribly wrong. A couple in front of me had bought duty free
and were told that they could only carry on one bag each, they ended up stuffing duty free into
their holdalls. I was carrying a small leather bag with my wallet, passport, car keys and Euros
in it, plus my judging whistle and sundry other items. Fortunately, I was also carrying a
newspaper. The people in front created enough of a diversion for me to get on board with my
'man bag' safely hidden behind it. What a trauma! I think next time I will just pay the £40.00
fine for having too much stuff and be done with it. The rest of the trip passed off without any
more dramas. I duly arrived at Linz airport to be picked up and taken to the small town of Bad
Hall, the hosts of the 2011 European Open.
 Thursday -
Meetings
The first official event of the weekend with the team managers meeting. I am pleased to say
this was as informative as all the others I have been to at the World Championships, with
questions and answers being translated into several different languages. Most team managers
left more confused afterwards than they were when they went in.
At this meeting I met with some of the other judges for the weekend and following on from this
a few of us went off for a meal which, incidentally, was to turn out to be the last proper meal
I had during the whole weekend.
Friday
-Training day
The Friday dawned and I found myself agreeing to help to monitor the training rings on Friday.
This was a good chance to study the dogs and handlers due to take part over the weekend, but it
was to be the first of three long days at the show.
I must admit to having been a bit bemused by some of the handler's antics during the training
sessions. I was always told when taking exams that it was pretty futile 'cramming' the night
before as it was far too late for any of it to make any difference. Some of the team training
sessions reminded me of frantic sixth formers hurriedly reading up on some obscure facts
minutes before an exam in the hope that some of it might stick during the event itself.
The positive benefit for me was watching most of the teams in an non-competitive environment
and seeing how many people had cracked the Agility Holy Grail of running contacts - very few
unsurprisingly - and how many Continental handlers were now doing the 'fashionable' blind
turns. The answer was hundreds of them - and not always in the right places.
 The final event of the day for the competitors was the Opening Ceremony which has now become a
feature of this competition as it has with the FCI World Championships. It is a chance for the
teams to parade around the arena under the national flag and is a time to be proud to be
representing your country.
The day was not yet over for the judges as we now had to attend the pre-event meeting to ensure
we were properly briefed. This was a fairly uneventful affair barring a discussion on jump
heights which for various reasons it was agreed would be set at Small - 30cm, Medium - 40cm and
Large - 60cm for all competitions for the whole weekend. FCI rules permit hurdles to be set (in
height) between 25 - 35cm for Small dogs, 35 - 45cm for Medium and 55 - 65cm for Large.
There was a short discussion about the 'new for this year, team finals.
The judges and some of the organisers then went off to the Rathaus (Council Chambers) to a
formal reception hosted by the Burgermeister (Mayor) of Bad Hall. One of the most impressive
things about Austria is the sense of civic pride held by most Austrians. Bad Hall is a very
pleasant country town, and like most of Austria is clean, tidy and well kept. After a finger
buffet, pizza, a glass of the local sweet cider (in a wine glass) and several reruns of the Bad
Hall promotional video, we said our goodbyes and it was off to bed.
Saturday - The competition begins
Saturday 5:30am seemed to come around too quickly. Although my judging wasn't due to start
until mid-day, I was keen to get to the venue with the other judges and to get a feel for the
event. I sat at ringside, watching the dogs compete on Kari Jalolen's Medium Agility course for
most of the morning until it was my turn to set a course.
My first event was the Small Individual Agility. I had designed a tricky start with an awkward
weave entry that required the handler's dogs to have good obstacle discrimination. FCI rules
require you to measure the course and set a 'standard course time' (SCT) and a 'maximum course
time' (MCT). For interest the course was measured at 143 metres and I set an SCT of 40 seconds
which works out at a ground speed of about 3.6 metres a second with an MCT of 60 seconds. The
winning time was 30.89 which is a ground speed of 4.63 mps. The slowest time before any time
faults kicked in was 38.70 (3.7 mps). This was comforting because I had toyed with the idea
before the start of setting the SCT at 39 seconds - if I had done it wouldn't have made a big
difference in the result.
 The fastest non-clear was 29.94 seconds (4.78 mps).
If I recall correctly, this dog had a running dog walk contact and I gave it a fault for
missing the bottom. If you are interested you
can look up the results on the EO website to see who the winners were. The results also table
details of the number of clears and eliminations, etc. Well done, by the way, to Bernadette Bay
and Zaz for finishing 4th. It was a great run under pressure as usual.
Having completed the heats to the schedule published by the organisers, we now had to wait for
the announcement of the finalists which, for the individual event, are calculated on the basis
of the top 25 dogs placed in the Large or top 15 from Small and Medium from both the Jumping
and Agility rounds. In addition, the highest placed competitors from each country also goes into
the Individual final.
I was allocated the job of 'zone' judge for the Small final. The zone judge is responsible for
judging the up contact on the dog walk. In addition to this the zone judge also has
responsibility for marking any faults occurring between the dog walk and the preceding obstacle
(e.g. refusals) As it turned out, I was relatively unemployed during the final as no dogs missed
the up contact although I did give one refusal.
The organisers had allocated a different ring away from the stadium area for the Large dog
final. I set off to another part of the venue to set up my course for the Large Individual
final. When I had completed setting out the obstacles the weather was still dry though there
were some ominous clouds on the horizon.
I went back to the Stadium area to watch the Medium final which started in light rain. It
got heavier and heavier throughout the course of the proceedings. The highlight for me having
missed the 'bare footed' handler incident was the run of Team GB's Sian Illingworth and Jazzy
who, but for a knocked down long jump, would have won the EO final by nearly two seconds. The bad
luck that had dogged (excuse the pun) the Team GB all weekend thus far was continuing.
 The rain was by now falling consistently and heavily. I was
getting concerned about
the state of the ground for the large final. I decided to have one last look at the ground
conditions before measuring the course I had set for the Final.
It was becoming increasingly obvious that both the weather conditions and the light - or absence
of daylight - were going to play a significant part in the running of the Final. I walked the
ring a few times before deciding that, if I began the final using the course I had planned, I
might very soon regret it. I took a decision then to change my course to make it safer for the
ground conditions and the fact that most of the final would be run under floodlights.
I looked at my original course design and decided I needed to make sure that there was a
straight approach to all the prime obstacles. I then set about making the changes to the
course. I also felt that I could keep the original finish if I removed the spread element at
the end. You can compare my original plan with the amended version I used in the diagrams.
 The revised course was measured at 145 metres so I set an SCT of 40 seconds and an MCT of 60
seconds. Had the conditions been better I would have probably set a much tighter SCT (37
seconds or 3.90 mps) even for the original course design. Once again, if you want to have a
look at the results these are available on the
EO website.
Time was passing me by so I have no idea what time we started the final. All I
can say is that it was dark when we started and the floodlights were definitely necessary.
After the first 15 dogs had gone, I was happy I had taken the right decision to change the
original course plan and, for the most part, neither the dogs or handlers were having too much
trouble with the conditions. The course was still providing a stiff enough test.
Just as I was beginning to congratulate myself another unexpected event occurred. Some of the floodlights went out! I cannot recall exactly when this happened but it looks from the video
clips I have seen that the dog was half way through the weaves at the time. If you had asked
me before I had seen this I would have said the A-Frame but there you go. I took a conscious
decision to let the dog and handler carry on since in real time it wasn't that dark. Both
completed the course successfully though I was pretty sure the dog missed the down contact on
the A-Frame, but I had to give it the benefit given the conditions!
There was then a lengthy delay before the lights came on again. When they did, one or two of
the floodlights were still not working. We now had to decide whether to carry on with the final
or rerun the whole event from scratch the following day. It was by now nearing 10:00pm and we
decided that the conditions were just about okay to carry on. These were by far the worst
conditions I have ever had to deal with for an agility event and, although on a another day we
may have taken a different decision, I believe we made the right one at the time and for the right
reasons.
The ground conditions were a major factor in my decision. Whilst not ideal, the surface was
still as safe to run on. Although slippery, being a football field the drainage was good and
there was no standing water. The surface was holding out pretty well so decided to go ahead. We
concluded the final in a dim light which fortunately did not affect my ability to judge the contacts or any
knock downs at all. The only issue was being able to see the hurdles clearly at the start.
However, some might argue I judge with my eyes closed anyway so this wasn't a big deal!
To everyone's relief, we finished the final at nearly 11:00pm
- and it was still raining.
Thanks to the ring party and my zone judge Eric Huttner, we got through the last few dogs
efficiently and safely. Well done, by the way, to Jo Tristram and Biz who finished a creditable
9th in the Final in spite of the wet conditions.
I think my decision to change the course before the start reduced the risk of injury to both
dogs and handlers to a level only slightly above that for a normal event held on a rainy day.
Also, thinking about it with the benefit of hindsight, the fact that the equipment included
rubberised contacts played a major part in my decision. I may have made a different decision
altogether had we been using grit /sand based contact equipment.
 Sunday
- Last day
It was another early wakeup call (5:30am.) The day's
judging passed pass peacefully given the events of the day before. No major
incidents occurred during the Large Team Agility competition. Another long wait ensued for
the announcement of the teams who had qualified for the final. Sadly, no Team GB representation
in this. My role in the final was restricted to acting as a start line adjudicator. The
event itself was interesting to say the least! But that's a story for another day.
I shall leave the final word to my suitcase which apparently gained weight by a kilo and a half
between the outward and homeward journeys, at least according to the 'Try-it-on' Airways
scales. This despite the fact I had offloaded all my wet weather gear and a pair of shoes to a
kindly Team GB member to take home with them by road, rail and sea. I should, of course, thank
'Try-it-on' Airways for their intervention into proceedings since anything the weather or
electricity cuts put in front of me after that was easy to deal with.
 Looking back
Overall it was a hugely enjoyable experience. I hope that in the future other UK judges
will get the same opportunity to represent their country at this level. It was a great
honour and I hope I did everyone in the UK justice.
 About
the author...
Now a professional agility dog
trainer, Steve Croxford spent most of his early business career working for a major
clearing bank. He finished his career after 28 years having gained experience in people
management, operations, product management, marketing and managing large projects.
Steve has been a regular competitor in agility for over 25
years and has been a full-time professional agility trainer since leaving banking in 2003. He
is married to Yvonne and they live in the Midlands with their eight Border Collies.
Steve was until recently the manager of the Kennel Club's
international agility teams set up and led the team to a number of successes at the FCI Agility
World Championships since 2001. A successful agility dog handler in his own right, Steve is
currently competing with two Border Collies, Robbie and Joe.
His other interests outside dogs include appreciating the
skills of competitors in most sports, sport science (human & canine) and applying this to his
agility training techniques and following his favourite football team Chelsea FC.
Photos:
Bernadette Bay, Martin Cavill & Rainer Woblistin
First
published 9 September 2011
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