.com Forum · General

Hi all,
First let me say I'm really enjoying the performance dog events. (and learning a lot along the way) I'm excited for tomorrows trial to see how my agility prospects do and I'm hoping to iron out any remaining kinks

My thoughts on those:

> More PASSES for CGC (I think perhaps it's currently too easy to fail? I would imagine that most dogs pass this test when they go to take it?)

> Agility - I need to see if I can find some Agility trial results to try and determine how many dogs out of the field should statistically be Qing - and how far off the course time are most dogs, what's the time range...


The other question I have, which is the main reason for the post, is
Do you think the current stats are sufficient or would you add something/change something?

As an example: For Retrievers in Hunt Test it calls for a brave, courageous dog - (jumping into water, through mud and harsh terrain, etc) - I can also see that as being needed for Schutzhund...
So I'm considering adding Courage

right now we have

"Brain Traits"
Temperament, Biddability, Reliability, Intelligence, (Courage would be here)

"Physical Traits"
Agility, Endurance, Speed, Strength
.... My OCD says I now need another trait here <shaking head at myself>

Finally separate from the above is Breed Instinct - currently, that is where the Courageous Retriever is being scored from and I had originally thought this would be where Courage for Schutzhund/IPO could be scored from...


So, any thoughts on Traits?
if you were figuring out scoring formulas what traits would you want to see?

I was thinking for the CGC/CGCA that in theory age and training would affect the outcome. So for example a dog that has an obedience title would more likely pass easily than say a 6 month old puppy... given that things happen of course that's not a guarantee but maybe something to think about.

I agree.

and I'm not sure if anyone has noticed, but when you compete your stats improve.

So if you have not so great traits and do badly in CGC or Agility or whichever sport - you will still get a bit of a stat boost for participating - whether you pass or qualify. So, the dog is "learning" and theoretically should do better the next time.

Right now we're doing a +0.2 to the lowest trait that the event uses in judging...
So if the event uses Biddability and Intelligence for scoring and you participate - we bump whichever is lower by +0.2

We could do a bigger bump when titles are achieved... like the CD
which would make sense - we just don't want all the dogs maxing out all their stats....

I think boosting them a little faster would be ok. I know I tend to FH dogs fairly quickly, so I'll always have new ones to enter in the performance stuff.

I think that the if a dog has an obedience title then it would be better at the CGC event or rally, because alot of those skills would transfer over.

But a CD wouldn't necessarily improve it's chances at say weight pull or herding because those are mostly a different skill set.

And maybe once the first title of a sport is gained, like novice standard agility, then the skills for that sport is maybe boosted by a bigger amount as a reward for completing it and it would also stand to reason that the dog would be more prepared for the next level at that point..