Contact obstacles in AKC agility include the A-Frame, Dog Walk, Seesaw (or teeter) and the Pause Table. They are called “contact” because you must touch them in the prescribed way during your standard class agility run. (Contact obstacles are not used in Jumpers with Weaves.) On the A-Frame you must ascend one panel and descend the other and touch the yellow “contact zone” with any part of one foot prior to exiting the obstacle. On the dog walk you must tough the “contact zone” with one foot on both the up and the down sides. The teeter works the same way, with the added caveat that you have to touch the down zone after the plank has touched the ground and prior to exiting the obstacle with all four paws. In my first run of the day I forgot everything I know about contact obstacles. Unfortunately, the judge in today’s agility trial did not forget these rules and so I was far from qualifying. It is not pretty, but let’s take a look:
My second run in Jumpers with Weaves was far better. It was clean and fast. I won a “Q” for this run and 9 points. Only 732 more to go. We were all very happy. Here is my Jumpers run:
Thanks for watching!
–Lancelot
