2001 AGILITY REVIEW

The year 2001 has proven to be a very exciting one for Papillons in Agility, as well as for the sport of Agility in general. During the past 12 months, three Papillons have completed the requirements for the AKC MACH2 title, becoming the first in our breed to achieve this title. In addition, we had an East Coast Pap achieve the MACH3 title in November of 2001, becoming one of a very small group of dogs in all breeds to have earned this title. Additionally, a west coast Papillon named "Moso" has had all the Agility lists buzzing about his record breaking speed, running courses at greater YPS (Yards Per Second) than most Border Collies!! And finally, a breeder/owner/handler from Massachusetts proved that good breeding is more than good luck when three of her Papillons became the first ever "Mother/Sons" to earn the AKC's coveted MACH titles.

In April, two Papillons finished the AKC MACH2 one day apart, becoming the first two toy dogs to earn that title. On Saturday, April 14th, my "Sherman" (Primavera's Tanks Alot), earned his MACH2 at the Dauphin Trial in Pennsylvania. The very next day Meryl Sheard's "Chipper" became the second toy dog to earn the MACH2.

In November, Jan Berger's Pap, "Sumo" earned his MACH, joining his brother, MACH Roscoe, and his mother, MACH2 "Jewel" (the 3rd MACH2 Pap) to become the first "Dynasty" in Agility at this high level. Since both Roscoe & Sumo are young and healthy, I'm sure we'll hear much more from them in the future.

Throughout the year, a Papillon named "MOSO" has been getting lots of talk and attention within the Agility community. This, as he and his owner, Roger Coor of California, have been winning USDAA tournaments at the 12" jump height in course times that are often faster than the Border Collies on the same courses!

In early November, ten Papillons competed at the AKC nationals in Denver. Kim DeBenedictis and her "BamBam" earned the "High Scoring Toy Dog", and were the only Papillon team to make it to the finals and complete four clean rounds. Kim and BamBam finished up 5th in the 8" jump height, followed by Judith Bowers and "Trey" in 8th place. In addition, several other Papillons managed to get 3 out of 4 clear rounds, in both the 12" and the 16" jump height, so while they did not make the finals, they represented our breed very nicely.

Two weeks later, on November 24th, in Massachusetts, my "Sherman" became MACH3 Primavera's Tanks Alot. Like some of the others I've already talked about, Sherman is a young dog and will continue to "MACH ON" for years to come (I hope!). He finished his MACH3 with enough points (I will explain about "points" later on...) for MACH4, so I look forward to many more years of fun with my little "Red Head".

In other Agility news, the AKC has announced that for the 2002 World Agility Competition to be held in Germany there will be a change in jump heights. In the past, International competition has been limited to the 16" jump height and the 26" jump height, creating an almost exclusively Sheltie/Border Collie team.
This year the IAC has announced three jump heights; Mini Team to jump 14" (for dogs 13 ¾" or less), Midi Team to jump 18" (for dogs 16 7/8" or less), and the Maxi Team to jump 26". This change may offer an opportunity for something other than shelties to compete on AKC's World Team, like possibly a Papillon???? Needless to say, there are still many small Shelties who will continue to meet the 14" criteria, (including most of last year's 16" Mini Team), as well as a slew of Jack Russells, but there may be some Papillons currently competing at 12""or 16" that could be competitive. It will be interesting to see how many, if any, Papillons can qualify for and attend the AKC Invitational that will be held in Minnesota this May, where the 2002 World Team will be selected. BREEDERS: We need FAST, FOCUSED, HIGH DRIVE, structurally sound dogs that can jump 12"- 16" for International competition. Please remember to contact some of us when you have dogs that you feel are too large for the breed ring! Let us try out your dogs... Remember that FOCUS is as important as speed, DRIVE is as necessary as structure. (Note: My youngest, and BEST Agility Pap, Turbo, came to me when I took him to "place" in an Agility home. I was looking for a Border Collie.... BUT... when I saw Turbo work.... Needless to say, he's my best prospect & my hope for the Invitational!) So, breeders, keep the Agility community in mind.... PLEASE!

In November, the AKC posted the top Agility dog in each breed for the year 2000, on the AKC website.
All of these scores and rankings are from the Excellent B (Masters Level) class only. Congratulations to Judith Bower and her CH. Serna-Stedt Treasure TD, (In 2001, this dog also completed the MACH title!). This award was based on "points" accrued in the 2000 calendar year. Dogs earn points for every FULL second they come in UNDER standard course time (SCT) at an Agility trial, and when a dog places first, those points are doubled. So for example, if the SCT is 65 seconds for a particular course (based on yardage), and the dog completes the course in 52.05 seconds and wins the class, this is what happens.... The dog was 12.95 seconds under the SCT. This ROUNDS DOWN to 12 (remember, we said "FULL" seconds under SCT), and because the dog finished first, the 12 is doubled - so the dog earned 24 points. Second place dogs also get a multiplier of 1.5, so in the exact same circumstance, if the dog finished second, rather than first, the 12 full seconds under course time would have become 18 points. With all that as a backdrop, let me share with you that Judith Bower's "Trey" earned 1088 points in 2000 to net the AKC recognition as top Papillon for that year. Congratulations to Judith and the other top Papillons for 2000!

Rank	Dog Name	Owner	Points/Double Qualifiers	Size
1	CH Serna-Stedt Treasure, MX, MXJ*	Judith Bowers	1088 pts/13 Double Q's	8"
2	MACH Mysin Alacazzam, UD, TD	Diane Baumann	972 pts/ 12 Double Q's	8"
3	MACH Savoy Trompe L'Oeil	Jan Berger	931 pts/ 17 Double Q's	8"
4	MACH Primavera's Tank's Alot	Cheryl Fischer	922 pts/ 17 Double Q's	12"
5	Savoy Chiaroscuro, MX, MXJ	Jan Berger	907 pts/ 7 Double Q's	8"
6	CH. L'Ete Legacy, MX, MXJ	Cheryl Koehler	873 pts/ 7 Double Q's	8"
7	MACH Top Gun's Little Homer	Cheryl Fischer	783 pts/ 17 Double Q's	12"
8	Mickthea's Niko, MX. MXJ	Kathy Brown	734 pts/ 7 Double Q's	8"

As a point of interest, it should be noted that to earn the MACH title, a dog must earn BOTH 750 points AND 20 Double Q's (Qualifying in Both Standard Agility and Jumpers with Weaves with a perfect score) on the same day. MACH2 is earned when the dog has achieved an additional 750 points and an additional 20 double Q's, MACH3 is the same again, etc.

One final point of interest, there has been an Agility Papillon List started at Yahoo groups. This list is Agility specific, and populated by Papillon owners at all levels. If you are interested, you can find this list at YAHOO Groups.com

Well, that's it the for AKC's 2000 rankings, as well as for the Agility news for 2001. I hope to be able provide you the 2001 AKC rankings by March. If anyone has any National Agility news to share, please contact me at Mytopgun@optonline.net