Agility


Agility training and competitions offer exciting, challenging exercise for the minds and bodies of Portuguese Water Dogs and their handlers. Working together to navigate jumps, tunnels, weaves, and other obstacles, PWD and human teams work together to move quickly and accurately through courses of varying degrees of difficulty, achieving different titles at different levels.

With their exuberance and athleticism, PWDs have proven to be excellent agility dogs. Many have achieved advanced titles in high levels of competition.  Several PWDs have earned the AKC Master Agility Champion (MACH) title and beyond!

  • There will be only one high in trial (HIT) offered at the National Specialty.
  • When two days of Agility are held at the National, HIT will be determined from the classes held on the second day.
  • QQs (qualifying in both Standard and Jumpers on the same day) will be considered first for HIT with the PWDCA approved formula applied to the Standard class. In the event of a tie a runoff will be held.
  • If there are no QQs, only scores from the Standard Class will be considered. In the event of a tie a runoff will be held.
  • No scores from the Preferred classes will be considered for HIT.
  • No scores from a FAST, Time2Beat, or Premier class, if offered, will be considered for HIT.

The following formula has been approved by the PWDCA Board of Directors and will be used at future National Specialties to calculate HIT Agility and can be used at regional events and trials whenever a HIT Agility for PWDs is offered.

The HIT formula is based on the results of the American Kennel Club Standard agility run only. First to be considered for HIT are those teams with QQs (qualifying in both Standard and Jumpers on the same day).

For each class level there are handicap points. Excellent level dogs get 30 points, Open level dogs get 20 points and Novice level dogs get 10 points. This is to acknowledge the difference in skills difficulty required at the higher levels and to "level the playing field".

At the end of Standard and JWW classes, all PWDs in all of the classes (Ex A & B, Open, Novice A & B) in all jump heights (generally 16", 20" and 24") with QQs will be considered first. If there are no teams with QQs, those with a qualifying score in the Standard class are selected. A record is made of that dog's name and number, their score, the Standard Course time for their course and the dog's course time. Standard course times vary from each class level and each jump height. Next, calculate the difference of the dog's actual course time under standard course time (rounded). For example, if the SCT is 63 seconds and the dog runs the course in 58.3, then the difference is 4. Next, add the dog's score (100, 95, whatever) to the difference in time (in this case 4) and add the handicap (30 for Masters/Excellent, 20 for Open, 10 for Novice). If this were an Excellent level dog, the calculation would look like this: Dog's score + 4 + 30 = dog's total points.  See HIT worksheet.

To determine HIT, first look at teams with QQs; if none, move on to dogs with scores of 100 in the Standard Class. If there are no dogs with a perfect score of 100, you then move down to the next highest score and calculate the other qualifying dog's scores.