Strategic pairs

From BayTeam

Strategic pairs is a nontitling (just for fun) event with a long history in USDAA agility. (**Maybe someday figure out who came up with the original rules.) Back in "the old days," when trials were smaller and clubs wanted fun things to do to fill up their days, Strategic Pairs was an occasional visitor. In fact, when the USDAA National Championships for the three tournament events were held on different dates at different locations, Strategic Pairs appeared at the nationals with spectacular trophies and ribbons!

Because it's an unofficial event, the rules vary by judge and club, but the essence remains the same.

Contents 1 Entering strategic pairs 2 Basic rules 3 Faults 4 Sample course map 5 Possible strategy

Entering strategic pairs

• The pair consists of two dog-and-handler teams, just like regular pairs.
• The dogs must be of the same jump height (although the club can opt to allow one dog to jump at a lower height to match his pair's jump height).
• All dogs compete at the same level (no starters, masters, etc. unless the club decides to separate them).

Basic rules

The basic rules are fairly simple:

• Dogs take turns running segments of the course. There is no restriction on how many segments each must do, but usually clubs recommend that the dogs try to split the time on the course more or less evenly. It is about teamwork, after all!
• Dogs can split the course any way they want to.
• At any one time, there is only one "active" dog and one "active" obstacle: the active obstacle is the one that must currently be performed correctly (usually it's the next one in the usual numerical sequence, unless there's a fault), and the active dog is the one legally allowed to attempt the obstacle (usually either dog, unless there's a fault).
• If the active dog faults the active obstacle, the other dog must then do that obstacle. (See #Faults for details.)

From Les Sanders' December 2008 briefing:

"Two dogs work in unison to perform each of the obstacles on the course in numerical order. If doesn't matter which dog performs the next obstacle in sequence (unless they've already faulted it), as long as they perform it correctly. If a dog performing the "active" obstacle incurs a fault on the obstacle (dropped bar, missed contact, etc.), the judge will signal with a whistle. When this happens, the other dog becomes the "active" dog, and it is up to him/her to perform the obstacle satisfactorily. If the new "active" dog does this, then the pair continues to the next numbered obstacle."

Faults

• Pairs must reset their own bars (either teammate is OK).
• Refusals and runouts are not judged.
• Dogs must switch when one dog makes a fault, with the second dog attempting to successfully complete the obstacle that the first dog faulted. (That is, the faulted obstacle remains the only "active" obstacle until it has been successfully completed.) Examples:
  • Dog A is doing a jump-jump-tire sequence and knocks the 2nd bar. Either handler must reset the bar and then Dog B must successfully complete the jump before the tire becomes the active obstacle (at which point, either dog may take the tire). If Dog B then knocks that same bar, again it must be reset and Dog A must successfully complete it before the tire becomes the active obstacle. Ad infinitum (although we hope not).
  • Dog A is doing a tunnel-Aframe-jump sequence and flies off the Aframe. Dog B must successfully complete the Aframe before the jump becomes the active obstacle (at which point, either dog can take it). If Dog B also flies off the Aframe, Dog A must do it successfully. If he flies off again, Dog B must... ok, you get the idea?
• Obstacles taken after an obstacle is faulted (and before the fault is fixed) do not count for or against the team--in other words, they are ignored until the faulted "active" obstacle has been completed correctly.
• Off-course obstacles of any kind at any time are ignored (because they're not "active"); the only important thing is that, at some point, all of the obstacles are successfully completed in order, with any quantity of random obstacles in between. For example, if the course is 1-jump, 2-tunnel, 3-aframe, 4-jump, 5-weaves, 6-tunnel:
  • Dog B could be doing the weaves back and forth and back and forth while dog A is doing 1-2-3-4, but the weaves are ignored until 1-2-3-4 have successfully been completed. At that point, if EITHER dog takes the #5 weaves and faults them, the other dog must successfully complete them before the judge will are about any obstacles after the weaves.
  • Dog A could do 1-2, then Dog B could do 1-3-4 (as long as he waits to do #3 until #2 has been completed successfully), then dog A could do 1-5 (as long as he waits to do 5 until #4 is completed successfully) and meanwhile dog B could be doing #1-2 again to get in a good position to do #6 after #5 is done.
• No fault penalties are ever given, because off course or out of sequence obstacles are ignored and because any faulted obstacles must be completed successfully by one of the pair. The only penalty is how long it takes your team to correctly do a faulted obstacle.

Sample course map

Strategic pairs courses are designed to encourage dogs to split the course. Here's an example:

• Notice that 1-2-3 puts you onto the opposite side of the course from #4. So Dog B might set up inches in front of #4; as soon as Dog A has *successfully* completed #3, Dog B takes #4 (and probably also 5-6-7-8, but that's up to the team). Meanwhile, Dog A is lining up in a good line to take #9 straight to the weaves, so as soon as Dog B completes 8 successfully, Dog A takes off over 9 and 10.

Possible strategy

• The plan can go awry when, for example, dog A faults the #3 Aframe, so now dog B must hustle over there and do the Aframe correctly.
• Pair strategy is entirely up to the pairs; for example, in the case of the faulted Aframe, they could either:
  • Have Dog A run over to #4 while Dog B is hustling to the Aframe, so then Dog B does the 4-5-6-7-8 while A lines up for the jump-weaves
  • Dog A waits before #9 as planned while dog B runs over to the Aframe, completes it successfully, then runs back and does 4-5-6-7-8.

This map shows how one pair chose to do the course, green for one dog and yellow for the other, with Xs where the dog waits for the other pair to complete his/her sequence. So it might have gone like this:

• green does 1-2-3 and then moves out to about where the "70" is on the map so they can go straight over the jump to the weaves when it's next their turn.
• At the instant that green completes 3, yellow does 4-5-6-7-8 and moves to a position where they can go in a straight line over 13-14 and waits.
• At the instant that yellow completes 8, green does 9-10-11-12, then lines up in a straight line for 15-16 and waits.
• At the instant that green exits tunnel 12, yellow does 13-14, then lines up for a good line for 19-20 and waits.
• At the instant that yellow exits tunnel 14, green does 15-16-17-18, then swings around and lines up to go over 21.
• At the instant that green completes 18, yellow does 19-20-21, and meanwhile green also goes for 21 at the instant yellow completes 20 (so they might gain a second or two if the yellow dog turns wide or takes the wrong jump after 20).