We are United States Dog Agility Association, Inc. (USDAA), the world's largest independent authority for the sport of dog agility, with more than 30,000 registered competitors and more than 40,000 dogs representing more than 200 different breeds of dogs, including mix-breeds. USDAA represents more than 150 affiliated groups conducting more than 600 days of events each year throughout the continental United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Spain, Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan.

Organized in 1986 to introduce the sport of dog agility to North America, USDAA adopted the motto "Promoting International Standards for Dog Agility^SM , patterned after the British standards for the sport. Since that time, USDAA has evolved into an international organization with the most comprehensive and diverse programs for development and certification for dog agility anywhere in the world.

USDAA is a owner and producer of three flagship tournament series - the Grand Prix of Dog Agility^® World Championships, the $10,000 Dog Agility Steeplechase^®speed jumping tournament series, and the Dog Agility Masters^® International Three-Dog Team Championship. Each has enjoyed national television coverage in recent years, and beginning in 2008, can be view on line with the streaming of its first World Championship event. The "Grand Prix" being the longest running tournament series in the western hemisphere and one of the most prestigious tournaments in the sport today. The Grand Prix has drawn competitors from fifteen countries on five continents.

As evidence of the pioneering spirit and leadership role of USDAA and its supporters, we count among our accomplishments -

• Introduction of the sport to North America in its international form (1986)
• First organization in the world to separate competition into four jumping height divisions, fostering participation among competitors with virtually all sizes of dogs
• First officially sanctioned event in the United States and North America (1986)
• Introduction of the first competitive tournament series in North America - the "Grand Prix of Dog Agility^®" (1988)
• Introduction of the first certification tests in the world in five distinctive classes of competition (1990)
• First North American canine sports authority to field teams in "world" competition (FCI World Dog Show, Germany, 1991)
• First championship tournament series on a major national television network when the USDAA Grand Prix of Dog Agility^® Championships was telecast on Animal Planet (1999)

USDAA has continued its innovative ways into the 21^st century and maintains an active leadership role by "Promoting Competitive Excellence in Dog Agility^SM".

In 2000, USDAA set out to further its programs through international alliances by becoming a charter member in the International Federation of Cynological Sports (IFCS), a nonprofit organization headquartered in Russia whose principal purpose is to organize cynological sports world wide after the "Olympic Ideal", promoting sport as a means of educational exchange and interaction of competitors among nations in amateur sport on a nondiscriminatory basis. Through IFCS and efforts of its own, USDAA has established affiliations in more than a fifteen countries on six continents. With its new alliances, USDAA created World Cynosport Ltd. as its international arm, as it continues to grow its list of licensed and affiliated groups, its competitor base and list of noteworthy accomplishments -

• Conducted the first World Championship to held in the western hemisphere, when eleven countries on five continents participated in the Grand Prix of Dog Agility^® Championships (2001)
• USDAA team brought home the Team Gold Medal from the First IFCS World Agility Championships (Moscow, 2002) and from the Second IFCS WOrld Agility championships (Spain 2004)
• Introduced the first World Cynosport^® Games, featuring its three annual tournament championships and bringing together a variety of disciplines governed by independent canine sports organizations for Flyball, Flying Disc and Canine Freestyle, as well as the introduction to North America of "Summer Combined Competition", a paramilitary sport from Eastern Europe (Dallas, Texas, 2003)
• Introduced expanded certification programs to foster development of skills in a variety of competitive classes (January 2004)
• Introduced USDAA programs in Central America (2005-2006)
• Introduced USDAA programs to Philippines, Hong Kong, China and Singapore (2006 - 2008)
• First to stream a live event with the 2008 Cynosport World Games, October 29 - November 2

With its high competitive spirit and unsurpassed caliber of competition, USDAA continues to offer the best events in dog agility for competitors, spectators and sponsors alike. We continue to strive for the betterment of the sport by maintaining the highest performance standards as measured by the international community of which USDAA plays a leadership role. USDAA's goal is to develop the sport first and foremost as sport seen as spectator events, building from the grass roots by promote the sport in the community as a recreational, family sport, which further fosters responsible pet ownership.

For more information about United States Dog Agility Association, Inc., contact:

Kenneth Tatsch - President and USDAA Founder – 972.487.2200

or

Heather Smith - Public Relations & Communications – 972.487.2200

United States Dog Agility Association, Inc.
PO Box 850955
Richardson, TX 75085-0955
Telephone: 972.487.2200
Fax: 972.231.9700