Testimonials
Since USDAA announced its new USDAA@Home!SM program, well over 1,000 people have participated, and the numbers are growing every day. Here's what some of the participants are saying about the program.
DOG AGILITY
“I just wanted to thank USDAA for coming up with the USDAA@Home! program. It has been quite a challenge having to get up so early, before it becomes 90 degrees and unbearable for the dogs in the Florida heat, but it does keep me active and sharp at the young age of 73. It is great fun!" – Annie Burke and Finnegan, Jacksonville Beach, Florida.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJxc-zR-jvI
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAfvpVd-8SY "I am so thankful for the opportunities that the USDAA@Home! program is providing! My young dog was really starting to hit his groove at trials when things shut down. It was hard to find the motivation to train with things being so uncertain and no goals in sight. After his last trial, Ren was spanning classes from Starters through Masters, and my goal had been to get him into Masters in time for the National Titling Championship in October. The USDAA@Home program is allowing me to continue working towards that goal as well as providing a wonderful incentive for us to get working again. The courses have been wonderful, filled with great challenges for dogs of all levels. With it still being rather uncertain when we will be able to attend our next in-person USDAA trial, I am very thankful for the opportunity to keep working towards our titling goals at home." – Karissa Solberg & Ren, Cookeville, Tennessee Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pi96qdtyRyk "USDAA@Home! is such a great opportunity for my young dog, Jarli, who was ready to rock ‘n roll in March in Starters before agility life came to an abrupt halt. Doing at home courses gives me a focus each week and motivates me to work on setting up courses and to enjoy being with my dogs. If I Q, that’s great, but the real value is in giving me a reason to practice and look forward to agility and to uploading my videos. It makes me feel like I might make it through this horrible time and that my young dog’s agility career is not on hold anymore. THANK YOU! I hope it continues much of the summer. I am in a county that is still in full lockdown, so agility events are a long way off." – Cheryl Lenox, Jarli & Nash, Norwood, Colorado Video: https://youtu.be/kb4RyQUOOas
"My husband and I are really enjoying the USDAA@home! program. I hope USDAA will continue it even after things return to ‘normal.’ Traditional competition venues are too arousing and overwhelming for my Corgi girl (Bryn), and this is the perfect alternative." – Kristin Blank & Bryn, Fort Mill, South Carolina
"Since I have long enjoyed competing in USDAA, I wanted to provide some feedback on your new USDAA@Home! program, after participating in a few events. The 40x60 courses were lovely, with appropriate challenges for each level. I really like the format and appreciate the time that went into designing fun sequences and courses for smaller spaces. My dogs had an absolute blast playing agility, after a long hiatus, and we will keep coming back for more! Running your courses was FUN, as it should be!!! Thanks so much for offering this!" – Patty Warren & Gypsy, Free Union, Virginia
“This afternoon, my dog Piper and I started the challenge, and we had a BLAST!!! The whole time I kept thinking how glad I was that USDAA came up with this great idea because it gave us something new to try. We completed the first two challenges, and I was surprised that we were able to complete the tasks at the 15’ distance. It’s something that I would not have tried to do on my own. . . We’re looking forward to continuing our challenge this Wednesday. I can’t thank you enough for providing USDAA@Home! The folks at USDAA are so thoughtful, creative and supportive. This is just what my dog and I needed during these stressful times. With much gratitude and appreciation. . . .” – Rhonda Sancibrian & Piper, Merced, California
"Thank you for USDAA@Home! It is nice to have small simple sequences that don’t require a lot of equipment, space and set-up time as well as the optional 'accountability' of logging it in. We are fairly new to USDAA and not really concerned with earning titles at this point. Keep up the good work; we really appreciate it!" – Lisa Lofdahl & Tocqui, Carlisle, Massachusetts
"I like that it's a full week because it makes things flexible when the weather is crummy. I liked that the gamble course that was posted had different values for jumps depending on approach. While that will make scoring a little bit more complicated, it is a lot of fun and makes strategy more interesting. I like that you are recognizing training skills and giving value to that. A lot of places are saying that at-home training doesn't equal trialing, but I think at the end of the day, teaching skills is more important and more indicative of your end performance! By giving value to training harder skills it means when they go back to trialing they will be that much better. We should value that, and I appreciate that you guys are. I have also shared your program with a bunch of people who have not done USDAA yet I am hopeful that they will!" – Lauren Kras with Clewe, Nate & Dahli, Plymouth, Massachusetts
RALLY OBEDIENCE
“When the pandemic shut everything down, we were still in winterish weather here in Upstate New York and basically stuck inside. I am the loving owner of three dogs: Sage, a Wheaten Terrier of 10; Ivy, a West Highland White Terrier of 6; and Frankie, a 3-year-old Pumi. Going to agility and rally class and doing competitions were a large part of our weekly activities. All of a sudden it was all gone. Then came USDAA@Home! rally. It helped us focus our training and lifted our spirits! We had a challenge to do, we had something to discuss with our training buddies. We started comparing notes and encouraging each other. We learned how to video! (No small challenge there!!) Thank you, USDAA/WCRL, for these programs. We are enjoying the competitions so much -- and I especially love being able to keep my 10-year-old boy engaged and active!” – Maria Barnum & Sage, Ivy and Frankie, Clifton Park, New York
“I have been participating in USDAA@Home! rally with my 4-year-old Aussie. We have had a blast so far. Course maps were easy to read and set up. The time frame to submit the videos were sufficient. I had a friend tape us, but I think I could have easily set up a tripod with my iPhone as well. The scoring came back once the trial ended. Very easy and super fun to do while we can’t go to live trials.” – Jessie Meyer & Opie, Bondville, Vermont
Video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/tYhhThrfsBQ
“No one could predict how long we would be sequestered at home when the pandemic hit in March, and with two dogs, active in showing in dog sports, I had to find things for us to do together, to keep fit and more importantly, to keep their skills up until such time we could get back into a real trial setting. I found some online courses to keep us going, but it was the trialing and competition that was missing. And then one day, on Facebook I stumbled upon a post from someone about USDAA and their USDAA@Home! rally program. I immediately checked it out, and after reading the rules, found out that the online events are for "real" titles. There are other groups doing similar things, but more for practice. The USDAA@Home rally really suits our current needs, and we are having a lot of fun. It's challenging too, as the WCRL offers some unique and challenging exercises that other venues do not, so we're also learning new skills! As a rally judge myself, I also like that we evaluate and score our own runs! That's fun, and reviewing our own runs really is helpful in fine tuning performance! Ann (Allums) and her crew have been terrific answering questions and keeping everyone up to date on the Facebook page! We love the program, and hope it continues down the road!!!!” – Paula Webber & Hektor, Nanaimo, BC, Canada
Video: https://youtu.be/NOQwPFU8lV4
“The best benefit for us in USDAA@Home! rally is that my dogs enjoy it so much! My Aussie Sophie had seemed to be a little tired of competing, but she is ecstatic to do a course in her own front yard! It has brought back her enthusiasm and excitement for rally. Yes, it's some work for me, and the latest challenge is the Texas heat, but it's worth it to see her back to her old competition self. We've had courses set at our training facility and one at an airplane hangar, but the yard is the best!” – Lynda Hardison & Sophie, Arlington, Texas
Video: TEv109068-4of4due6-7
“The USDAA@Home! rally program has been such a wonderful and positive experience for me and both of my dogs. The courses are well designed and creatively split into two smaller courses in order to accommodate the smaller spaces available at people's homes. It is fun to see how others did on the ‘Event Scoreboard,’ much like a real trial. Moreover, I am thrilled that my sensitive dog was able to complete his RL2 at home. I had been planning to retire him from rally, but he loves it so, and now we can keep going because of the @Home program." – Juliet Gentile, & Turtle and Roshi, Ewing, New Jersey
Videos: Turtle (Level 1) https://youtu.be/6zjjGjgwyfw
& Roshi (Level 2); https://youtu.be/tX5RpIf_BwI
“I have been doing WCRL rally obedience for 10 years. I entered about five trials this spring, and one by one I was told they were cancelled. Since my oldest dog, Seamus, has some health issues, I wasn’t sure we would be able to do any trials in the fall so I thought his rally career might be over. When I saw USDAA@Home! rally, I was excited that Seamus could still do some rally runs. The first week we did just vets, and he had a bounce in his step he hadn’t had in years. The next week I gave level one a try with him. He loved that too, so we added level 3, which he hadn’t competed in about two years. This has made Seamus happy. He even seems to be moving more around the house, and I am so happy to get to play with him still. We can Rally On.” – Becky Potter & Seamus, Salem, New York
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sF6bUtU-J2U
“Thank you for this wonderful USDAA@Home! rally program! What a wonderful idea to keep people and their dogs engaged with the sport they enjoy while having to stay socially distant. There are so many great things about the program, especially that the courses are broken up so that we can use our smaller spaces to build the courses in. I think having us judge ourselves is great; I think people will learn a lot from that aspect of the program. If anyone has not tried it, I highly recommend it. From start to finish, the program is well designed and is keeping my spirits up while I cannot attend trials in person.”– Renee Shriver & Melody, Tinton Falls, New Jersey
Email Us at news@usdaa.com to share what USDAA@Home! means to you (photos or video links are welcome). We may from time to time publish testimonials publicly to share with others who visit our site. If you do not wish to have your testimonial published publicly, or you wish to remain anonymous, please state this in your email, and we will be glad to honor your request.