The Tournament Rules
USDAA offers tournament competition to identify and promote the best of the best in head-to-head competition. USDAA has defined four distinctive tournament series to highlight the dynamics of the sport in both individual and team competition.
- Purina® Pro Plan® Grand Prix of Dog Agility®
- Purina® Pro Plan® Dog Agility Steeplechase®
- Purina® Pro Plan® Dog Agility Masters® 2-Dog & 3-Dog Team
- Purina® Pro Plan® Masters Challenge Biathlon℠
The year culminates with the world championship event—Cynosport® World Games. Countries around the world are invited to participate. To date, more than 20 countries from six continents have participated.
Each of these tournaments is summarized below and described in more detail in Chapter 10 of USDAA Rules & Regulations.
Purina® Pro Plan® USDAA Grand Prix of Dog Agility®
USDAA’s flagship tournament series begun in 1988, competitors have competed annually in local and regional competition to earn the right to enter the championship event, which has become one of the premier world events in the sport of dog agility. This individual competition is run on a standard agility course, demonstrating the competitor's full range of training and competitive skills by performing an obstacle course comprised of all obstacle types in a race against the clock. The competitor with the fewest penalties and the fastest time is the winner. The winner in each height division is named Grand Prix of Dog Agility® World Champion.
Events are open to all competitors regardless of past performance experience and are held in designated cities across North America, and around the world. Competitors must meet qualification standards as set forth in the tournament rules each year to earn the right to compete at the world championship event. The tournament has grown to include well over 100 local qualifying events leading to more than eight regional and foreign national championship events.
Purina® Pro Plan® Dog Agility Steeplechase®
Beginning in 1997, this tournament event was developed to demonstrate the competitor's ability to work with speed as they feature their skills in training and performance of a special Jumpers course.
In addition to numerous jumps and hurdles on course, the A-frame and weave poles are included as a special demonstration of the two most dynamic obstacles in the dog agility, for which difficulty of performance increases with speed. The tournament's "time plus faults" scoring method accentuates the importance of speed combined with accuracy in performance.
Events are open to all competitors regardless of past performance experience and are held in designated cities across North America, the Caribbean, Spain, and Japan. Competitors must meet qualification standards as set forth in the tournament rules each year to earn the right to compete at the world championship event.
Cash prizes range from a few dollars to a few hundred dollars at the local or regional level, with prize money paid out in the championship finals.
Purina® Pro Plan® Dog Agility Masters® 2-Dog & 3-Dog Team
Beginning in 1991 and held annually since 1993, competitors combine to form three-dog teams that compete in five classes of competition - Standard Agility, Snooker Agility, Jumpers, Gamblers Choice and Three-dog Team Relay. The event is also now available as a 2-dog team or “Pairs” format.
The competition demonstrates teamwork and competitors' endurance and skill in a variety of disciplines as they apply a variety of strategies in the different classes. Teams accumulate points through five classes of competition, with the team scoring the highest number of points being named Dog Agility Masters® Pairs & Team Champions.
Qualifying events are held across the United States each year and are open to all competitors, regardless of past performance experience. Teams may be include dogs of no more than two different jumping heights and must meet competitive qualifying standards as outlined in the tournament rules to compete in the championship event.
Purina® Pro Plan® Masters Challenge Biathlon℠
This tournament series began in 2013 and showcases competitors on European-style courses with a number of technical maneuvers working at full stride on each of two courses—standard agility and jumping. Scoring is on a "time plus faults" basis, and the lowest overall score wins. Competitors must qualify for entry at local and/or regional events throughout the tournament season leading up to the event.