MAZING- The Newest Dog Sport!

This is a totally new sport in which the dog must complete a "maze" with obstacles and distractions. The dog with the fastest time through the maze wins. This sport is great because even dog aggressive dogs can participate because only one dog is on the course at a time, except in team mazes. There are three levels: Easy- has no raised and fewer obstacles and fewer dead ends; Medium- has some raised, Hard is self explanatory and may also involve water.

Obstacles:
The obstacle boxes are pre-constructed so a dog can learn them and know what to do such as with agility obstacles. There are more available obstacles than a dog will encounter in any given competition maze. Obstacle sections will mostly be 4’ square with the exception of the jump row
Over-Under-Over: a jump, a crawl under, another jump. There is no escape except to turn around and deductions or failures will be counted
Car Wash: a section of the maze that consists of layers of colored vinyl strips that the dog has to run through. This is challenging because the dog cannot see what is in front of it.
Jump In, Jump Out: a box where the dog has to jump in, turn a corner and jump back out to continue the maze
Cross The Pond: The dog must go through water. ** Prefer to use a real garden pond for this, not a kiddie pool**
Two Story: an obstacle that is double height, one continues and one dead ends. Ways off the second story are: stairs, slide and the spiral.
Walk The Plank: The dog must walk across a “plank” that is mounted to the frame with chains so that it moves while the dog crosses it (inspired by bridge at lake boren, only this is a sold piece that is mounted to a pvc frame with chains so that there is limited movement as the dog walks across. There are no sides to make the dog feel secure). The may also involve a cross the pond combination.
Spring Door: a box that has two “doors” but only one opens. It is spring loaded so it will close itself.
Jigsaw: A box like section that has pieces the come up that the dog must go around. Similar to weave poles in agility yet less demanding
Textures: Different areas of the maze will have textured footing that the dog must cross including noisy and slippery textures
Bridge: A section of the maze that connects to another area by going over it
Jump Row: a series of jumps that start small and get taller through the box. This box will be longer.
Sprinkler “Tunnel”: an arch shaped section with a wall of water
Distractions:
These will placed in “dead ends” in the maze in order to keep the dog from completing the maze or slowing it down.
Treat Box

Basic Pieces:
Corners and dead ends
In team competition additional dogs will be introduced once the previous dog gets to a certain time or point in the maze.

Maze Construction:
Like any maze there is only one way in and one way out. Both the start and finish are on the same side of the maze, at opposite ends. 24’ white plastic mesh is suggested to create the walls, held in place by portable stakes or zip ties. The mesh allows for visibility of the spectators and from the dogs point of view adds to the stimulus.

What Is Relay?

Relay is a team sport involving 4 dogs and handlers to a team. A series of jumps are set, some are in lines, some are curved, and the all are jumped in a pattern set by the moderator (a.k.a judge). Each of the 4 dogs runs the course one after the other and the team with the fastest time and least penalties wins!

The Jumps: There are several types of jumps involved in relay. Wing jumps, standards, double and triple jumps, board broad jumps, multi-layered standard broad jumps, "wall" jumps, fence jumps and brush (plants) jumps & hinge jumps. A pattern and combination of jumps is set by the moderator depending on the skill level of the competition, and all the teams run the same course.

Scoring: It's simple- the team with the fastest, cleanest run wins! Penalties are added for refusals, knock downs and skips.

Sample course: