USDAA people: Explain "snooker" please?

[CaliTerp07]

You can't go back for more points, once you finish the closing, you're done. Finishing under time isn't particularly beneficial, but if you got what you needed, I'd consider that more important than trying to get more points.

Okay, thanks.

Yeah, I had no concerns over points, just confusion. The judge told us newbie people not to stress points at all, that if we made it through the closing we'd have plenty so pick the course that worked for your dog and worry about points when you are more familiar with the games. We ended up with 42 points and a 2nd place finish (44 points was the win by the trial chair!), so that was just a nice added bonus.

 

[adojrts]

So we Q'd our snooker run today, woohoo!

Lucy found it incredibly demotivating (what, I don't take the obstacle right in front of me? I have to do this awkward 180 turn instead? Yuck!) but I was super proud that she stayed with me and finished everything I asked of her.

Question though--we finished WAY under time. Like, the time allotted was 52 seconds, I think, and we finished it in 35. Is there any benefit to that? Could we have gone back to get more points? Or is time strictly a tie breaker, and once you finish the closing you're finished?

Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8DCTLTKtBM

This is why I strongly recommend to my students to avoid snooker at first when they are just starting out competing. Having said that we also train a solid 'here' which means don't do anything, run past it until told to do an obstacle
Congrats on the q btw.

 

[CaliTerp07]

This is why I strongly recommend to my students to avoid snooker at first when they are just starting out competing. Having said that we also train a solid 'here' which means don't do anything, run past it until told to do an obstacle
Congrats on the q btw.

Yeah, I'm super glad this was not our first trial! I would have taken a lot of backwards steps had our first time in the ring been snooker! (We've been solidly trialing for 2 years--it was just our first USDAA trial)

It is interesting how different venues value different things. I was blown away at the simplicity of the gamblers course compared to what is expected on NADAC entry level courses, but then the USDAA required a lot of strategies in Snooker that I've never needed to train for an AKC or NADAC course.

I don't see us ever doing USDAA again, but it was a fun day!