National Agility Link Association

NALA is the National Agility Link Association. It offers a competition covering 11 months of the year called the "National Agility Link Novelty Correspondence Series" (NALA or Link for short!!) and a magazine called "AGILITY LINK" which is produced every month except July.

1. Belonging to NALA is a positive way of supporting Agility in NZ. You belong to an organisation composed solely of Agility enthusiasts.
2. The Club competition helps develop a feeling of Club identification. Some clubs offer trophies that are handed out each month!
3. The monthly courses are a relatively cheap way of introducing new people to the Agility competitive scene, help provide a focus for training (monthly courses) and provide an incentive to go to training - especially for the more experienced ones who might otherwise drift away from Club activities.
4. NALA runs a library which gives its members the opportunity to borrow books and videos on a wide range of agility and training related topics.
5. NALA gives members the opportunity to design courses, scrime, time and judge them, which mean they gain experience in a club environment, making more people more knowledgeable for Championship events!
6. NALA has organised seminars and visits by overseas experts including Tony Veal, UK, and Susan Garrett, USA.
7. NALA gives its members the opportunity to participate in Flygility - The NALA Sport.
8. There are prizes to the best 10% of dogs over the year as well as Club prizes in each division. Prizegetters receive generous ribbons and sponsors product.
9. Dogs and Handlers participating in the monthly competition gain the opportunity to compete against others from all over the country without leaving their home turf!
10. The Agility Link magazine provides an advertising forum - for equipment, accommodation, competitions etc. Agility Link provides a source of Agility information - e.g., training tips, equipment information, judging and stewarding information, and an exchange of ideas from all over NZ, as well as a vehicle for the expression of new ideas and individual opinions.
11. NALA also hosts the NZ Agility Email List. The list provides discussion of New Zealand dog agility and related matters such as dog training problems, possible rule changes and new agility ideas.
12. The opportunity to participate in a range of activities for one costs.
13. The range of activities offered include Agility beginners and veterans, rally-O, Flygility as well as Games and standard agility and jumpers.
14. NALA has an annual Grants round, and participating clubs may apply for financial assistance for a project or piece of equipment.

• Club and individual competitions
• Agility – standard courses
• Jumpers
• Veterans (dog) and Junior Link (young handlers at two levels and different ages)
• Agility Games
• Flygility - standard and challenge
• Rally O - standard and challenge

There are individual competitions and Club competitions offered in all areas. 

The emphasis is on participation, with eight scores required before a yearly total can be given.

Members are encouraged to submit courses for all the competitions. Courses need to be to scale, in a ring measuring 30m x 40m (for agility) and 20x20m for RallyO. Three times a year the agility course is a Jumpers course.

If the dog goes clear it receives a 5 second credit
e.g. Dog goes 52.00 secs and clear. it's SCORE for the month is 52.00 - 5 = 47.00.
If the dog gets eliminated, its SCORE for the month is "the placing of the last dog plus 10"
e.g. If the last dog's ranking is 300, all eliminated dogs would get a SCORE for the month equal to 300 + 10 = 310.

WHY IS THERE NO STANDARD COURSE TIME?

The very first Agility Link magazine, (June 1989), explained, "because of the complexity of maintaining an on-going points system for participating Clubs and competitors, the standard practice of having a SCT for a course will not apply. In this competition, to emphasise the prime importance of accuracy, and hence safety, when an individual competitor has NO COURSE FAULTS a five second bonus will be granted."

Over the years the results have changed from being manually recorded, to being input into a computer programme and the integrity and character of the competition has been maintained.

Yes it is true. If a dog goes around a course very fast and collects faults it may beat a dog that goes clear, but much slower. However if you check your monthly results sheets and you will find that on the whole the highest placed dogs go clear. And at the other end of the spectrum, in the monthly results sheets you may also find slower clear rounds within the last fifty dogs (excluding eliminated dogs).

Only dogs that compete eight or more times during the year are considered. They are ranked according to the TOTAL of their BEST EIGHT scores. Obviously those dogs which ran eleven times (the highest possible runs per year) will have more chance of dropping their worst scores and achieving a higher placing.

Every Club requires three members to complete a round before they can get a Club Score i.e. If only 3 dogs ran and one was eliminated there will be no Club score given. The Club Score is the SUM TOTAL of the three BEST rounds according to Agility Link rules. The Clubs are ranked, and the Club which finishes first gets a score of 1, second gets 2 and so on. At the end of the year the rankings are added together and the Club with the lowest score wins that Division.

There are currently four Divisions in Agility Link. All new Clubs enter Division Four. Some of the larger Clubs divide their dogs into two or more teams, and they enter initially at this level too. There is a Promotion/Relegation system. The Division Three winner moves up to Division two, and the Club which finishes last in Division Two moves down to the third Division, etc.

The Weave is judged no points lost for mistakes but it must be completed correctly. The crossover is judged as for Novice. Corner poles must be placed on the corners of the long jump.

Care must be taken to ensure the course is set out as per the plan, with the distances between the obstacles measured with a metre wheel. The total Course Length must coincide with that stated on the Course Plan.

Other judging is done under NZARO or NZFDA rules.

Flygility offers a standard course every month, and challenge courses are added throughout the year.

It is useful if participants make themselves familiar with NZFDA rules.

Judging is by Club members familiar with the rules.

Individual and Club competitions are offered each month.