Florida Agility

a guide to dog agility competition in Florida

Finding Premiums & Trials

12/24/2023

I have a bookmarking tool that I use that makes this process easier. START.ME is a web based tool that saves your links in one or more web pages. I can access any of the links from any browser on any device. However, it has a nice feature on desktop/laptop devices using a Chrome based browser or Firefox (maybe others but not Safari), I can open a group of links in multiple tabs. For example, when I discover a USDAA trial, I will bookmark the event page in a start.me group. When I search for the premium for a USDAA trial, I will load all the pending USDAA trials in a bunch of tabs and then put my cursor on the first tab close button and start clicking. I sometimes click faster than my brain can process the screen and I will have to repeat the group a second time al little slower. This technique is also used for ASCA, CPE, UKI and some AKC trials.

Finding trials is relatively straightforward. It is mostly a matter of searching and pattern recognition (recognizing something has changed since last time).

• AKC - I use the old style event search (an example is in the AKC popup on the Welcome page). This is mostly searching for something different. The calendar will give me a starting point (for example, the first tentative AKC trial). Let me know if you schedule a new trial at the last minute!
• ASCA - ASCA finally has a usable calendar. The previous version it took 13 mouse clicks and movements to get one month calendar. The new calendar once you get your search set up, you can bookmark the result page to repeat it. You can also bookmark the event page.  Currently there is only one club offering ASCA trials so you can also monitor their website (4 sets of agility trials per year)
• CPE - I am reserving judgement on the new CPE site. There are some aspects that I like so far and some that could use improvement.
• NADAC - With the passing of Ileana Nadal, who spearheaded NADAC in Florida, the future of NADAC in Florida is TBD. 
• TDAA - Puts a date of last update at the top of the page so you can skip the search if there is no change.  Just do a search on FL (ignoring stuff in lower case)
• UKC - The UKC calendar is pretty easy. Mostly just select the state and if you want the agility event type.
• UKI - I am hoping that they clean up the calendar. But just select FL and the year. 
• USDAA - My favorite calendar - just enter “FL, “ without the quotes in the search box and it will dynamically filter the list as you type. The comma is optional but it will exclude clubs like the Santa Barbara Flyers!

Finding premiums can be easy or challenging depending on the venue. I have several bookmark groups involved in searching for premiums and a couple of groups for searching for trials. The first group of bookmarks consists of AKC pro trial secretaries,  TDAA calendar and the CPE l . The next groups of bookmarks are links to event/document pages for AKC, ASCA, CPE, UKI and USDAA. The last group is an eclectic mix of links that are mostly temporary in nature.

AKC is probably the most challenging but it does not need to be. AKC now allows clubs to upload premiums so that they show up on an event search or on the trial information page but this is not in widespread use by clubs yet. If a trial is being handled by a trial secretary with a web site, I will rely on their website and these are in my first group of bookmarks. If the trial is not being handled by a pro, I will bookmark one of the trial event pages and if the club has a web site that regularly posts premiums that page will be bookmarked. The bookmarks for the AKC event pages can be scanned very quickly. 

ASCA used to be one my most hated calendars. However, recently they updated the site and the calendar is quite useful. Hint, once you get it set up the way you like, just bookmark the results page and you can repeat the search any time. 

CPE The new CPE site is nice in that I can bookmark the trial page and rapidly scan a bunch of them in a short amount of time like AKC, UKI and USDAA. My main problem with the event page is the premium button is towards the bottom and requires some scrolling to see it. 

NADAC With the passing of Ileana Nadal, who spearheaded NADAC in Florida, the future of NADAC in Florida is TBD. The NADAC website posts the premiums in its calendar.

TDAA like CPE puts a date of last modification near the top of the page so I can quickly skip the scan if it has not changed. Once loaded, it is just a matter of searching for FL ignoring the finds in lower case.

UKC trials require checking websites. 

UKI & USDAA once a trial is discovered, the document page (UKI) or the event page (USDAA) is bookmarked into the appropriate group for quick scans.