TRIATHLON RULES
The Triathlon will be comprised of competition in three (3) areas:
1} Standard Agility (Regular or Preferred jump heights)
2} Obedience and/or Rally Obedience
3) Conformation
Dogs must be entered in regular classes for Obedience, Rally Obedience, and either Regular or Preferred Agility. Preferred, Graduate or Beginner Novice obedience classes will not be included in calculations for the Triathlon even if offered.
Dogs may compete for all levels they eligible for and additional points will be awarded for upper level classes.
Dogs that achieve a qualifying score in obedience, rally and agility will receive 10 bonus points for each “Q”.
Teams participating in the Triathlon may choose to compete in Obedience and/or Rally Obedience. Scores will be adjusted to allow for the significant difference in level of skills and difficulty required between Obedience and Rally Obedience. For teams competing in both Obedience and Rally, the highest score earned will be counted.
The same team of dog and handler must complete all three phases of the competition with no exceptions. The handler must be a registered owner of the dog or a member of the immediate family of the owner of the dog.
CONFORMATION
Dogs will be judged according to the official AKC standard with the exception that spayed and neutered dogs may compete in Triathlon competition. A judge will be appointed by the National Show Committee with the approval of the ABA Board.
A total of 100 possible points may be awarded by the judge with dogs to be scored and placed according to the points earned. Each dog will be judged separately by the Triathlon conformation judge according to the official AKC standard. The scores will be recorded by the judge in the Triathlon conformation scorecard that is provided. Any dog disqualified by the
judge will receive no score.
OBEDIENCE
Novice: Qualifying score divided by 2 (if NQ actual points earned from official judges score sheet and divided by 2)
Open: Qualifying score + 15 divided by 2 (if NQ actual points earned from official judges score sheet +15 and divided by 2)
Utility: Qualifying score +30 divided by 2 (if NQ actual points earned from official judges score sheet +30 and divided by 2)
For dogs competing in both Open and Utility or Novice and Open, the highest score earned will be used. If the dog has NQ’d in both Open and Utility or Novice and Open the highest score shall be used.
RALLY
Novice: Score multiplied by .4
Intermediate: Score multiplied by .425
Advanced: Score multiplied by .55
Excellent: Score multiplied by .65
Master: Score multiplied by .85
For dogs competing in Advanced, Excellent and/or Master only the highest score earned will be used.
AGILITY (Standard or Preferred jump heights)
Novice: Score
Open: Score +10
Excellent/Master: Score +20
(F) Failure = 10 points
(R) Refusals/run outs =5 points
(W) Wrong course = 5 points
(E) Excusal = No score (eliminating in ring, leaving ring, judge determines dog is out of control,
course not complete).
Time faults = 1 point per second
There is a significant difference in difficulty between Rally and Obedience competition. Rally does not require the same skills as Obedience (i.e.in Rally handlers may talk/encourage/praise dogs, give multiple commands, retry exercises and complete only a short sit/stay upon command. In Obedience, dogs work without multiple commands, without encouragement/praise during exercises, exercises cannot be retried, dogs complete much longer sits off lead). So while a choice is given to compete in Rally or Obedience for the Triathlon scores must be adjusted to reflect the difficulty for each.
TRIATHLON SHOW CHAIR
The Triathlon chair for each ABA National will be appointed by the National Show Committee.
The chair will utilize the standardized scoring template for the Triathlon. It is the responsibility of the Triathlon show chair to obtain copies of the agility, obedience/rally, conformation scores after completion of each event and compile in the template. It is recommended that the Triathlon chair have a 2nd person verify the final scoring tabulations prior to the awards presentation.
Upon completion of the awards copies of the score placements and scores shall be forwarded to the Working Dog Committee for recording purposes.
TRIATHLON AWARDS
The Awards shall consist of three (3) placements for the three highest scoring dogs. The placement ribbons are Gold, Silver and Bronze. Additionally there shall be up to 4 placement ribbons offered in each Triathlon event for the highest scoring dogs in Agility, Obedience, Rally, and Conformation.
COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENT
The Triathlon falls under the responsibility of the Working Dog Committee per the ABA Board. Any questions or clarification should be addressed by the Working Dog Committee Chair.
Revised 12/25/2018