How Do I Qualify For Nationals - Big Air?

The Basics:

In a nutshell, here are the basics, with more details below:

1. You must be a National member in good standing.

This is different from a Club Membership. A Club Membership is not required to be eligible to participate at Nationals.

2. You must have a Regional (club) or National Title.

Either of the two is acceptable. In order to obtain a Regional (club) title, you must be a club member. In order to obtain a National title, you must be a National member.

3. You must register and pay.

You must register and pay for the Nationals event when it’s open. This has typically been done by fax only in the past. Future improvements of the DockDogs website may make online preregistration possible.

The Details:

1. Obtaining a Membership

To obtain a National Membership, go to www.dockdogs.com and scroll to the bottom of the home page where you will see National and Family Membership tabs to click.

To download a Las Vegas DockDogs Membership, click here.

2. The Difference Between National Events and Regional (Club) Events:

All sanctioned DockDogs events are posted on the DockDogs website under the “Events” tab. Although there are different preferences by individuals by what method they get to the information, one direct and common method is to select the “Events Calendar” pull down under the “Events” tab. Click here.

From there you can scroll through the months and click on the event of interest where you will find more details. The Events Calendar has a color coordination key at the bottom that identifies the type of event. Typically, blue identifies a Regional (Club) event and will usually include the affiliated clubs name on the calendar listing. Any other color than blue is typically a National event and the color may vary depending on the sponsor or series.

Selecting the event from the calendar will bring up more details including the schedule, location address, High Points Chase details, events format (i.e. outdoors or indoors), and sometimes include recommended hotels.

Please note that the event must be a “Competition” with scheduled Waves. Often other venues are also listed such as banquets and practices. A title can only be earned from a competition.

Except for how the finals are sometimes organized, the entire process and procedures between a National Event and Club Event are identical. The National Rules are observed and followed but can be modified on site by the event manager for extenuating circumstances.

3. Big Air Divisions

When competing at the year end Nationals event, you will be competing against dogs in your division only. Novice against novice, junior against junior and so on. You may also compete one division higher then you are titled.

To understand titles, you must first understand how you are scored and what title you are working to achieve.

In every Big Air Wave, you are given two turns up on the dock to attempt a jump. Whichever score of your two jumps is higher, is the score that you receive for that Wave. It is possible, and common, to jump a score of two different division in each Wave. Your dog may have jumped only 6 feet on the first attempt and 15 feet on the second. In that case, your score will be 15 feet. That in turn counts as one “leg” towards a “Senior” title. Five (5) senior legs at either a National or Regional event earns a “Senior” title. It’s important to note that this is true either at a National or Regional event. You cannot combine “legs” from both National and Regional events.

Below is a list of the division categories.

    Novice: 1” to 9’ 11”

    Junior: 10’ to 14’ 11”

    Senior: 15’ to 19’ 11”

    Master: 20’ to 22’ 11”

    Elite: 23’ to 24’ 11”

    Super Elite: 25’ and above

4. Obtaining A National or Regional “Big Air” Title

In order to obtain a National or Regional Title your Team, meaning one same handler and one same dog must compete in five (5) Big Air Waves and jump within the same category division at either National events or Regional events.

Therefore, if your dog jumps between 20’ and 22’’ 11” at a “Regional” event, it has jumped a Master jump and earned 1 “leg” towards a “Regional” Master title. Four (4) more Master jumps at a “Regional” event earns a “Regional Master Title” and entitles that team to participate at Nationals provided that they have a National membership.

For example, let’s look at a hypothetical season for a make believe team…

Joe and his dog Fido start off by attending a “regional” Las Vegas DockDogs event in Las Vegas, Nevada. Joe signed up his “team” (being him and his dog Fido) for 7 Big Air Waves. The results came out as follows…

Wave # –Fido jumped his first time up, 8’ 5” and in his second jump he went 11’ 2”. They use the larger of the two jumps for your final score so Joe and Fido’s score for that Wave is 11’ 2”. Joe and Fido now have one (1) “leg” towards a “Junior” title.

    Wave #2 – Score: 13’ 6” Division - Junior

    Wave #3 – Score: 9’ 2” Division - Novice

    Wave #4 – Score: 9’ 6” Division - Novice

    Wave #5 – Score: 8’ 10” Division - Novice

    Wave #6 – Score: 12’ 11” Division - Junior

    Wave #7 – Score: 9’ 9” Division – Novice

At the end of the event participating in all of these Waves, Joe and Fido did not earn a “title” yet. What they did earn is four (4) “legs” towards a “Regional Novice Title” and three (3) “legs” towards a “Regional Junior Title”. Joe and Fido will need to attend another Regional event and get one more “leg” for a Novice title or two more “legs” for a Junior title.

Next up, Joe and Fido go to a “National” event in Buffalo, NY. They enter 6 Waves and the results are as follows…

    Wave #1 – Score: 9’ 6” Division - Novice

    Wave #2 – Score: 9’ 7” Division - Novice

    Wave #3 – Score: 9’ 2” Division - Novice

    Wave #4 – Score: 13’ 10” Division - Junior

    Wave #5 – Score: 12’ 11” Division - Junior

    Wave #6 – Score: 9’ 8” Division – Novice

At the end of the event participating in all of these Waves, Joe and Fido still did not earn a “title” yet. What they did earn is four (4) “legs” towards a “National Novice Title” and two (2) “legs” towards a “National Junior Title”. Joe and Fido will need to attend another National event and get one more “leg” for a Novice title or two more “legs” for a Junior title. Remember, “National” and “Regional” “legs” can’t be combined to equal a title.

Next up, Joe and Fido go to a National event in Indianapolis, IN. They enter 6 Waves and the results are as follows…

    Wave #1 – Score: 13’ 9” Division - Junior

    Wave #2 – Score: 14’ 3” Division - Junior

    Wave #3 – Score: 14’ 9” Division - Junior

    Wave #4 – Score: 16’ 6” Division - Senior

    Wave #5 – Score: 14’ 11” Division - Junior

    Wave #6 – Score: 17’ 5” Division – Senior

At the end of the event participating in all of these Waves, Joe and Fido have finally earned a “National Junior Title”. They achieved it by combining their two (2) “Junior legs” from the previous “National” event in Buffalo with three “Junior legs” from this event. They also had one more “Junior leg” to spare but once you’ve reached your five (5) “legs” within a “Division”, any additional “legs” from this point are irrelevant. Therefore, they are now eligible to attend Nationals!

It’s also noteworthy to mention that a “leg” could have been earned if Joe and Fido had qualified for the Finals at any of the events that they attended. Just like a regular Wave, if they made a Junior jump in the finals, that would count as one “Junior leg”.

They also earned two (2) “National Senior legs” at this event and can work towards a “National Senior Title” at their next “National” event if they choose.

The Title that Joe and Fido have earned is good for life! They can not only attend Nationals this season but all future seasons also with this one title. It never expires.

Had they not earned their title before Nationals, all of their legs for the following season are still valid and they can pick up where they left off the next season and attempt to earn their title then.

Notes:

This information is based upon the current DockDogs “Big Air” rules and is subject to change.

1. *Rules are different for Extreme Vertical and Speed Retrieve.
   

2. *This explanation only applies to one same dog and one same handler. If Joe has another dog, he would need to perform the same method with that dog to earn a title for that dog. The same applies if Joe’s wife were to be the handler for Fido. You cannot combine multiple dogs and/or multiple handlers to earn a title.
   

3. *You can earn multiple titles in a season and even possibly at one event. Your eligibility to attend Nationals is based on your highest title. For example, if you have earned a Novice title and then later earned a Junior title, your Novice title becomes null and you will compete at Nationals in the Junior Division. It has been customary at past Nationals to also allow competitors to participate in the next higher Division than their title. For example, if you have a Junior Title, you may also choose to participate in the Senior Wave of competition. This is totally optional and additional wave fees will apply.
   

4. *A title is awarded to the dog and their handler that jumped them.  In a family, if the wife titled the dog, the husband would not be able to compete in Nationals with the dog, unless he additionally competed and titled the dog.