Congratulations! 
Due to your Border Collie dedication and agility excellence, you are invited to the BCSA Top 20 Agility Competition for 2009 held in Jefferson, WI.

The Border Collie Society of America is announcing the first Agility Invitational which will commence at the 2009 BCSA National Specialty in Jefferson, WI.

The BCSA will invite the Top 20 Agility dogs, owned by BCSA Members of good standing. The Top 20 dogs will be calculated to reward speed and consistency, using the AKC approved method of calculating speed points but also rewarding a 10 point bonus for each double Q earned from the period of January 1, 2009 to August 15th, 2009 for this first Invitational.

The Top 10 Invitational dog/handler teams from the Excellent only classes (Standard and JWW) at the BCSA Agility National, will advance to the final two cumulative rounds of courses designed and judged by Jacque Hoye, AKC Judge.

Scoring for the BCSA Invitational rounds will be based on the same system that AKC uses for the invitational and the national.

Course faults will be scored as follows:

• Refusal or Run-out = 5 points

• Wrong Course = 20 points

• Failure (e.g. missed contact or dropped bar) = 5 points

• Elimination (obstacle not completed or skipped) = Whistle (score of zero)

• Course time deductions = 3-point deduction for every second over course time truncating down to whole numbers.

• All obstacles must be completed or a score of zero will be assessed.

The 4-paw safety rule will not be in effect, however any dog incurring what would have been the 4-paw rule violation will be faulted 5 points and be required to complete the obstacle. The judge shall continue to judge the dog’s performance on the obstacle, i.e. refusals, missed contacts, etc.

There will be a special prize and ribbon for the Winner of the Agility Invitational (Gold), second prize (Silver) and Third prize (bronze).

The BCSA is proud to recognize the Border Collie as the World’s premier Agility dog and bring that honor to our National Specialty.

For more information, please contact Jacque Hoye BCSA Agility Invitational Chairman or Paige O’Donnell BCSA Board Member Sponsor.

Page Updated 09.08.2009