I wrote this essay after getting my MACH with my dog, Cammi. So many of my relatives and friends didn’t really know what a MACH was so I thought this would help explain. The experience of competing in agility and getting my MACH has been very rewarding. I hope that I can encourage many other juniors to compete and keep this wonderful sport alive.

Twenty Double Q’s
The experience of titling one’s dog is very rewarding. It takes a lot of practice and dedicated training in order to prepare to show one’s dog, but it is worth it in the end. The most treasured AKC Agility title is the MASTER AGILITY CHAMPION title or "MACH". It is the hardest, most coveted, and rewarding title to achieve. It takes a lot of work and time to get. In order to achieve the MACH title one must earn 20 Double Q’s and 750 points. To obtain the MACH a dog must exhibit superior performance on the agility course.

In the dog world, MACH stands for Master Agility Champion. MACH has many other meanings that refer to speed as well, but I’ll be focusing solely on the Agility meaning. One must climb through the ranks and all the previous classes. Novice, Open, and Excellent A all come before the class Excellent B. In order to move from class to class, a dog must complete each course, three times. Once the dog has traversed up the ranks to Excellent B, it can start working for the MACH Title.

Each day at the dog show there are two courses built. A Jumpers course and a Standard course. In Standard Agility there are obstacles such as a Dogwalk, A-Frame, and Teeter, which make it different from Jumpers. The three obstacles are called contacts. They have zones at the bottom of them call contact zones, where the dog must put one foot in. It is a matter of safety so the dogs do not leap off the top but come to the bottom first. The average Standard course takes about 55 seconds to complete. The reason Standard takes longer than Jumpers is because there is also a table in it. On the Table the dog must hop onto it, and then either sit or lie down for 5 seconds before continuing. Contact obstacles also take more time to complete then a jump.

Jumpers is a faster paced course with only tunnels, jumps, and weave poles. A dog gets the chance to really run in jumpers. An average jumpers course takes 30 second to complete. Jumpers courses can sometimes be harder for a dog to complete because there are more jumps in them, and therefore more chances to knock a bar down. If a dog knocks a bar they automatically fail the course. They can continue it, but they will not receive a passing grade.

Other ways to fail Excellent rank courses include missing a contact, jumping off the table, not completing or entering the weaves correctly, going overtime, or going off course by taking an obstacle out of order. In order to qualify in Excellent one must do the course perfectly; without any mistakes. It is not an easy task. A lot could go wrong on a single course. When the handler and the dog enter the ring, they must be connected and focused on the task ahead. The handler must clearly guide the dog through the obstacles. Before running the course, the handler is given the chance to walk the course so they know where they are going, but the dog has never seen this course before and must depend completely on the handler telling it where to go. An average course has 20 obstacles and the jumps and other obstacles are numbered from 1-20.

Each day there is a chance to earn a Double Q. In order to get a Double Q, the handler and the dog must run both the Jumpers and the Standard course perfectly. Then comes the other requirement of 750 points. Each Agility course has a standard course time. Besides being accurate one must also be efficient. One cannot dawdle on the course or they will exceed maximum course time and fail. There is a standard course time set for every course depending on the total yards of the course. Points are calculated by how many seconds under time the dog runs the course. As an example, the standard course time (SCT) for a Jumpers course is 38 seconds, and the dog completes it in 30 seconds. The dog would then earn 8 points.

As one can see, in order to get the MACH it takes a lot of work, but the MACH ‘celebration’ is a truly wonderful experience. Once a dog and handler have gotten 19 Double Q’s and 750 points, and they are working for their last one, the tension and stakes are raised. It is nerve wracking to run the last course before achieving one’s MACH. Everyone holds their breath as the handler goes out and prepares to run the course. On lookers watch intently; white knuckled, and wait as they soon to be MACH dog goes through the course. As the dog travels over the last obstacle, with a clean run behind him, the crowd jumps up and cheers, whistles, and claps. The hander and the dog get to do a victory lap. Someone runs out a MACH ribbon (which is very big ribbon) to the handler, and the handler also can grab the last jump bar and run around the ring with it as a trophy. Pictures are taken, with the judge and an agility obstacle behind the dog and handler. It is a truly remarkable experience.