Agility is an irresistible blend of speed and strategy in which a dog and handler race against the clock to complete an obstacle course.in every competition the obstacles are laid out in a different sequence, and the handler must decide how to run the course most efficiently.
A key to the remarkable success of agility competition over the years has been innovation, with new titles, new venues, and new classes that keep enthusiasts intrigued and motivated.
Time 2 Beat (T2B) is the AKC’s most interactive class yet, where the most accurate, quickest dog sets the pace and where all levels—Novice, Open and Excellent—compete against each other on the same course.
What makes T2B unique and engaging is that the fastest dog in each jump height sets the “time to beat” during the competition, as opposed to traditional agility classes, where the standard course time is set in advance by the course yardage as wheeled by the judge.
T2B is referred to as a hybrid class, that is, it contains elements from both the traditional agility classes. It combines such “contact obstacles” as an a-frame or a seesaw from the Standard class with the hurdles, tunnels, and weave poles of Jumpers with Weaves.
T2B does not employ the dog-walk, chute, pause table, or broad jump, making it the fastest brand of AKC agility yet.
A forgiving aspect of T2B is that refusals (a dog refusing to take an obstacle on the first approach) are not scored. So, except for the additional time taken, refusals do not affect your dog’s run. If a dog fails to complete the weaves or misses the entrance, he gets two more tries to finish the obstacle before receiving an F (Failure to Perform).
Like any agility event, T2B is open to all AKC-registered purebreds and to mixed-breeds enrolled in the AKC Canine Partners program.
To earn the T2B title, a dog must reach 15 qualifying scores and 100 points. Unlike the other agility classes, to earn a T2B your dog must accumulate points rather than “legs” toward the title. For each jump height, the dog who runs the course in the fastest time will earn 10 points. The other dogs competing at that jump height will earn something less than 10 points, according to a scale of percentages based on the fastest time and how near your dog came to equaling it.
The “T2B” title initials will be followed by a numeral indicating the number of times a dog has met the requirements of the T2B title—he can be a T2B2, a T2B3, and so on. Each time a dog earns the title, the number of qualifying scores and points will be reset to zero.