Courtney Keys - Agility Judge

Time is running out!!

Cynosport 2026 closes TODAY!

If you’re going, why not apply to be on IFCS Team USA 2027?

Looking forward to seeing everyone there!

I just submitted my LAST set of courses for 2026!

Total courses designed this year: 249!

And today I accepted my 8th assignment for 2027 ... but this weekend I am going to REST!!

I judged (or will judge!) my own courses on 9 weekends this year. I designed courses that others judged for two weekends, and one weekend was spent judging someone else’s courses!

It’s been a busy year for judging even though it’s only August, and, um, I thought I was doing less! 😂

Whee!

Someone asked me last week, when I said I had a ton of courses to design, why AI couldn’t design the courses for me.

I was speechless.

Sure, I mean, I guess it could? If judges became obsolete, I wouldn’t have to wear myself out with all the travel and long days of standing on my feet, or have my calls criticized by competitors anymore!

I also am pretty disappointed in how many dog sport events I see being promoted with generative AI when our community is full of photographers and artists who deserve our support.

The use of this ugly, cheap “art” definitely affects my choices in where my money and I will go.

Maybe I’m behind the times. Maybe I’m old. Maybe I just remember how to use Photoshop. I dunno. But I think we can do better than trying to use AI for everything.

Photo of a cute spaniel that I got by supporting one of our great local photographers, the amazing Sarah Forde of Pixpup Photography!

Fun with Team Snooker today!

Since dropped bars no longer get “reset” in Snooker, I thought I’d offer an option to earn back some points if the bars in the 6 or 7 combos were dropped.

However, not one person dropped one of those bars today so my X-tra jump was lonely!

I did brief that people could use it in flow in the opening, and some did. And I said if the bar stays up, it could be used all throughout the open AND the closing if it was needed, but only as an addition to all the other elements of the combo. And taking it as an off-course in the close would have been a tweet, but that did not happen either.

I think I did this one other time this year already, but it’s probably something I will try again. It is way more fun as a judge to see people succeed on your courses than to skunk the whole class. :)

Having a great time so far at the Southeast Regional including this fun one today! Good luck to everyone who made finals.

You gotta love a good judging travel side quest!

Slightly belated thank you to Shawna and everyone with Canine Sports Zone for a great weekend in beautiful Wisconsin!! And a huge thanks to Finley for this ***amazing*** leash!!! It looks stunning on her!

Whew! It feels like forever since I judged, but there’s no better place to get back into it than Pawsitive Partners! Just an outstanding group of humans and dogs … and we got done with 10 courses in plenty of time for me to get a 90-minute massage today!

You’ve got one last chance to help Team USA get to IFCS WAC next month!

Shirt sales close forever tomorrow, March 18, at midnight eastern.

Thanks to everyone who has helped us out so far!!

Bonfire.com/ifcsusa2026

Thank you to everyone at Low Country Dog Agility for a great weekend in Charleston! I again donated 20% of my judging fees to migrant legal aid groups.