I promised to write an article about starting your dog against the U-FLI lights when I wrote about the NAFA lighting system. It had been a while since I had raced against the U-FLI lights and I didn’t trust my memory to give an accurate description of the lighting system. So, this past weekend we had the opportunity to play in a U-FLI tourney and I think I can give everyone a little insight.
On Saturday morning I wasn’t doing too well. My starts were all over the map, so to speak. I was watching for the blue light, but my brain wasn’t quite engaged enough before the first yellow would come on. Late! Watching again for the blue light, brain anticipating, early! What is the matter with me? About an hour into the afternoon it dawned on me. There are three little green dots at the bottom of the light tree. When the judge starts the race, the three lights go out! Blue light comes on. Yellow light comes on. Release! There it was all along. My Ready, Set, Go was there all along and I just didn’t notice those three little lights before.
So, as with the NAFA lights all you need to get a great start is to set your cadence. Little green dots go out, Ready! Blue light comes on, Set! First yellow light comes on, Go! By now you already know how to find the right spot on the floor so I won’t go into all of that again. If you missed it you can look back at my previous post of “Great Starts” to find out where to be on the floor. A great start is easy to get once you know what to look for.
Have fun everyone! I’m still trying to get those perfect .000 starts.
Fay
2 comments ↓
Thanks for the tip on the what lights to watch for. I, too, rely on a three count cadence, but have yet to worry about starting. With any luck, I will get some experience soon.
When I run in a NAFA tournament, I use a 3 step cadence “Mark, Set, Go” one on each of the lights. My starts were usually pretty good (usually .0?) When I run on UFli- lights, however, l couldn’t ever get my internal cadence set with the lights. I noticed the green lights, but still couldn’t get it to come out right. Finally, I stopped “Mark, Set, Go,” and now I just use “Ready, Go” When the blue light comes on, I say “Ready, and tuck the dog in REALLY tight, then GO” when the first yellow comes on. My dogs really respond to this. Dogs can only stay “coiled” and ready to go for so long, it ended up giving me a much cleaner push and a shorter “time for the dogs to stay coiled”. My starts were still pretty good .0? and I started stressing less.
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