Hi Sharon . . .
I hope that the use of barrels to replace the tightly curved tunnels in ALL NADAC classes happens MUCH sooner than later!!! We've run some Tunnelers courses where, in hindsight, I would have MUCH preferred to have seen a barrel than the U-shaped tunnel that was used, most often due to the type of course that was advantageous to a "sligthly smaller than ideal" ring size.
Just as hoops have replaced some jumps in Regular and Chances . . . and some tunnels in Weavers and Touch N Go, the use of a strategically placed and thoughtfully inserted barrel in classes will simply be another improvement as it involves making agility just that much safer for our dogs!!!
I really don't understand "the fuss" . . . we teach our kids to run around furniture pieces, like an ottoman or end table as a game for something to do inside on a rainy day . . . it takes them about 2 minutes to catch on to the game!!!
Now, when I'm setting up new sequences for my dogs, I just collapse the tunnels and set them on the ground "vertically" . . . and practice "go arounds" for fun!!!
If you worry about the "what ifs", you'll NEVER get to the FUN part . . . of just DOING IT!!!
When I first became involved in this sport 20 or so years ago, the mantra was that agility was "a very simple game" that we play with our dogs . . . somewhere along the way, we forgot how to keep the simple things, simple . . .
