This is the first class for Obedience. If you were told to go here, then you succeeded at obedience!

What is obedience to your pet? Is it rolling over for treats? Is it fetching items for a handler? Are hoops your thing? Maybe a weow or a tweet? Or is it a trick no one has seen before? There are hundreds of ways to show off your obedience skills and you get a say in which tricks you preform at Midwest Critter Fest. When you sign up to compete, you will fill in at least 4 tricks that your pet knows. The judges will have you display at least 4 of those tricks for everyone to see your style.

Agility is featured in our pup side of competition as that's the species you will normally see run it. In agility it normally consists of Jumps, tunnels, weave poles, a table square, sometimes a chute, and some tight turns thrown in here and there to throw off the competition.

For those of you that don't know I will explain the more obscure obstacles. The table square you have to wait inside a blocked off space for a count down before continuing. Do you think you can wait the entire 5 seconds in a high stakes race?

Then there's the chute. Have you ever seen a dog or a cat with a blanket over their head. The chute is a closed end tunnel where you have to push your way through the end all the while trying to keep your momentum. Sometimes it's harder than it sounds.

Just like with our barrel racing the object of the competition is precision. Time is ranked below faults on this course as well. The pet that runs through it cleaner will always come on top.

Do you enjoy catching things? Especially if they are soaring through the air? Then this class is for you! You will have 3 minutes to catch as many Frisbees as you can but you better put some style behind it. Lets see those fetching pets!

Dock diving is simple. The handler or assistant will hold a pole with a buoy attached, dangling above a pool of water. The pet's job is simple retrieve the buoy before landing in the water. The pet may and is encouraged to put as much style into their jumps as they dare. The ultimate goal is to retrieve the buoy but they will be rewarded with extra points for style. Missing the buoy will result in a deduction of points. SO If you choose to focus more on grabbing it that might give you an edge over the ones who go for the style points. It's all about confidence and coordination!

It's your time to wow us! Show us something we have never seen before. This is your chance to show us what your pet has that other pet's might not. The stage is yours to do with as you please. You will have four minutes to wow your judges and leave your mark on the stage. Use your time to your advantage!

Hello and Welcome to Midwest Critter Fest's First annual Pet show. Yes that's right bitches, bros, and non-binary hoes we are talking about our Showmanship portion of our competition. It's all about poise, elegance, and sheer presence that will take the gold on this one. Do you have a different style that will wow the judges or will you wow them with buckets of grace. This is the place to shine regardless of what you bring to the table. We can't wait to see you strut your stuff in the ring.

These courses are meant to highlight the teamwork between pet and handler. At registration you will select one of our blindfolded options to show off your pets' abilities.

The first option the blindfolded herding the pet will be the one blindfolded. They will be expected to move a ball from one end of an obstical course to the other using only the commands of their handler. Any commands may be used as long as the ball or the pet is not touched by the handler.

Then we get into our blindfolded guide pet course. This one the roles are reversed. The handlers will be the ones blindfolded. They have to trust their pets to guide them through a guide dog test course. The handler and the pets can discuss how best to do this before the course starts but after that all communication has to be nonverbal on the pet side.

Both courses require trust and understanding. Will your communication shine or break down under the pressure? Lets find out!

Pull! Pull with all your heart! This is nothing more than a feat of strength. We will hook you to a sled with a significant amount of weight on it and hook all of our pets to the sled. The pet that can pull it across the line the fastest in both classes will be reigned the champion. You get a singular pull so you better put your head down and put your entire body into it!

This is the standard pattern for competition. It is mainly seen in the rodeo scene or the western riding scene. The course is simple. You take turns around the barrels as close as you dare to maximize your time. However, if you knock one over that results in faults. Faults are scored separately from time. If you have someone with 0 faults and a slow time. They will place higher than someone with 1 or more faults even if they have a faster time. It's all about precision!

Pole Bening follows the same concept of a lot of our pony-based competitions. You will run to the far end of six weave poles and take turns moving through them. Once you reach the first pole you go around it and back through the poles the same way. As you round the last pole you gallop back for home. This is based on faults as well so knocking a pole down will result in a lower score than someone who does it cleanly. The poles can be touched as long as they don't hit the ground.

It is time for the show ring! It's all about presence and how you carry yourself. Hold your head high and strut your stuff for everyone to see!

Reining is all about the silent communication between handlers and their pets. We want to see how well you and your handler work when only given ten minutes to study a pattern and preform it. The pattern could include, walk, trot, canter, stops, reverse, quick turns. You and your handler need to figure out how to preform the pattern in your pets style while still completing the steps. It will be judged on the completion of the pattern the receptiveness of the pet and how confident they look doing the pattern.

Freestyle Dressage is your time to show your skills and what you have learned over the years. You will have four minutes max to move us. The stage is yours. You can set your performance to music or just let your steps do the talking. We want to see what you have for us!

Hunter Jumper is a pretty simple class. As with some of our other classes it is faults over time. Follow the course and jump the different hurdles in order without knocking anything over. A hurdle knocked over will result in a fault. A missed hurdle will result in a fault. The course is numbered to make it easier for competitors to follow, and they will be walked through the course before starting it. Cleanest pet through the jumps takes the win!

These parts of the competition are to show how well a handler and a pet can communicate. Unlike the pup courses both of these courses the pet will be blindfolded.

The first is the blindfolded cart course. You will hook into a two wheeled pony cart and pull your handler through a set of twists, turns, and back up spots. How will you navigate the gate? It's all about faults over time. So the slower you need to go to ensure a clean run is all up to the team.

The obstacle course is the same minus the use of the cart. Your pet will be guided through different elements that you have to navigate cleanly to come out on top. There could be many things including a flag transfer, a gate, barrels. I guess you will just have to see what we throw at you!