The AKC Excellent Agility Jumpers With Weaves Title (AXJ) requires 3 qualifying runs in Excellent Agility Jumpers with Weaves courses under at least two different judges. To even get into the Excellent class, the dog must have completed their Novice Agility Jumpers with Weaves title and their Open Agility Jumpers with Weaves titles.

This title shows strong communication skills between dog and handler. The dog must perform at a high speed a complicated course following the handlers directions to designated obstacles. They must be able to trust their handler's directions and obey them quickly. The dog must be able to work with numerous distractions, pay attention to their handler, not just take their favorite obstacles or make their own course, all at a high speed with great athleticism and enthusiasm.

Obstacle Composition: The course features 18-20 obstacles made up of various types of jumps, one set of 12 weave poles, and potentially one or two open tunnels. The Excellent and Masters level Jumpers courses are more complex than Novice or Open levels. That complexity means more difficult challenges like hard changes of direction up to a 270° angle and discrimination between obstacles.

Unlike lower levels, no course faults are allowed in Excellent Jumpers with Weaves;

Course faults include:

*Refusals where a dog comes up to an obstacle and pauses before taking it, or turns around before taking it.

*Wrong Course; where the dog takes the wrong obstacle in the designated sequence, this is counted even if the dog puts only one paw on said obstacle. It also includes taking the tunnel from the unspecified entrance.

*Failure to Perform; where the dog takes an obstacle in the wrong manner, such as knocking a bar off a jump, and other errors.

The course must be run within a set period of time (which changes depending on the dog's jump height). The length of the course changes the time allowed. In Excellent you can still qualify if your dog runs 5 seconds overtime, but you do lose points.

For dogs running in each division the standard course time per yard changes:

– 8-inch Division = 2.50 yards per second

– 12-inch Division = 2.7 yards per second

– 16-inch Division = 2.85 yards per second

– 20-inch Division = 3.1 yards per second

– 24-inch Division = 2.9 yards per second

– 24-inch Choice Division = 3.1 yards per second

Earning the AXJ Title is a lot of work, but very rewarding.

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