Frequently asked questions

The four Scottish clubs who came together to create Hoopers Together:

• HooperSonics
• Hoopers Hijinks
• Hoopers at Hart
• 2 to Tango

And Allsortz Dogs Sportz from Northern Ireland, the first club from outside Scotland to join us.

We'd love to hear from clubs and individuals who would like to hold Hoopers Together shows, wherever you are.

Every show is held under a Hoopers Together show licence. You'll find the requirements in section 26 of our rules, Show Licensing. If you're interested, please get in touch using our contact form.

As Hoopers continues to grow and evolve, we feel this is the right time to take the next step in our journey.

As four Scottish clubs whose instructors, judges and show organisers work well together, we've developed ideas that we believe will benefit the people and dogs who support our classes and shows.

Establishing Hoopers Together gives us the opportunity to put these ideas into practice, develop new initiatives and continue building a positive, supportive Hoopers community.

We're grateful for the experiences and opportunities we've enjoyed with CHUK and look forward to building on those foundations.

Every Hoopers Organisation offers its own approach, and we believe having different options benefits the sport.

We've developed Hoopers Together by listening to feedback from our class members and show competitors, with an emphasis on enjoyment, confidence and achievable progression. Some of our exciting features include:

• A dedicated Nursery Class for building confidence in the show environment and for dogs beginning their competition journey.
• A structured grading and progression system.
• Opportunities for junior handlers.
• A Veterans class with milestone awards.
• New training awards and skill challenges.
• Practical training and ongoing support for instructors and judges.
• An emphasis on developing distance handling skills.

Our focus is on creating a friendly, supportive environment where dogs and handlers can enjoy progressing together.

We believe choice and variety are great for the sport! There are already several opportunities for people to enjoy Hoopers, and each Organisation brings something different.

Our shows have always been well supported, and we've received lovely feedback about the atmosphere and experience we provide. We hope to continue offering the shows people know and enjoy, while introducing new opportunities and ideas.

Competitors will be free to enjoy events across different Organisations, giving everyone even more opportunities to take part in the sport they love.

Hoopers Together will officially launch in November 2026 for registrations, with our first show being held early 2027.

We'll announce confirmed dates as soon as everything is ready.

Yes. You'll need to register as a member and register each dog you wish to compete with. This will be a straightforward online process through Hoopers Ringside.

We'll share full details when registration opens.

We're introducing a simple, affordable lifetime membership structure, with a one-off membership fee and a separate dog registration fee. We'll be offering a special introductory rate to welcome our first members.

No. We're introducing a new online show management platform called Hoopers Ringside.

This will provide a simple, convenient way to manage memberships, register dogs, enter shows and view competition results.

All show entries will be made through our new Hoopers Ringside platform. You'll be able to find available shows, enter your chosen classes and access competition information online.

We'll also share our show calendar and updates through this website and our new Facebook page.

Our competition structure has been designed to encourage confidence, consistency and steady skill development. Some of the main features include:

• A new Nursery Class to build dogs' confidence and to support those beginning their competition journey, where available.
• Skill challenges to develop different handling abilities.
• A progression system designed to reflect the time it takes to develop skills.
• Greater emphasis on distance handling.
• Different handling options at higher grades, including a choice of handling boxes on certain courses.
• Veteran classes with milestone awards to celebrate accumulated clear rounds.

Our aim is to offer courses that are enjoyable, rewarding and appropriately challenging as partnerships progress.

Full rules and regulations will be available on our Rules page and Facebook page.

We'll initially offer four competition grades: Grade 1, Grade 2, Grade 3 and Grade 4.

Competition classes will include:

• Contacts – our contacts are mats only; there is no inclined contact equipment
• Barrels
• Tunnels (Chutes)
• Hoops

We'll also have a dedicated Nursery Class for confidence-building and for those beginning their Hoopers journey.

Dogs aged seven or over can run in our Veterans class, on Grade 1 courses, earning milestone award rosettes for accumulated clear rounds.

Our grades are designed to provide a clear and achievable pathway as dogs and handlers develop their skills.

We're initially focusing on establishing our four-grade competition structure.

As Hoopers Together grows, we'll continue reviewing opportunities for further progression, potentially increasing our Grade structure and offering an additional championship-level grade.

Our priority is to ensure the grading system remains enjoyable, rewarding and appropriate for competitors.

Our Nursery Class is a fun, supportive introduction to the competition environment for dogs aged 12 months and over. It's designed to help dogs and handlers build confidence, develop useful skills and enjoy their show experiences.

There will be 16 different Exercises, available in advance on our website and Facebook page so teams can practise before attending a show. Where held, up to 4 Exercises will be available at shows.

Each Exercise focuses on skills that will help prepare dogs and handlers for longer competition courses.

Non-competing dogs (those dogs who do not also compete at Grade 1 or above) who successfully complete an Exercise within the allowed time earn an award, and partnerships can enjoy collecting awards for all 16 Exercises over a number of shows.

It's a wonderful way to celebrate progress and build confidence at your own pace.

We want the transition to be as straightforward as possible. You'll be able to enter at a grade comparable to your current competition level:

If you feel your dog would benefit from consolidating skills or building confidence, you'll also have the option to enter one grade lower.

Our aim is to help every partnership start at a level where they feel comfortable and can enjoy their competition experience.

Progression will be based on points earned across all competition class types rather than progressing separately in each class.

Partnerships will work towards a total points target, with a required number of points coming from clear rounds and skill challenges. This approach is designed to reward accuracy, consistency and developing handling skills, encouraging progression when partnerships have demonstrated the skills appropriate for the next grade.

Full details will be included in our competition rules.

You can still expect the friendly, welcoming atmosphere and enjoyable show experience you're familiar with. We're introducing some exciting additions, particularly our Nursery Classes and new opportunities for skill development.

Our Hoopers Ringside platform will also allow you to access show information and live results conveniently through your mobile phone or web browser.

Yes! We're planning an exciting end-of-season championship with opportunities to qualify throughout the year.

There will be two finals at the championship show: a league final and a cup final.

The league final is points-based, with league points collected at shows throughout the year. There will be a Grade 1 final and a combined final for Grades 2, 3 and 4. If your dog is in Grade 1 at the start of the year, you'll run in the Grade 1 final, even if you move up a grade before the final.

The cup final is reached through qualifiers held at shows throughout the year, run on Grade 2 level courses. All dogs in the cup final run the same course.

Awards in both finals are split by height category. Full qualification details, including the closing date and the number of places, will be announced ahead of the competition season.

Absolutely! We want our older dogs to continue enjoying Hoopers for as long as it's appropriate for them.

Veterans, dogs aged seven or over, will run in Grade 1 classes and will have their own awards, offering opportunities to continue enjoying Hoopers in a supportive environment.

We'll also introduce milestone awards based on accumulated clear rounds, so veteran dogs and their handlers can continue celebrating their achievements.

Dogs with disabilities are welcome to run in any of our classes, including Veteran (whatever their age).

If you choose to run your dog in Veteran classes, you cannot return to competition classes.

Absolutely! We're developing an exciting new Training Awards scheme that will recognise progress through increasingly challenging skills for both dogs and handlers.

The scheme will provide achievable goals, encourage continued learning and celebrate success at every stage of your Hoopers journey.

We'll share more information about the awards and how to work towards them soon.

Yes! Supporting and developing trainers and judges is an important part of Hoopers Together. We'll offer training, practical guidance and ongoing support for both new and experienced instructors and judges.

Our programmes will include face-to-face and hands-on learning, supported by experienced trainers and judges.

Whether you're looking to begin a new career, develop your existing skills or become involved in judging, we'd love to help you take that next step.

We warmly welcome experienced, qualified judges from CHUK and other Hoopers organisations. We recognise and value the qualifications and experience you already have, and our intention is to make joining our judging team as straightforward as possible.

We'll offer a dedicated familiarisation session covering our competition rules, course requirements and judging procedures, together with ongoing support. Please contact us for further information.

Our aim is to help existing judges feel confident and fully prepared to judge under our new structure.

We warmly welcome qualified CHUK Hoopers instructors who would like to become part of Hoopers Together. We value the qualifications and experience you've already gained and aim to offer a straightforward recognition process for existing trainers.

We'll provide guidance on our training structure, awards scheme and any organisation-specific requirements, along with opportunities for continuing professional development.

We look forward to supporting both established and newly qualified instructors as our community grows. More details to follow.