tire crashes

[celloyogi]

I've been spending way, way too much of the holidays watching agility videos on youtube. I tell myself it's educational, so I can be prepared when Olive starts agility classes.

So, I've seen so many clips of dogs crashing into tires. Some of the dogs are catching their necks and flipping. Am I freaking out over something I shouldn't worry about? It always seems like the crashes are a result of a too-early takeoff. Dogs in the cone of shame are one thing; I don't really want to have Olive walking around in a c-collar. Is the tire crash issue that common, or is it just really popular to record and put on youtube for the shock value, making it seem more common that it really is?

[corbinam]

I don't think it is very common. I've seen a few, but not many. I agree that people post it for shock value and also to convince venues to ban the old style tires.

Also, some venues require a break away tire. I can't speak for the others, but USDAA (the venue in which I compete) does. This really almost eliminates the scary crashes.

[Justicemom]

I have seen a tire crash 2 times.

Once in class, a westie mix who frankly was a terrible jumper. She was a 12" jumper and that was back when the tire was 12". If it have been 8" for her like it is now I doubt it would have happened. She was retired from agility for various reasons, the biggest that she couldn't keep bars up at all and her owner had no interest working with her.

The other was a golden who took off way too early.

The westie flipped the golden didn't but pulled the tire over. I did see a BC get a leg hooked and the tire popped from the support, no harm done .

I don't think it is common.

[Silaria]

I've seen a few tire crashes but not many.

As Ashley said, some venues are now requiring the break away tires to reduce the chances of injury. USDAA and CPE both use break away tires. CPE actually requires any newly purchased tire to be break away but still allows the older style if the club/facility already owns one.

[Sharon]

I have seen some pretty ugly tire crashes also.I saw a BC get his neck caught up in one and flip him around.I wouldn't want to put a bigger dog in the TDAA venue as that would be an accident waiting to happen.

[Phebe*DD]

As has been pointed out, some venues require breakaway tires (USDAA and CPE for example), while others, like AKC, set the tire at a lower height, 12" for 16" dogs, 8" for 12" dogs, etc.

I think the important thing to remember when training this obstacle is to only let your novice dog take this obstacle straight on, so that it develops confidence and accuracy. Lots of novice dogs will run around the tire or duck between the tire and the frame because they aren't confident that they can successfully jump through the tire. After they've developed accuracy and confidence, then you can start working on angled approaches.

[celloyogi]

Thanks for the input, everyone. Given how much experience all of you have, the fact you haven't seen lots of crashes is comforting.

Olive is my first agility dog so I'm sure this is only the first of many things I'm going to say "AHHH!!!" about. It's nice to know I can search for answers on the SN forums.