Tire Crash!

[Tabitha]

This video shocked me! The dog missed possibly braking his neck by inches! Luckily he was not hurt and even finished the course!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_txl2Gmizjk&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 

[JLSOhio51]

This video shocked me! The dog missed possibly braking his neck by inches!

With Tabitha's lead-in to the video, I obviously knew that there would be a tire issue coming up, so I noticed right away that the dog seemed to be jumping early several times. Had this discussion not preceded my viewing the video, I doubt that I would have picked that up so readily (I am trying to learn about Agility). My question to those knowledgeable about the sport is this: If you dog is consistently starting a jump early, how would his trainer go about addressing this issue? How do you communicate this to the dog?

 

[corbinam]

With Tabitha's lead-in to the video, I obviously knew that there would be a tire issue coming up, so I noticed right away that the dog seemed to be jumping early several times. Had this discussion not preceded my viewing the video, I doubt that I would have picked that up so readily (I am trying to learn about Agility). My question to those knowledgeable about the sport is this: If you dog is consistently starting a jump early, how would his trainer go about addressing this issue? How do you communicate this to the dog?

That is a very involved question . I noticed this as well in this video. I am not an expert, but this dog appears to have a jumping issue. It could be something that was poorly trained (I know of a dog that was clicker trained to jump and has developed hesitations like this), it could be structural, it could be genetic, or it could be a vision problem.

A lot of times this is referred to as ETS, or Early Takeoff Syndrome. I am again, no expert, so I can't say which of these is the case for the dog in question. If you do a google search you can read Linda Mecklenburg's study on ETS as well as see video examples. I believe there have also been a few topics on this forum.

So to wrap this up, the answer to how you fix this depends on what is causing it. Could be as simple as jumping drills (grids, etc) or as complex as dog contacts for their eyes.

 

[Sharon]

Tire

That is a very involved question . I noticed this as well in this video. I am not an expert, but this dog appears to have a jumping issue. It could be something that was poorly trained (I know of a dog that was clicker trained to jump and has developed hesitations like this), it could be structural, it could be genetic, or it could be a vision problem.

A lot of times this is referred to as ETS, or Early Takeoff Syndrome. I am again, no expert, so I can't say which of these is the case for the dog in question. If you do a google search you can read Linda Mecklenburg's study on ETS as well as see video examples. I believe there have also been a few topics on this forum.

So to wrap this up, the answer to how you fix this depends on what is causing it. Could be as simple as jumping drills (grids, etc) or as complex as dog contacts for their eyes.

That BC certainly does have ETS or stutter stepping.

 

[celloyogi]

I found a video of a dog demonstrating how the break-aways work. I have to believe this dog would have been seriously injured, if not for the break-away.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUPQz3laP80&NR=1&feature=endscreen

I've already decided that if/when Olive gets to agility classes fl), we'll skip the tire every time it's not a break-away. Why risk it?

 

[Toffee's Mom]

Jump grids...
stride regulators...
repetition, repetition repetition

NOT that I am an expert but have friends who have a early take off sheltie... he's amazing tho, lol, hardly drops a bar but that is what they have been working on

 

[Tabitha]

I found a video of a dog demonstrating how the break-aways work. I have to believe this dog would have been seriously injured, if not for the break-away.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUPQz3laP80&NR=1&feature=endscreen

I've already decided that if/when Olive gets to agility classes fl), we'll skip the tire every time it's not a break-away. Why risk it?

Wow! If tire hadn't been a break-away that dog would have realy been hurt!

 

[Hurtseverywhere]

Well There is no dought that the Tire can be a dangerous obstical , thus the introduction of the breakaway and much increased safety, serious accidents resulting in injury even with the non breakaway are still rare, these usually look pretty dramatic as the video's attest but often look a lot worse then they actually are, and by a vast majority most usually involve at least in my experience the 22 & 26 Inch larger dogs, I think I can only remember one instance of seeing a 16" dog which most of our shelties are have a tire problem and that was as mentioned a very very poorly timed takeoff. I have seen more serious injuries with dogs falling, slipping off the dog walk or from launching from high off the frame but we consider these obsticals to be relatively safe and benine from a safety/ injury stand point.

Agility is a Sport and with any Sport there is usually going to be some degree of risk involved, you just have to decide if the risk is acceptable to you for your pet. Quite honestly I know that the way my dogs are they are far more likely to get injured out in the backyard playing ball or chasing squirrels with the ferver that they put into it then the are out on the agility course.