Entries Tagged 'Dogs' ↓

You have a devoted owner who wants to do whatever they can to help their dog find a job. You know this owner is pretty good about managing their dog’s aggression per others that know the owner.

Flyball has rules about aggression. Putting an aggressive dog on lanes could be a liability to the club, owner of the dog and to the dog. A dog like this could start or participate in fight. A dog like this could freak out for no apparent reason.

Do you give this owner and dog a chance? Do you speak it over with the club and see what they want to do and are willing?

Do you just find a polite way to tell the owner that flyball is not a sport for them at this time?

Aggression is not something to be taken lightly.

Kim

They are a sight to behold and a joy to handle.  Some of them are not the fastest out there but they are amazing in their own right.  They are the dogs that can run the flyball race themselves… they only have a handler out there because that’s the rules.They are the dogs that you can say “line up” to and they position themselves for a recall from the box.  They will hold their spot till you get to the back of the lane and call them. As their handler it doesn’t matter when you release… if you are early they will adjust their own pass, if you are late they are jumping out of your hands when the outbound dog is at the “right” hurdle.

As you hold them in the back of the lane you feel their energy build.  They press up against you trembling with excitement.  They know the judge’s whistle when there is an early start and you can tell because they relax, only to wind up again as the lights start their countdown again.

At the back of the lane they do their little routine with you, a few tugs and a few spins, then they turn themselves around, position themselves and focus for the next race.

They see the crates go in the car and know that practice or a tournament is on the way.  On the way to practice they lean into the turns before you’ve made them. They know they are tournament bound when you hit the freeway and they settle into a nice nap.

They train the new handlers and the green dogs.  They just love the sport and are happiest when they are out flying over the jumps being part of the action.

Connie

Amazing skateboarding Jack Russell named JoJo does it all, jumps, spins, and rails like a pro!

I know the Measuring debate has taken on a few twist and turns after my post, Large Chest Penalty so I would like to take a few minutes to summarize the debate. The post itself wasn’t very long, only two paragraphs, because I wanted the picture to tell the story. If you’ve read the first couple of comments, I think you’ll agree the picture did tell the story, but then it slipped into another realm when this comment was posted…

The wicket didn’t do this to this dog. BREEDING did! Life isn’t fair for this dog….not just flyball.

If you read my responds, you know that I rather lost it. I took it personal. If you know me, you know that I’m all of 5 feet 4 and 1 half inches tall. I have to throw in the extra half inch because I think I deserve it, but if anyone ask me my height I tell them I’m 5 feet 5 inches.

After that rampage was over, the same person made another comment…

I say, set the jumps where you want to jump. Declare your jump height. Forget measuring.

This seems like a radical departure to me. It’s like, we can’t figure out what method, both are unfair, so let’s not measure at all. I read a comment from another post that said “…I think that there is room for another organization - maybe called NOFLI - where we don’t even have jumps, just a box. ” This is what I think of when someone suggests using declared jump heights. It just seems like a lazy mans approach to me. I could be wrong.

Julia then posted an excellent comment on a “scientific method” to determine the best method of measuring. This is probably the best approach I’ve heard on this issue. I’m no scientist or engineer, but I bet there are a few people out there that could do this.

Then we received this…

More and more, I think the solution just may be a radical departure from the “status quo”. I don’t believe that keeping the wicket is in NAFA’s best interest. I also don’t believe that measuring the leg bone will resolve these issues either. Debating “which” method is better is also leading us further down the “measuring” rabbit hole.

Rabbit hole - By extension, the term has also come to signify any event, which triggers a completely unexpected, bizarre situation or paradigm.

How does measuring trigger a completely unexpected, bizarre situation or paradigm? If you figure this one out let me know.

Jackie made a good comment about jump heights based on breeds. This sounds good but the only problem would be mixed breeds. However, the idea may be worth exploring.

Summing it Up

1. It is the Dog’s Problem
2. Declaring Your Jump Height
3. Rabbit Hole Reasoning (may have something to do with 2. Declaring your jump height)
4. Scientific Method to Determine the Best Method (my favorite)
5. Jump Height Based on Breed

Which approach sounds like something worth pursuing?

Larry

Addendum

The subject of an Electronic Measuring System was brought up, which really does sound like the best solution for measuring. I have it on good information that this was even suggested to the BOD sometime back and was deemed too expensive.

The system is such where the dog is walked down a path in front of the system i.e. through sensors while several different measurements were recorded. The information is then sent to a laptop computer and run through some algorithm where the correct jump height is given.

I suggest that this method be explored further even though cost maybe a precluding factor.

I received a photo of a dog with a large chest and short legs that drives home my point on how the wicket penalizes such dogs. The photo below pictures a Labrador/Corgi mix, which weighs 60 pounds and measures 16 inches in NAFA and jumps 12-inch jumps. In U-FLI the same dog would jump 6-inch jumps. Even if NAFA adapted the 5-inch vs. 4-inch calculation, the dog would still jump 11-inch jumps.

For all of the wicket advocates out there, tell me how this is fair. I will concede that jumping 6-inch jumps may be too low but 11 or 12-inch jumps are too high for this dog. Every dog with this same make up that plays in NAFA events is being unfairly penalized.

Larry