More questions than answers

A good friend’s dog tore her ACL at agility class last week. In the last few years, this is the seventh dog I know of who has had an ACL injury. All were dogs who competed in agility, although not all the injuries happened while training or trialing for the sport. About 50 percent happened in an agility setting while the other half occurred in daily life – leaping for a ball, jumping off the deck, etc.

 Veterinarian, author and seminar presenter Chris Zink says most severe ACL tears (those requiring surgery in order for the dog to regain use of his leg) are not the result of one specific accident – like landing badly after a jump – but the result of an accumulation of many small tears that take place over time as the dog's body has been stressed. All those little slips, tumbles, face-plants, fly-offs and the like can catch up with your dog. And of course it’s not just little agility injuries either. Dogs bang themselves up as a matter of daily routine.

 I’m not pointing my finger at agility. I’m not blaming the sport, the instructors, the equipment, the judges, the courses or anything else. I love running agility and I love watching Phoenix fly over a course at top speed.

 But I wonder, as agility has evolved from luring dogs slowly over obstacles with cookies to today’s very advanced handling systems emphasizing speed and distance, are we breaking our dogs without realizing it? Will we see more dogs sustain injuries during training or trialing as the skill level required to get a clean run becomes more demanding? 

 Ironically, handlers today are more aware of the importance of their dog’s physical conditioning and of warm-ups and cool-downs than ever before. Instructors teach skills so the dogs can run fast without being reckless. We’re thinking about our dogs’ safety more than we ever did and we know we CAN run fast and be safe.

 But the fact remains – dogs are getting hurt. How many times have you heard someone say, “Sparky is going to the clinic for rehab because he hurt his (fill in the blank) at training last week” or “Brownie won’t be running for awhile because he came up lame after the trial last weekend.” How many handlers do you know who are constantly taking their dogs to the chiropractor or acupuncturist or giving medicine to relieve pain incurred because of an agility injury?

Accidents happen. That's a fact of life. They’re nobody’s fault, they’re just accidents. No one is going to hold their dog’s paw and say, “Slow down, darling. You’re running too fast.” It’s our dogs’ nature to go as fast as they can and being the adrenaline junkies that we are, we love to see it and push for even more speed.

But I wonder how long today’s competitive agility dog will be able to run as compared to 5 or 10 years ago? There’s no right or wrong answer, I’m just curious. Even with advances in training techniques, diet supplements and physical therapy for canine athletes, we're putting a lot of wear and tear on their bodies, even if it doesn't show on the surface.

I have yet to hear of an obedience dog (a dog who does obedience only, no other sport) tearing its ACL (although it could certainly happen). Obviously, obedience is a much less physically demanding sport. In the course of a three-day trial, a dog entered in Open and Utility would jump a grand total of 12 jumps and these would not be taken at top speed. Contrast that with an agility dog who might take 30-plus jumps each day if entered in Excellent Standard and JWW at an AKC trial. That number might double if you run in FAST and Time2Beat as well. A dog entered in multiple classes could conceivably fly over (or jump badly or crash through or land on or avoid entirely) about 150 jumps or more on a 3-day weekend, not counting time spent on the practice jump.

Phoenix is an incredibly athletic dog. He turns in fast, showy performances on the agility course and I think, from seeing our videos, that he is a cool dog to watch. There are thousands of dogs like him, fast, a little crazy, leaping and running with all their heart. They slip, crash, fall, mis-judge and get up and keep going. They are having the time of their life. Dogs live in the moment. They may not tell you something hurts until after the fact.

Phoenix is almost 5. He’s in awesome shape. I want to be able to say the same thing when he’s 7 and when he’s 10. When the time comes, I want to drop him from regular to preferred and keep enjoying running with him at trials. Of course I want the Q and being the fastest dog in the class is always fun. But most of all, I want his performance career to be long, safe and pain free. If that means not always pushing the envelope to get every last drop of speed or not asking him to turn himself inside out to make a turn, that’s fine with me.

I would never tell anyone how to run their dog. Everyone has their own personal goals and knows what is best for them. There are no right or wrong answers.