Injuries In Flyball

[Sparty]

Sparty had a dislocated knee about 4 years ago i have to take him to the chiro every now and then for check up, he has a little arthritis in it in the cold weather. in winter the way he moves to comensate can put strain on the rest of him so i have to be careful. however in the warmer weather we do a couple of flyball runs as he loves it and goes insane watching Bodie learn, same with agility he loves that too, and in warmer weather not an issue, vet has said keep going with it as it helps keep his weight down (winter he puts on a bit more weight like me im afraid :D ) and we avoid the jumps or only do small dog jumps and contacts, he is (53cm)

LOL i should add this question in 2T mind was raised by a agility trainer (a bit of competition between agility & flyball in our club it seems) trying to get Todd into agility......

[TigerJack]

Hi again

wanted to add something I though of later. Vickie's point is good about how people don't rest their dogs for long enough (and yes you see flyball obsessed people pushing their dogs too hard, too soon.) The thing I wanted to add applies to any dog sport, not just flyball. Please remember that our dogs won't always stop when they hurt, we have to stop them. Alot of dogs will run till they drop because they want to please their master so we have to be sensible enough to make them stop when they need to. Otherwise that small strain will turn into a major chronic injury.

Jo

[whatevah]

Go to this link for how to teach swimmers turn

http://forums.dogzonline.com.au/index.php?showtopic=9979

has photos as well. My web page also has photos and instructions. http://www.dogtrick.741.com

I found this method at

http://www.k9station.com/turns2.htm and found it has more uses than just teaching a swimmers turn. If you take your time, and don't rush the dog make sure you meet each stage before continuing, it will work really well. A lot of clubs don't want to take the time to teach properly. I went out and bought a turning board to teach my dog correctly. If your dog learns to do it wrong from the start, it is a lot harder to retrain than if you taught it right the first time.

To see a video of it in action goto http://www.k9events.com/Jules_Photos/index.html

[2tollers]

Thanks for all of that Toilet Duck. I'll check them out.

[Sayreovi]

Yeah i second that

[TigerJack]

I think Toiletduck is right and quote "A lot of clubs don't want to take the time to teach properly."

I think you can teach any new flyball dog a swimmers turn (large dog or small) but only if you take your time and do it slowly. You can't move on to the next step without getting the previous one absolutely correct. Not just correct most of the time but correct 100% of the time. Moing on early is how you cause bad habits.

A dog that has learned how to slam the box is extremely hard to convert to a swimmer's turn. I have seen a few that will manage a swimmer's turn in training but as soon as the excitement of a competition race is involved, they go back to slamming.

You have to start going round a peg and then move onto a turning board laid flat and build up the angle and distance very gradually. Don't be tempted to go anywhere near a box until the turning board is 100% good at full angle. The trick with a really big dog is to use a very big turning board (about 3ft square.) Get them right on that and then go to the regular sized turning board and they will adjust as they already have the action right. Only after this go on to the box.

Good luck

Jo