I don't know if I'm being overly sensitive or if I'm seeing what I want to see, but the more dog sport videos I watch, the more I get concerned. The lack of speed and precision isn't necessarily due to poor training, could it be due to injury?
When I look at how Bailey used to run agility and how she was running in the last couple trials before I pulled her, there was a dramatic difference. When she couldn't heel during obedience at the specialty, her whole gait was off. Due to the injuries my dogs have sustained, am I "giving the dog (really, the handler) the benefit of the doubt" more than I should? Or are there dogs with significant physical issues that aren't being addressed because a regular veterinarian can't diagnose and treat those problems?
I need to ask Dr. Julia what she thinks, though she probably won't have an opinion.
3 comments:
No kidding.
3 regular vets, an orthopedic specialist and still no one diagnosed Griffin properly!
It's scary isn't it? And then people/we/I assume after the veterinarian gives us the "all clear" that our training plan should work. And then it doesn't.
I watched four agility videos last night and they were all of dogs who have had "training problems" recently. The dogs don't move normally. None of them did. I wish I had an older video to compare it to.
Injuries! Injuries!
What do I do! How do we help students with this? Same thing for behavior...I point a few to vet behaviorists due to the long time they've been training and lack of progress... but a few other dogs who have physical-ish things not quite right...I try to send them to the right professionals and it doesn't happen. ! Maybe all is well, but maybe not? How do I best help everyone!
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