Dropping like Flies

This flyball stuff is hard on people. Everyone kept getting injured.

First, someone apparently wrenched something chasing after a puppy while they were getting ready to come out to practice. A big young smooth tri border collie missed the tug and got his owner. Then he and another dog with resource guarding issues had an "incident" with a young girl in the middle. The girl was nipped or clawed, though she handled it well. After that, someone got their fingers wrenched and a nail torn to the quick holding a dog for a recall.

They were all preventable things. Hindsight is cool that way. So, with this inspiration, some suggested safety rules for practice.

1. Keep your dog under control. Don't let it run around and possibly have an "incident" with another dog.

2. Resource guarding is bad. It isn't "protectiveness" Don't allow it, and if you know your dog has that issue, resource guard it to keep a zone of safety.

3. Watch out for children. Lots of dogs guard them. Other dogs are afraid of them. Still others with high prey/chase drive (like herding dogs and flyball dogs) think they make wonderful sheep substitutes.

4. Use flyball collars, harnesses, tabs or body holds when doing restrained recalls - especially with hyper or nervous dogs. They spin and get hands and fingers caught in flat collars, then panic and spin more.

5. Gloves.

Tugging techniques: Try to make the end of the tug away from you hand move more and draw the dog's attention away from the end in your hand. Hold the tug with both hands for large dogs. Encourage dogs to grab and hold on, rather than continually regripping on the tug. Wear gloves. Encourage an aversion to teeth on skin. Whenever doggie toofies make skin contact, draw back, make a sharp noise like "ow" and stop interacting with the dog for a few minutes - even if it was obviously accidental.