Can Riley Do Agility!? Please Read

[RileyMay]

Ok, so I want to do a sport or two with Riley, but there is one problem. Her right foot curves out like she's bo-legged. The vet said that it should straighten out, and it looks like it actually has. Well I thought about doing agility with her, but a friend said no because her of her bad structure on her ankles. They're too long she said. I have some pictures of her foot below, but I was wondering if it would be after some experts gave their honest opinion on it. The picture was taken the first day, and the second a week later after a tramatic experience. I don't have a recent, recent, photo, but I'll try to have one tomorrow, or so. So will it be ok to do agility with her, or do you need a recent photo!?

[LuvourGSDs]

I may be no help here, but if she were mine, I would play agility wise with her. If I seen it not hurting her or being an issue, I would do. As a pup though, you start light & build them up as they age. I knew of a GSD that had bad rear hips & stayed active. I also try to keep my boy active & his hips are bad. He enjoys & does not show pain so, we play. :-) Just my two cents. There is also rally that is fun to do with our furkids. Good luck to you & your cutie.

[RileyMay]

Originally Posted by LuvourGSDs

I may be no help here, but if she were mine, I would play agility wise with her. If I seen it not hurting her or being an issue, I would do. As a pup though, you start light & build them up as they age. I knew of a GSD that had bad rear hips & stayed active. I also try to keep my boy active & his hips are bad. He enjoys & does not show pain so, we play. :-) Just my two cents. There is also rally that is fun to do with our furkids. Good luck to you & your cutie.

She doesn't show any pain. She doesn't have bad hips, or excellent, she has good hips. It's just that my friend said I shouldn't because of her pasterns being too long. Other than that it actually did straighten out some more.

[wildo]

Originally Posted by RileyMay

The vet said that it should straighten out, and it looks like it actually has. Well I thought about doing agility with her, but a friend said no because her of her bad structure on her ankles.

In the end, I think you should get your vet's opinion on the matter, not your friends- or anyone on this board. While the vet may not know much about agility, the vet should know a decent amount about the bone/joint/muscle structure or your dog's ankle and should be able to tell you if repeated jumping/jarring will cause an issue in development. You haven't posted an xray or anything, so even the most experienced posters in this forum shouldn't be able to give you an accurate opinion on if you should be doing agility or not. This is something you should speak to a vet or ortho specialist about.

That said- there is a LOT about agility that has nothing to do with the obstacles themselves. Looks like your pup is pretty young still, so it might not be wise to be jumping anyway. There's a ton of videos/info on agility foundations that you can be reading through and working on. For me, I wanted to get to the equipment as fast as possible. I think that's a natural desire. But really, you need to get the foundations established first. That is what will set you up for success in the future once you pup is fully developed and good to go.

I am a member of Susan Garrett's latest offering- "PuppyPeaks" which is a program where she releases weekly videos of her new pup Swagger. The videos will keep coming for the first year of Swagger's life- so I will get to see all that SG does to prepare a pup for hardcore agility competition. In her intro video to the program, she gave a chart of when she introduces agility equipment. The video is 47mins long and I can't find the chart right off, but essentially- she doesn't introduce any actual equipment (other than the table) for at least the first 14 months of the pup's life. Contacts don't come until 15 or 16 months... Competition starts at about 24 months.

Point being- even SG is working foundations for a LONG time. They are uber important and I often think that I should just stop classes and start focusing all my time on developing foundation skills. (Of course I'm not actually going to do that- classes are way too much fun!) I have modified my at-home training to be much more foundation based as opposed to obstacle/handler based.

I guess I am saying that there is no reason you can't start ramping up for agility in the future. Just don't start doing the vigorous stuff without consulting with someone who has actually seen xrays and can give a qualitative opinion.

[RileyMay]

She is pretty young. I haven't started jumping her at all yet. I am not until she's old enough, and I am going to talk to my vet the next time we go there for her check up. She will 7 months soon!!

Originally Posted by wildo

In the end, I think you should get your vet's opinion on the matter, not your friends- or anyone on this board. While the vet may not know much about agility, the vet should know a decent amount about the bone/joint/muscle structure or your dog's ankle and should be able to tell you if repeated jumping/jarring will cause an issue in development. You haven't posted an xray or anything, so even the most experienced posters in this forum shouldn't be able to give you an accurate opinion on if you should be doing agility or not. This is something you should speak to a vet or ortho specialist about.

That said- there is a LOT about agility that has nothing to do with the obstacles themselves. Looks like your pup is pretty young still, so it might not be wise to be jumping anyway. There's a ton of videos/info on agility foundations that you can be reading through and working on. For me, I wanted to get to the equipment as fast as possible. I think that's a natural desire. But really, you need to get the foundations established first. That is what will set you up for success in the future once you pup is fully developed and good to go.

I am a member of Susan Garrett's latest offering- "PuppyPeaks" which is a program where she releases weekly videos of her new pup Swagger. The videos will keep coming for the first year of Swagger's life- so I will get to see all that SG does to prepare a pup for hardcore agility competition. In her intro video to the program, she gave a chart of when she introduces agility equipment. The video is 47mins long and I can't find the chart right off, but essentially- she doesn't introduce any actual equipment (other than the table) for at least the first 14 months of the pup's life. Contacts don't come until 15 or 16 months... Competition starts at about 24 months.

Point being- even SG is working foundations for a LONG time. They are uber important and I often think that I should just stop classes and start focusing all my time on developing foundation skills. (Of course I'm not actually going to do that- classes are way too much fun!) I have modified my at-home training to be much more foundation based as opposed to obstacle/handler based.

I guess I am saying that there is no reason you can't start ramping up for agility in the future. Just don't start doing the vigorous stuff without consulting with someone who has actually seen xrays and can give a qualitative opinion.

[Kayos and Havoc]

Havoc has one foot that turns out a little bit and we are doing agility. Started late to make sure he developed and had a cross country move and deployment in ther etoo so at 4 we are just starting to trial. Take it slow and play low and see how she does.

Most every sanctioning body like AKC, USDAA, NADAC etc have classes where the dogs can jump one jump height lower. I am jumping Havoc at 20 inches in the AKC preferred classes.

I think if your vet says this is no issue than I would go for it. Even my Kayos who has severed HD has done a fair amount of obedience. Again with deployments we were slow and I ended up retiring her with just 2 CDX (class has some jumping) legs so she never earned that title. The vet pretty much told me she did not recommend agility for Kayos but go ahead and do obedience carefully and she (Kayos) would tell me when it was bothering her. That is what we did.

[LuvourGSDs]

Willy, I am so super jealous that you got Puppy Peaks! I so wanted to, but just couldn't bite the bullet to do so.... I would really love to know SG puppy foundation methods since I have a pup that I am trying to work with. I have stopped with classes to train at home. I am trying is all I can say. If you ever wish to share any pointers, hint, hint lol.... may PM me. I did love her wk long webinar!

[AgileGSD]

Does she ever have any pain or lameness in any of her legs? It's hard to tell what is going on with her because of the angle of the pictures. It would be much better so see some side shot, standing pictures of her.

Dogs with less than ideal structure can and do compete successfully in agility. Some even excel in it. Our Corgi is very dwarfy (bowed, crooked front legs) and he does just fine. Here's what his front legs look like (excuse the long nails, this was shortly after he came to live with us):


and here he is doing agility:
https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150276828855850

I agree with Wildo about foundation work. I'd also suggest teaching her lots of tricks that help with balance, coordination, flexibility and muscle development as a big part of her foundation work. Good conditioning can help dogs overcome structural imperfections. Otherwise, go slow with your training and be aware of her ability and limits.

[wildo]

Haha! I think you've posted that video of Ziggy before and I am always amazed at how fast he is. ...Well, that and his sly "look at meeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!" face as he passes the crowd on the way to the last jump!! So funny!