When do you Decide a Sport isn't right for your Dog?

[Konotashi]

In my flyball class, we have someone that lives here half of the year (her team is in CA), so she trains with us while she's out here. She has 3 dogs - 2 Mals and a border collie.
Her female Mal - is AWESOME. I love her. Very fast, very pretty, very elegant.

Her other Mal and her BC... seems more of a liability than they're worth to run.

Her male Mal has to have very specific people handle him. Only ones who can HOLD him, and not let go when he's snapping. He turns and wiggles and will try to bite the person holding him. He very clearly does not enjoy being held (even by his owner), and not only is it not fair to the dog, but it's not fair to the people that are at risk of being bitten, because he HAS to be held.

Her border collie is only allowed to run with her female Mal, and NO other dogs are allowed to be out of their crates when he's out. He is highly dog aggressive, and when he's running, we have to have people set up between the gates so that they can yell and scream if he starts going for the other dog. The only reason he can only run with her female is because our team head doesn't want to put that risk on any of the other dogs, but he WILL still go after her.
I don't think this dog will ever be able to run on a full team, or with any other dog besides her Mal. He would be a huge liability - there would be at least 7 other dogs out for a full heat, and if he can't even be with one dog he LIVES with without attempting to attack... why bother?

It's just sort of a rant, because her two put our team members and other dogs at risk. When they were unloading the BC from their car while one of our heelers were being worked, we all had to chase him and scream to 'herd' him back up to his owner so he wouldn't attack the heeler.....

What would you do if these were your dogs? I would pull them out, personally, and find something more suitable. (Obedience, maybe?)

[fuzzybunny]

I absolutely agree with you. I would pull them out as well and work on their issues before I would put them in a sporting environment with other dogs around. It's not fair to the other dogs and owners to constantly be at risk for injury.

[Freestep]

I can't believe anyone would actually let those dogs on a team in the first place.

[Greydusk]

Do you have a team leader? I would bring it up with them, express your concerns and then they'll hopefully talk to the lady with problem dogs. If she could just work the female mal, then it would be perfect. It isn't fair to the other dogs or the ones holding the other mal especially if they're at a risk of getting bit.

[FG167]

The team leader should be deciding these things. We have several dogs on our team that cannot go to trials because of their temperament issues. Instead, they train on occasion when we can set it up for them to be "safe" and we call it good.

[Good_Karma]

I don't know anything about flyball, but if that were my dog, that sounds like ZERO fun at all for me the owner (talk about stress!), and ultimately if I am not enjoying whatever sport we are doing then we won't continue it.

[Rott-n-GSDs]

I think it's really important (though sometimes difficult) that your dog just might not feel the same way about a sport you love...

We had ambitions to do agility with all of our dogs, but our Rott is terrified of heights. We started working with him on the teeter... and he literally SHAKES when he's on it. I certainly could work with him to overcome his fear... but I figure the sport should be fun for me AND my dogs, not just something he tolerates. I decided to scrap agility with Apollo and focus on other things with him (like tracking and carting).

[Konotashi]

Today, her Mal (Jax) bit someone.

One of our teammates was holding him for a recall (over the hurdles from the box), and he was doing his usual twisting, barking, snapping routine. Her hand was very tightly twisted in his collar, so she was bringing her other hand around, when he turned and nailed her hand. It was just a quick snap, but it was still very deep and lots of bleeding.

Her border collie, Zip, was also out (on lead) while other dogs were being worked, including Ozzy. He almost got away from her! Usually Zip doesn't come out of his crate until all other dogs are put away.

I'm so frustrated. She's not even a member of our team. I hate to be like that, but if her dogs are going to be such a liability to all of our teammates, both skin and fur, they shouldn't be there, IMO.

[DunRingill]

I've seen some craziness with flyball teams, but THIS situation is ridiculous!! NO ONE should have to constantly worry about being bitten. Heck when I was teaching a flyball class I wouldn't even take dogs that had major "issues," I told the owners that flyball class was NOT the place to work on either dog or people aggression issues. I had to be able to safely hold the dog by the harness so the handler could do a restrained recall, if that wasn't possible then buh-bye.

[NewbieShepherdGirl]

That's nuts...I can't imagine why someone would want to do something that A) Their dog isn't enjoying (He can't possibly be enjoying this if he's all wound and ready to bite) or B) It's so dangerous for their dogs, for other people, for themselves. I don't understand how that can seem like fun or a good idea.