Potential for long term damage in flyball is great due to speed and angle of hitting the box.

If the scale is practised too often on hard ground and dog is jumping off the top the same thing applkies---as it does in agility.

Back problems might possibly be caused by the weave.

Potential for damage in HTM is also huge, I don't like hind leg work for long distances, I don't like jumping high on hard ground. Twists and spins can be uncontrolled.

It is all a gamble---Celt has done none of this and can hadly walk.

rune

totally agree which is why i spend so long teaching my dogs to turn correctly, basically you want what is known as a "swimmers turn" front feet go on box, catch ball, push off with back feet, one fluid movement and least amount of damage caused.
Have seen some horrendous turns in my time!

but isnt that how people and thier dogs get skilled? practice makes perfect?

Unfortunately not necessarily.

Some people practice the same thing and never get any better. They do not get advice, of if they do they ignore it.
They will not pay for lessons or they get lessons from those equally incompetent.

Most of us know people who have been around (insert name of relevant discipline) for years, practising failure. Duration does not necessarily = improvement.

There are people I know when I came into a sport who I thought were great, 20 years later they have not moved on.

I see your point.

Are there actually people who train at home then stick the dog in field/ring to compete without a class etc?

(I'm not being funny - I genuinley cant fathom doing that for agility/Sch/Ob/anything really!)

Actually for many of us a class is not necessary for many exercises or not necessary at all points.

For example if you are an experienced trainer you do not need to go to class for anything apart from working your dog whilst distractions are around.

Many top handlers for example, enter competitions, never enter but train the dog outside the ring in obedience. This means the dog gets used to the environment and of course is classically conditioned to associate the venue with reinforcement (as you can play and feed when not in the ring)

Others will go in the ring, ask for a position and then reward the dog and leave.

Training rounds are allowed in Obedience, not in Schutzhund or WT etc.

So for example I do not need anyone to train heelwork, positions, retrieves on the flat, speaks, tracking, search squares with.

I will, when the time is right need other people and dogs to train the stays with company but only AFTER my dog is rock solid on his own.

I also need to use the jumps all over the place so again the dog does not go to a place and think I don't do THESE jumps.

So a class can be useful or detrimental depending on the the stage of your training and the class that you choose to go to.

For bitework etc you NEED others, but you can do a HUGE amount of training for most things on your own, provided of course you know what you are doing and what you must do.

Thanks SB, it was the distractions thing I was thinking about - other dogs, kids etc around while in the ring....

So when you go to an agility or Ob comp are there times yuo are allowed to use the ring for training?

Can anyone do this?

Yes people do do training rounds but you have to be ENTERED to do it, you cannot just turn up at a show as at a KC licensed show all dogs there must be entered even if they are NFC.

Aahh, I see what you mean now

Thank you.

As I understand it [I am sure SB will correct me if wrong ] with Working Trials most people do the training themselves away from classes, as WT classes and trainers are few & far between.

I may also be going partly down this route myself soon, with my new rescue dog - it's a matter of pride and sense of achievement I guess, but would love to get her to Bronze or Silver KCGCS level. But there are no classes locally I can get to, however I have trained to & passed Silver with Merlin and I am fairly confident I could work with her to the standard required, at home. There is a KCGCS examiner living a couple of miles away who will certainly do private testing, as long as I pay the hourly 1:1 fee.