Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 31

The Impact of FootIng on The JumpIng Dog By Susan Salo, photos by Jeanine MacAnaney except where noted Footing for our dogs and its effect on performance has long been of huge interest to me, both from my experience in the horse world and as an avid agility enthusiast. I have often been asked what the perfect footing would be for dogs to perform on. There is no simple answer because each dog has a preference for a type of footing. The dogs’ choice often goes toward what they first learned on, whether grass, dirt, sand, carpet, rubber mats, or artificial turf. In the horse world, the horses’ shoes are drilled and tapped so that screw-in studs of various sizes and shapes can be placed on the shoe to offer the horses better purchase (traction) on whatever surface they are competing on. Horses also have the benefit of riders to aid in controlling their speed and turns, thus aiding in their balance. As a rider you are physically attached to the outcome of the jump and it is far safer for all if the horse maintains good balance and stays over his feet. Slipping and sliding about while on an approach to a huge jump is at the very least a most unsettling feeling, not to mention dangerous for both horse and rider. So what about our dogs should be any different? this footing, it is very hard work to jump out of deep, heavy footing. Many smaller dogs have to work particularly hard when footing is like this. At least handlers should understand with deep, heavy footing the dogs’ time will be much slower than perhaps a normal round with good, fast footing. I have worked with several young dogs that have had most all of their early training on grass, only to be taken to their first trials indoors on dirt. The dogs are in trouble for a while as they sort out the fact that their feet are slipping out from under them more than usual. Because the feel of the surface has changed for them, their grip on it changes as well. Many young dogs that have worked primarily on dirt find the transition to grass a hard one because the dogs now get more grip, therefore more power, which can lead to all sorts of problems. They overshoot their usual takeoff spot and they get stuck momentarily over their feet while turning, until they learn how to handle all the extra 31 I am amazed at how little consideration is given to this all-important topic. I have been to trials in California during the summer months when rain is nonexistent and some fields do not get enough water. With no rain, the field is burned off and very slick, and the ground underneath hard as rock. How are dogs to get a good grip on footing like that? The answer is they cannot, so you see dogs sliding into jumps or falling after jumps, particularly on turning sequences. At the end of the trial both handlers and dogs alike go home sore. I have been to trials in Canada where it has been raining heavily and the grass has not been cut recently, leaving it long and now heavy with moisture. So while the dog can get good purchase on April 09 | Clean Run

Clean Run Magazine - April 2009

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