Clean Run - August 2020 - 38

Ring Crew (Help)
As a judge, you have a duty of care for the ring party that
helps you, both to protect them and also to ensure they don't
unintentionally create a hazard for competitors. By briefing
your crew on how you would like jobs to be executed, you
lessen the risk for everyone. Areas to consider are:
* If you have designed a course where an obstacle is repeated, is it safe for your bar setters to reset if needed
without becoming a hazard on course?
* Where have you situated them and other ring party
members? Are they safe from potential dog and handler
collisions?
Another key helper is the person that moves the competitor's leash from the start to the finish line. It is the judge's
responsibility to decide and to instruct when the leash can
be safely removed and to where. Where the leash is placed
at the end of a run can avoid issues of dogs jumping up at
helpers, leaving the ring for the leash, or worse, running into
or near other competitors and dogs to retrieve it.
Sadly, I believe dog aggression is increasing in our sport,
and there is a growing trend to try to create an environment at trials to manage these issues rather than resolve
the aggression in the dog. With that in mind, it is increasingly important to be proactive in keeping our ring crews
and, as I touched upon earlier, our judges, safe.
Handler Safety Considerations
The perceived handler's path should also be considered by
the judge on two levels:
* Firstly, the judge can use good course design to make
it unlikely the handler will have a need to run close to
them and lessen the chance of any potential collisions.
* The second is to consider the
challenges for the level of handler. For example, asking the
dog to turn away from the handler on the exit of a tunnel or
using equipment to block the
handlers' preferred path are all
challenges we see in current
course design. Whilst they are
acceptable for higher levels, it is
important to consider that the
spatial awareness and understanding of the dog's line may
be far less for a lower level
handler. We need to try and
keep their challenges safe and
appropriate for them at a time
when potentially remembering
the course is a challenge alone!
38

Handlers running towards the high end of the teeter
should always be avoided regardless of level.
Dog Safety Concerns
This is the most emotive topic and the one that is regularly
considered by handlers and, hopefully, judges. It is where
the majority of our conflict can be found on current agility
circuits.
Approaches to contacts and the more novel equipment
(wall, tire, double) provide the most obvious safety concerns and are the ones we hear discussed most often. At
GJP, we teach that all contacts should have a 100% straight
approach, and if we offer a route choice, the straight approach is the fastest route.
The exit route of an obstacle also creates debate. For
example, should there be a turn after a wall or double. I
personally am happy with soft turns after these obstacles
and believe they can be used safely and appropriately in
high-level courses, but ultimately, it is down to the judge to
make these decisions when designing.
The distance a judge chooses between obstacles is another
area that creates safety concerns. Tight or short distances
leave a dog unable to prepare their body sufficiently for
the next piece of equipment, whilst excessively large distances create more speed and, therefore, more pressure
on the dog when it has to turn. An example of the greater
distance to equipment as a safety issue is the approach to
an A-frame, the greater the dogs' path onto this piece of
equipment, the greater impact the dogs' body has to take
as it hits the upside due to increased speed.
Repeating equipment creates some serious issues if the
dog fails the execution on the first attempt. A knocked
jump bar is one thing, but what about a wall, broad jump,
tire, or jump wing that is knocked over, and the dog has to
then negotiate it?
Despite all the discussions we hear
on dog safety, off-course traps are
where I see the most serious safety
concerns from all levels of judges.
We see many incredible courses that
are completely safe if the dog and
handler run clean, yet the off-course
traps that are presented both intentionally and unintentionally create
some very dangerous equipment approaches. As I previously mentioned,
if a dog fails a skill test, the result
should only ever be a fault and not
an injury. An example would be using a dogwalk as part of an obstacle
discrimination test where if the dog
failed the test it would be taking the
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Clean Run - August 2020

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