Nature breaks during competition
There are a variety of organizations with varying rule sets regarding how a Disc Dog competition should be administered and run. For the most part, these differences allow for an interesting diversity of experience when competing from competition to competition. But one subject has come up time and time again as a point of controversy. This subject is how to deal with dogs that take nautre breaks (urinate and/or defecate) during competition.
Some organizations are sympathetic to the dogs and their immediate natural plight and allow for stoppage of time so that the four-leggers can complete their personal maintenance mission without any time pressure. But this brings rise to accusations that handlers abuse this accomodation and train their charges to eliminate on command in order to rest their dogs, or gain advantages related to time. Unfortunately, their accusations have proven true in some cases.
While other organizations call for an immediate cessation of the canine's competition round and a hefty penalty for daring to defile the competition venue (as if the pups disregarded the rules that were read to them before the competition began). This seems a bit harsh an action to take on a pup that simply raises his leg on a nearby tree, or takes a quick squat. Let me tell you, no matter HOW MUCH YOU WALK YOUR DOG before a competition, some dogs will even pee air on a tree if the tree is in his immediate vicinity. They are dogs! This is what they do.
This past weekend I had the unfortunate opportunity to witness a new dog and handler penalized by this unfortunate rule. The gentleman had a big Yellow Labrador, yes just like my Bailey, and proceeded to go out in round number 1 and throw a top round of 17 points! I believe this may have been his first competition! Wow! So, he is understandably excited about his performace, and the sport of Disc Dogs. The second round begins and he starts it off strong with a good throw and catch. On his second throw he makes a bad toss and the disc flies into the thick array of trees lining the field. His dog climbs under the fence and hunts down the frisbee in the brush, and as he turns to come back on the field he simply raises his leg for 1 second on one of the MANY trees around him. Boom! Done! His round is over, and he suffers a penalty. He continues to throw because he can't understand why the judges are telling him his round is over. He then comes over to the judging tent to try to make sense of the incomrehendable situation. To sum up the rest of the proceedings, he leaves the Disc Dog area a disgruntled disc dogger, and I'm not sure if we'll get to see this great team again.
It seems to me that the best solution to this problem is to have no solution. If the dog stops to pee, then that is what the team is doing with their allotted time during competition. TIme should not stop, and the handler should have to pick up after their charge before continuing, but no further penalty should be imposed. Harsh arbitrary rules such as these aren't going to stop dogs from being dogs. They are only going to hurt feelings, and disenchant those who would otherwise love to get involved in this fun sport.
These are just my feelings on the subject.
Some organizations are sympathetic to the dogs and their immediate natural plight and allow for stoppage of time so that the four-leggers can complete their personal maintenance mission without any time pressure. But this brings rise to accusations that handlers abuse this accomodation and train their charges to eliminate on command in order to rest their dogs, or gain advantages related to time. Unfortunately, their accusations have proven true in some cases.
While other organizations call for an immediate cessation of the canine's competition round and a hefty penalty for daring to defile the competition venue (as if the pups disregarded the rules that were read to them before the competition began). This seems a bit harsh an action to take on a pup that simply raises his leg on a nearby tree, or takes a quick squat. Let me tell you, no matter HOW MUCH YOU WALK YOUR DOG before a competition, some dogs will even pee air on a tree if the tree is in his immediate vicinity. They are dogs! This is what they do.
This past weekend I had the unfortunate opportunity to witness a new dog and handler penalized by this unfortunate rule. The gentleman had a big Yellow Labrador, yes just like my Bailey, and proceeded to go out in round number 1 and throw a top round of 17 points! I believe this may have been his first competition! Wow! So, he is understandably excited about his performace, and the sport of Disc Dogs. The second round begins and he starts it off strong with a good throw and catch. On his second throw he makes a bad toss and the disc flies into the thick array of trees lining the field. His dog climbs under the fence and hunts down the frisbee in the brush, and as he turns to come back on the field he simply raises his leg for 1 second on one of the MANY trees around him. Boom! Done! His round is over, and he suffers a penalty. He continues to throw because he can't understand why the judges are telling him his round is over. He then comes over to the judging tent to try to make sense of the incomrehendable situation. To sum up the rest of the proceedings, he leaves the Disc Dog area a disgruntled disc dogger, and I'm not sure if we'll get to see this great team again.
It seems to me that the best solution to this problem is to have no solution. If the dog stops to pee, then that is what the team is doing with their allotted time during competition. TIme should not stop, and the handler should have to pick up after their charge before continuing, but no further penalty should be imposed. Harsh arbitrary rules such as these aren't going to stop dogs from being dogs. They are only going to hurt feelings, and disenchant those who would otherwise love to get involved in this fun sport.
These are just my feelings on the subject.
4 Comments:
I mostly agree Joel, with the exception that female dogs that urinate on the field of play becomes a big distraction to my male dog. This happened to us in Fullerton in 2004 with the competitor before us urniating in the middle of the field. Boomba caught my first throw, but then the second went over top of the area, and Boomba could not resist and let the disc fly by.
Some incentive (or disincentive) should be given to handlers to walk their dogs beforehand.
By Anonymous, at 3:02 PM
Hey Chris. I hear you, and understand as Bailey is quite affected by this as well. But my point is that I think the loss of time during the routine is enough of a disincentive to motivate people to walk their dogs before an event. Dogs are dogs, and they'll pee sometimes no matter how much they've been walked. Someone who doesn't care about losing the time while his dog pees is probably not going to care if his routine is stopped anyway. Just my opinion.
By Jz., at 4:00 PM
I have mixed feelings about this. My dog is not distracted by this sort of thing but I have seen teams who were having a fantastic routine literally have thier dog stop. Now the team loses time, rhythm and overall performance points not because of something they have done but rather because of something that someone else failed to do. I don't think that is fair. In most other dog sports, like agility, dogs are penalized for this why should we be any different?
By Anonymous, at 11:14 PM
Because dogs are dogs. You can try and teach them not to pee, but it's part of how they comunicate. Why penalize them for being dogs? The handler is already going to try his best to keep his dog from stopping in the middle of their time to pee, else their score will suffer. But the penalty is not going to make the pee go away, and all they are really guilty of is being the doggy that they are. Now if we could get the handler to effectively remove the urine from the field, now that would do the trick.
By Jz., at 2:32 PM
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