Advocate Responsible Dog Ownership

It was brought home to me this weekend that we all need to be aware that when we are participating in flyball in any capacity, we may be influencing those "outside" of flyball and even outside of dog training. If we want our sport to grow (...and, I think we all do because as it grows, we all have more opportunity to have fun playing flyball) then, we have to make the most of these opportunities to promote flyball and promote "responsible dog ownership".

A woman had contacted me through the Wooferines website. I had designed that website to attract newcomers to the sport of flyball. I gave her a call and invited her to visit us at a flyball tournament that was occurring that weekend. She was delighted to have the invitation and she did show up to watch and talk to us.

Once she showed up, it was obvious that she was more than just intimidated. It was almost fear. She wasn't sure her dog could do flyball because her breeder had given her such dire warnings about never letting her dog go "off-leash". (She owned a 10 month old Whippet). She was afraid that if she let him off-leash for any reason he would run away and she would never get him back. I decided to introduce her to a team that had some Whippets.


As it turned out, there was a "lure-coursing" meet scheduled for the following weekend. They invited her to it and I encouraged her to go. I told her it was an opportunity to learn more about Whippets and Whippet behavior. I said to her, "Of course, I would love to have you take up flyball with your dog. ...but, more than that, I want you to learn about what motivates your dog's behavior because, that's all we do as dog trainers, anyway. We understand dog behavior and use that understanding to encourage behavior we want and discourage behavior we don't want."

We went back to my trailer and viewed a DVD of my team in a previous tournament. It was a perfect opportunity to see what flyball is without all the noise as a distraction. I re-emphasized that she would enjoy her dog more if she got involved in some kind of dog training. I said, "Once you understand how to train your dog, you won't be so afraid to let him off-leash in the proper environment because you'll know what that environment is and what to expect. Trust me, you'll enjoy your Whippet more and he will enjoy you."

I'm hoping she'll take that advice. We all have a stake in encouraging responsible dog ownership.

Good Luck and Good Racing!