Three Legged Dogs In Sports..

luckylego

luckylego

Experienced Member
Hey guys,

I'm wondering if any of you know of any dog sports that will allow three-legged dogs to compete? To be honest, I've had my heart set on agility ever since the first day I saw Lego fly by the other dogs at the dog park with ease... She's so fast on three legs, and has barely any difficulty maneuvering, I figured she would be perfect, and was so excited to get her started in some classes.

..Then I was told that apparently three legged dogs aren't allowed to compete in agility, and most classes (even for fun) around here will not accept Lego. Needless to say, I was pretty disappointed.. I really think that she would have enjoyed it quite a bit, and that it was a good way to help burn off some energy, work on her obedience AND give her a mental challenge.. Plus I'll bet she could have given quite a few 4-legged dogs a run for their money ;)

Basically I'm curious if that's the rule across the board for dog sports, or if there's something out there that would allow her to compete?
 
AKC doesn't allow any less than "perfect" dogs but many other organizations do.

In obedience, CDSP welcomes handicapped dogs and judges may make allowances to accommodate them.
In rally, APDT allows it.

In agility- 3 legged dogs are welcome in CPE and I think in NADAC. If jumps are difficult, NADAC has several games without any jumps and uses a lot of hoops!

In disc, it's allowed and I know of a 3 legged local dog having a blast!

I would also check out canine nose work and tracking (non akc). So don't rule out dog sports! But I would check with a vet experienced in dog sports to get a health approval before starting training.
 
Also I think flyball allows three legged dogs.

Just check out some classes for these sports and asks if they allow three legged dogs. I'm sure there are other sports out there she can do just look into some on the internet. Good luck finding a sport for Lego.
 
WOW!!! GREAT!!!! I can't believe the agility classes won't accept Lego. That's like doggy discrimination.:( I hope you find a place for agility (or another sport)!!!! I bet Lego would be AWESOME at it!!!!!:D
 
How strange they won't allow you to train agility for fun! It would be no problem to have a three legged dog in class. Only thing I would do, is not to put the jumps up too high;)
One warning about frisbee, if you plan on doing this with your dog, it is very, VERY important to teach your dog how to land safely!
And I think flyball would be a great alternative for agility, if you can find a place that teaches it. It doesn't involve so many turns and the jumps are low, so the risk of injury is far less for your three legged one.
As that would be my concern. Two legs can handle more than one. And playing with another dog is very different from doing a dogsport.
 
In agility- 3 legged dogs are welcome in CPE and I think in NADAC.
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I've heard about the CPE actually, but I'm not quite sure if they have anything in my area, or if that's just an american league? I'm trying to research it as much as possible, but am not having much luck. I'm assuming though that the NADAC is north american, so hopefully they'll have a club in the vancouver area that I can look into!

I totally never thought about the frisbee thing though, and teaching Lego how to land properly. I might actually avoid that then, just because I'm a worry-er and I'd be holding my breath every time she landed. I know she could definitely do the agility and flyball jumps (as long as they aren't too ridiculously high) because I've seen her jump hurdles before and land fine, but I know she's alot less stable in her landings when she's just jumping up for something - usually it results in her falling flat on the floor. Do you teach agility Anneke?

I actually think I might look into flyball a bit more.. I noticed most of the competitive flyball clubs are a few cities away, so maybe for now I'll just look into some for fun classes to help burn off some energy until I can commit to getting her out to those clubs.

Also, I should mention so that nobody worries, that the vet who performed Lego's amputation surgery (we've dubbed her Lego's "dogmom" :) ) did check her out about a month ago and came out to the park with us to watch how she moves, and she thinks that she'd be fine in a doggy sport. I'd definitely be keeping a close eye on her and remove her from the situation and take a bbreak if I noticed any signs that she's struggling - My boyfriend tells me that I'm ridiculously overprotective of Lego's remaining back leg so for sure I'll be watching her like a HAWK haha.. Just to ease anyone's concerns if there are any :)
 
Well, I think it is quite normal to be concerned about her;) All the pressure comes down to one leg, instead off two and if she gets injured she won't be mobile.
No I don't teach agility, but I train agility with my youngest dog. I did do agility with my other dog, but he has some healthissues so I stopped. But this year I will start competing as a novice with Jinx.
If you train agility for fun, you can keep the jumps low, so she won't stress her hind leg too much.

Flyball is a great way to burn off energy! They get tired so fast, just from the excitement:D
I don't have anyone teaching flyball in my area, but I think Jinx would love it.
 
ALSO, worth knowing, not ALL agility or dog sports, are sponsored by AKC. :rolleyes: My area has some non-AKC agility groups.

i think Lego, cuz of her speedy run----------- would rock at flyball!!
 
I wonder if its a liability problem ... maybe a 3 leggged dog is more likely to get hurt ?
Maybe if you offer to get vet approval for your dogs participation and say you would also sign a waver should your dog injure themselves. If you just wanted to do it for fun maybe someone would allow you a bit of individual time at the end of a class to introduce your dog to it. Come on someone has to have a heart and let the little dog play.
Personbal opinion -- I've seen some pretty agile tripods who could whoop the pants off other dogs.
 
Ace pilot Douglas Bader argued to the Royal Air Force in WWII that he was not disabled as there was nothing wrong with his legs. How could there be anything wrong with his legs when he did not have any? He won the argument :) .
 
How could there be anything wrong with his legs when he did not have any? He won the argument :) .
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That is perhaps the greatest argument I've heard when it comes to amputees.. You've just given me my next argument the next time someone tries to tell me she can't do something :D

Maybe if you offer to get vet approval for your dogs participation and say you would also sign a waver should your dog injure themselves.
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Alas, I've tried this.. Basically they told me that they had "several accomplished and published veterinarians" who told them that most tripods are at too great of a risk.. I offered to get letters from several vets who know Lego, but they sort of treated me like I was putting my own desires above her health and said no anyways. So, a bit frustrating, but oh well.. Can't always get what you want hey?

I'm liking the sound of flyball more and more though. I knew about it before, but was always set on agility.. Now that it's not an option, I think the next best thing would probably be flyball. I considered Rally-O, but (and this could VERY likely be me humanizing Lego too much) I really feel like she just LOVES to run.. Its hard to explain, but its just the sense I get.. So I think flyball might actually be alot of fun for her, and way less risk to her leg. And those videos you sent me tigerlily, of other three-leggers competiting, that's just got me even more excited to get her started :)
 
I would have thought fly ball worse only because of the intensity ... which is my real poiont for agility ... if the dog isnt "pushing" itself due to excitement etc of other dogs I cant imagine it would hurt itself too much ... have you thought of setting up your own course in the back yard .. there are a lot of videos explaining how to make stuff using pvc piping etc.
 
well, flyball usually only involves very short jumps,(like in the video) and is mostly running.
If you had a pretty informal flyball group, maybe they could even skip the bumpers completely, for days Lego is there?

Or get Lego on the team that has THE shortest jumps,
as i think they base the jump height on the shortest dog for that particular team.

flyball is mostly about speed and running.

who knows, maybe you could even organize your own local informal flyball group? It could't be that hard to build a wooden thingie to set the balls into...? and just skip the jumps altogether for now.
You could advertise it on craig's list, or meetup.com, or your vets office, or posters at the local dog park, or word of mouth?
just a thought...
 
who knows, maybe you could even organize your own local informal flyball group?
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I actually love that idea! I don't know much about the rules of flyball (still in the process of researching that a bit more), but I'm sure if I look hard enough I can find a group of people who do it on their own time and join them! Hopefully it'll be a bit closer to me, but if not I'm sure I can bribe my boyfriend into driving us to class.

Otherwise the closest clubs are about 40 minutes away, which isnt too bad.. But they're pretty selective it seems. Once a month they have a public day where anyone can bring their dog and give flyball a try. If your dog shows potential, they ask you to join, otherwise its just a day of fun and learning a new sport. So I could always try that as another option too. Who knows, maybe Lego wont be interested at all and we just end up having a fun day trying.. If that's the case I'll be happy either way :)

maybe they could even skip the bumpers completely, for days Lego is there?
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I'm sure I'm about to sound really stupid.. But what exactly are the bumpers?
 
OH, i don't know if that is the real name for them, but did you watch the 2 videos above?? (one video just looks like it is a link)
i was referring to those things the dogs jump over, which are small, as "bumpers". that is probably not the real name.
 
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