Schutzhund Training Accidents added x-ray pictures - Page 1

Happened at the FMBB Championship a couple of years ago.  It's imperative that helpers/decoys learn how to work and catch dogs safely before they just buy a sleeve and a pair of scratch pants and run out on the field.

Yes I understand, however this was a freak accident, the helper is very experienced and did nothing wrong. From what everyone who was out on the field say's the dogs leg got caught in the leash.

Was the leash looped/stitched (for a hand) on the end or not? Was that what the leg got wrapped up in? If not, stinks, but was probably a freak accident. He completed the task good boy and hope he's back in the future. Did anyone run video ?

alboe2009 - the leash was looped at the end, I'm not sure from the witnesses on the field they just said he got caught in the leash.  He did complete the task and stayed happy the entire time.  He is a great dog.  Sorry it was at the end of training and no one had video of it.

There's such controversy over using leashes like that, just for that reason. (if that is what happened). It's a shame indeed but I'm sure he'll be back into it. Only time will tell, and I hope he's back to 100%. 

I personally have never seen a dog break something in training. I've seen plenty of times where a dog has hurt a human. On one ocassion a dog on the field, (bitework), I seen a dog come off the decoy and land on the ground wrong. (off balance, body hitting the ground) husband/wife were on that dog, "poor baby, oh, baby are you ok?" and then no more training for him. They didn't want him to get hurt! (funny).

I'm sure the owner knows and is aware; Like a million dollar athlete................. be patient, and doesn't matter how the dog acts, looks, energywise, or wants/tries etc. Don't push the healing process.

I seriously doubt that the dog broke his leg by getting caught in the leash.  Having a leg caught and scissored between a helper's legs can and has inflicted those types of injuries but a leash?  Maybe a sprain or ligament/cartilage issue, but not a break.

A dog I co-owned broke a toe during training, we think she just stepped wrong going around a traffic cone (it's a French Ring technique).  She still bit, but was biting hopping on that leg, they out'd and recalled her and she limped on the way back.  Checked her over and you could hear the bone ends grinding when I tried to manipulate her toe, so off to the vet.

One of my girls shattered part of her jaw on a long bite at a Schutzhund fun match.  The helper was doing a weird angle/catch thing, I think to make big flashy catches?  I'm not 100% sure exactly what he did since it was dark and we were working under the lights.  But my girl hit him, slipped off the sleeve, then reattacked.  My normal helper was standing nearby and yelled at me "she fanged herself", the helper slipped the sleeve and she came back.  I started feeling around to see if she had fanged herself, and it was "weird" in there.  Got her into the light, her entire canine was hanging by a few threads of tissue.  Took her to the emergency vet, the entire socket and the area around it was shattered.  There was nothing to put the tooth back into, so they had to remove it, all the shattered bone, and stitch her up.

For those who haven't seen a dog skull, the majority of a canine is actually underneath the bone in the jaw, and makes up a lot of the support structure for the front of the jaw.  The maroon mark in the picture below outlines how deep the root of the tooth goes into the jaw.



The irony about this is that while I wasn't happy, I didn't hold it against the helper, things happen.  It's a contact sport, and sometimes the dogs get hurt, sometimes the decoys/helpers get hurt.  And then I got an email from him about a week later basically saying he had no responsibility for the accident, and it was my dogs fault it got hurt because it accelerated at the last moment into the bite.  Umm, isn't that what they are supposed to do?  In addition a couple of weeks later a friend saw him at a helper seminar, after the seminar giver watched him catch one dog they went out, stopped him, and told him if he continued to catch dogs like that one day he would break a dogs jaw.   To late.

I've seen other injuries over the years, broken toes, seriously jammed up dogs to the point of retirement, a broken tail, cruciate tear.  But most of the dogs go through their entire career with only minor injuries, other than arthritis that sets in as they get older from all the wear and tear.

I got locked in the porta-potty once. The bad thing was that it was after training and everyone had gone. Luckily I had a pocket full of cut up hot dogs in my pocket. I was lucky that the club met twice a week. I don't know if I would have survived a whole week.

That was no accident