CPE Dog Agility/ Agility with three legged dog

[Jodyml813]

Just wanted to see if anyone was familiar with the CPE dog agility association?

I am familiar with the AKC and UDAA, but wanted to see if anyone here has run in CPE?

We recently adopted a tripod Schnauzer, who’s missing below the hock of his back hind leg since birth. He loves to run agility with my other dogs and is super fast and vet says as long as he’s happy and we take it easy, he isn’t causing himelf any pain or harm.

Since he’s three legged I can’t run him in USDAA or AKC, but I did find that CPE allows this with vet approal.

He really enjoys this and I think it would be fun to run all three of ours together. I have to be careful with A frames and See-Saws, but from the rules these are not included in some classes. Jumping is no problem, I think he jumps better than some of the horses I’ve ridden!

Anyone have any insights on running a 3 legged agility dog or any experience in CPE trials? I’ve seen some websites from folks who have run disabled dogs, but wanted to see if anyone has personal experience between CPE/AKC/USDAA.

Thanks

[BostonBanker]

I’ve run all three venues, although USDAA is my real love. I think things tend to vary by region, so take it all with a grain of salt.

In our area, CPE is definitely the least competitive, for better or for worse. The courses tend to be easier, and more faults are allowed higher up in the levels (I was blown away at the last CPE trial I went to years ago, when my dog took the wrong end of a tunnel and not only Q’d, but won the class). There are a lot of games that give you options as far as what you do or don’t want to do for equipment, so that could be very nice in your situation. I’ve found the CPE people to be perhaps more open and friendly than the other venues, although again - that could be regional.

The biggest downside for me is that it is so much more open and casual. It seems to attract more people who train less seriously. Often that translates into people who don’t have full control over their dogs or don’t tend to pay attention to them (I’ve never once at a USDAA or AKC trial been asked if my dog “can say hello!” as someone’s dog drags them over to her, but it has happened several times at CPE). I’m much, much more vigilant with my reactive dog at CPE trials than I am at other venues, where I generally trust that everyone is keeping their own dogs under control.

If you have CPE in your area, why not go check out a trial? Look at some course maps, watch a few classes, and see if you think it would be a good fit.

[SarahandSam]

Tripods can also do NADAC classes that don’t have contacts or jumps… so tunnelers, weavers and hoopers.

I’ve only been to NADAC trials so far and like them a lot, but would like to try CPE sometime. My mind just reels reading the rule book descriptions of the games. (:

[wendy]

agree with BostonBanker. However, I have to wonder WHY you would want to run a handicapped dog in agility competition? I just think it’s wrong to ask a dog to do that. Agility is physically demanding for a dog with all of its body parts; asking a seriously handicapped dog to compete is not thinking of the dog’s best interests. And just because the dog “enjoys it” isn’t good enough- dogs can’t understand that what they are doing today might make them miserable with arthritis/injuries tomorrow, so it’s your job to think ahead for your dog.
I’ve seen a few people try to run dogs with physical handicaps in CPE and in most cases people wince and look away and wish it wasn’t happening. Sometimes the judge doesn’t go along with it and chucks them out. There’s one person around here who tries to run this poor dog with a birth defect in a front leg (bone is badly curved), and the dog struggles over the jumps and sometimes actually falls down, especially coming down the A-frame and it’s just pathetic that the owner would inflict that on the dog. The judges usually toss the dog out after one run and hopefully the owner will learn and quit doing this to the dog.
There are a lot of fun things you can do with a tripod dog that are actually good for the dog.