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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Animal Behavior and Welfare
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2025.1547824
DOG AGILITY TUNNEL RISKS FOR INCIDENTS
Provisionally accepted- 1 Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, Canada
- 2 Form & Function – Veterinary Physiotherapy, Okehampton, United Kingdom
- 3 Brisbane Dog Training Club, Brisbane, Australia
Background: Flexible tunnels are the second most common obstacle on all dog agility courses, surpassed only by jumps. There has been a lot of debate and concern regarding risk factors associated with slips, falls and delayed exits (unseen slips, missteps, trips, falls). However, only one study was found which focused on the tunnel-related injuries, and it relied on handler reporting and did not consider base rates of the risk factors. As such, it is currently unknown which risk factors are statistically predictive of incidents. This study addresses this gap.Methods: Observational data from local, regional, national and international agility competitions (between June 30, 2023, to September 22, 2024) were collected from various agility organizations and countries by a team of researchers who are also judges and/or coaches within the sport. Tunnel, equipment, competition and course attributes, ground type and conditions along with tunnel incidents (slips, falls, and delayed exits) were recorded. Correlation, regression analyses, and chi-squared tests of independence were conducted to identify the relevant factors associated with incident rates.The data included 563 tunnels (75.0% were incident free), with 30,418 tunnel performance observations (1.552% were incidents). The identified factors associated with incidents include tunnel characteristics (equipment specifications, shape on course), type and density of fixtures, course design (shape in design, angle of approach), ground and conditions.Their association with incident occurrence will be further detailed below.Discussion: Several previously assumed risk factors were relevant; however, some were not supported, and additional new factors were identified. Implications for future research and for organizations, judges, trial hosts, and competitors are discussed.
Keywords: dog agility, tunnels, Risk factors, Safety, competition
Received: 18 Dec 2024; Accepted: 10 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Ford, Cullen, Stickney, Sharman and Cullen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Dianne P. Ford, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, Canada
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