We all probably know at least one dog that takes off too early for a jump, especially on straight lines and thus, lands on the jump. Or a dog that takes small unsure steps when approaching a jump. This kind of behaviour is called Early Take-Off Syndome (ETS).

Many of us also own this kind of dog and have received loads of well-meaning advice to overcome the problem by practising jumping technique, taking the dog to a physiotherapist or a masseur or by taking the dog to the vet for x-rays. One of these people is Johanna Mattila. Her border collie Ulla didn’t develop as hoped in the Finnish Agility association’s Top Team program: “Others seemed to progress with speed and we just stood still. Ulla jumped badly. I wanted to find the reason and solve it, and that became our top goal for 2020.”

Uncertainty about the reasons behind ETS

“I had tried everything: I had Ulla x-rayed twice, I took her to the physiotherapist and different treatments to fix the problems connected to jumping. Agility coaches suspected that the problems weren't only caused by muscle tightness and physical characteristics but also some psychological reasons. Some people said I caused the problems by handling badly, and I know I’m sometimes late, but I saw that Ulla was struggling with certain things and that I could not ask them of her. In the end, even if the advice was meant to help us, it was quite hard for me to hear. At some point a vet told me that all the dogs with ETS that he knows have had to end their agility career early. But I did not want to give up because Ulla absolutely loves agility.”

In the end Johanna came across an article about a Dutch agility handler Yannick Fonteijn (nee Wouters) and her dog Knoxx. Knoxx had previously taken off way too early. The situation had, however, improved a lot when Knoxx got glasses.

“Then, in August, when I was attending a Top Team camp, we started to ponder whether it were possible that Ulla had some challenges with her vision. First I took her to a CHS eye examination, where everything seemed to be fine. This, however, was expected. It is only possible to examine depth perception with a retinoscopy instrument, which is not used in a normal eye examination for a dog. They didn't even have such an examination or instrument in Finland and I was preparing to take Ulla abroad for the examination. Then I found out that fortunately one clinic in Finland had bought the instrument. After the examination, when I got the diagnosis for Ulla’s myopia (near-sightedness), my first question was where can I get glasses for her”.

Agility revealed problems with sight

Agility dogs' depth perception is not largely examined - even though there are many dogs with different stages of ETS. In everyday life vision is not an especially important sense for a dog. However, when we go to an agility field, this changes. The dog needs to be able to make estimations about distances and heights to survive even the most basic exercises. Suddenly, vision plays a central role.

“Before starting agility, Ulla’s myopia wasn't apparent. For example, catching a ball wasn't a problem. Only after we started agility, we started to get comments about her jumping: Did you notice how early she took off? Did you see how strangely she jumps? She struggled the most with direct approaches. She took off way too early, her jump curve was too short and she often landed on the bar. She coped better with diagonal jumps. Problems also arose with the tire and wall jumps which are normally approached directly.“

It's a good question, whether we should start examining the depth perception of agility dogs with ETS?

Where to get glasses for a dog?

After Ulla’s myopia was diagnosed, there wasn’t an existing process for how to get glasses for a dog. It was a long road and required initiative from the owner.

“I could see that the vet had Doggles sunglasses for a dog in his room, and showed him a video of Knoxx. He recognised the frame to be the same as in Doggles sunglasses. There wasn’t Ulla’s size available any more, so they were ordered from Sweden. The lenses were grinded from ones meant for people.”

"I thought that it would be most difficult to get the lenses, but I had a contact, through my dance hobby, to Kaakinen, a local optician. They delivered the lenses faster than I got the Doggles frames!"

Getting the dog used to using glasses - through difficulties to routine

“I was naive to think that after we got the glasses, everything would go smoothly. However, getting used to them was another project. I started to get Ulla used to the glasses right away when I got the frames. They had exchangeable sun lenses so I removed them and let Ulla wear only the frames. She took them off all the time. After we added the lenses to the frames, however, Ulla accepted the glasses better. It was almost as if she understood that they helped her.”

“Another challenge was the lenses steaming up. It happened when we trained in a cold hall, the dog warmed up and there were pauses in training. It helped when I kept Ulla moving, but it helped even more when my sister drilled some holes in the sides of the glasses. It solved our steaming up problem for the most part. I still notice it sometimes, even though I wash the lenses always before training and make sure there’s no steam.”

“Ulla doesn’t go to the hall without glasses anymore and she has started to connect them to agility which helps in accepting them.”

Ulla has started to trust her sight in agility

Johanna has restarted agility with Ulla slowly to give her time to adapt to using the glasses and seeing with the help of them. “The bad jumping technique is already partly embedded in her muscle memory and our next step is to make Ulla trust her vision and relearn to jump.”

“Because there has been so much commenting on Ulla’s jumping, I feel that now that she has glasses, she should be perfect. I need to remind myself that even though she now sees, she might still make mistakes for she is, after all, an animal. However, it seems that instead of randomly charging and speeding, she has started to look at jumps more. Now is a good time for us to start training jumping technique, because Ulla can actually see the jumps and I can ask of her what would have been unfair to ask before she got the glasses. Now we learn to jump all over again.”

Is treating ETS all about the consequences instead of the cause?

Johanna believes that challenges in depth perception are one of the main reasons behind ETS. “Problems with sight are probably more common than we realize. They concern all breeds even though they seem to occur most often with border collies, probably because of their speed. The cause is often left unnoticed and instead we try and fix the consequence, taking off early.”

Problems with sight are probably more common than we realize. They concern all breeds even though they seem to occur most often with border collies, probably because of their speed. The cause is often left unnoticed and instead we try and fix the consequence, taking off early.

Johanna would like to have a special permission from the Finnish Kennel Club to compete with Ulla. “In my opinion, if dogs with glasses were able to compete, the threshold for examining depth perception would be lower. We may be surprised by how many dogs could benefit from glasses. In addition, the dogs with myopia would be able to continue the sport they love, their safety would improve and they would not end up having to change homes or retire early. Of course, we should always make sure the dog copes with the glasses, but you can see quite fast how the dog reacts to them.”

“If the glasses would not have helped Ulla, we would, of course, have stopped doing agility. However, they seem to help more and more, so we try to continue. I realize that we are not headed to the absolute top since I need to take the glasses into consideration when planning my handling, but I’d like to participate at least in local competitions with Ulla. Competing is not only about winning for me. Instead it’s cooperation with my dog, getting to do ready-made, large and well-designed courses. It’s the power behind my training motivation.”

Everything progresses, despite objections. There was a time, after all, when agility handlers didn’t warm up their dogs before training and took them back into the car afterwards without cooling them down. It may be that in ten years’ time we will look back and wonder why the depth perception of dogs with jumping problems was not yet examined even though agility with them was either taking a risk or quitting agility. Just as Minna Mustikka, a vet specializing in eye disease, said in an interview: If we know to suspect refractive error as the cause of weaker performance and such examinations increase, it’s possible that the use of glasses that correct refractive error becomes more common.”

If we know to suspect refractive error as the cause of weaker performance and such examinations increase, it’s possible that the use of glasses that correct refractive error becomes more common.

More discussion on the topic is very welcome. We do hope, however, that you maintain an appropriate and respectful tone, despite differences of opinion. Thank you Johanna and Ulla. Ulla only has one life to live and Johanna has made an amazing effort to ensure she has a good one. Hopefully Ulla’s story encourages further examination of the sight problems behind ETS. You can contact Ulla’s owner through instagram (bc_ulla_official).

What is ETS?

Early take-off syndrome (ETS) is a term I use to describe a jumping problem seen in some performance dogs where they take off too early for jumps. The syndrome ranges from a subtle hitch on the dog’s final stride to severe stuttering before a jump.

Try out AgiNotes to follow progress in training

Johanna uses AgiNotes and can, thus, follow progress in jump technique training. You should try it too! Register for free and have access to the free version for an unlimited amount of time.