Dog sports and responsibility

There has been an interesting thread on the clean run yahoo groups about agressive/reactive dogs in agility and responsibility. 
Who is responsible when there is an issue between a fearful/space aggressive dog and a distracted
 owner of a well adjusted but friendly dog who just want to greet/sniff another dog in limited space, by the gate, practice jump, or whatever...

My first bc turned into a very fearful, space agressive dog, who's bubble could not be predicted even from minute to minute. During that time there were dozens of dogs who tried to invade my dog's space, most of which, I was able to divert  thru sometimes humorous and sometimes horrifying maneuvers, but as everyone knows, management is not 100 percent and there were several incidents.  In all of those, I blamed the owners with the well adjusted dogs for not being 'polite' and giving my dog space. 

Then, I was given Focus, the most well adjusted Lab you will ever see in a border collie suit.  He loves everyone, dogs, people, ants, whatever and is intent on greeting everyone.  I found myself guilty of what I had been condemning others for, letting down my guard..  What a relief to not worry that there will be a lawsuit at best, or euthanasia at worst in a crowd of other dogs ramped up to run.

So I became the distracted person who let my dog invade other dog's space, not intentionally, and not always, but sometimes. 

What I have come to understand (in my opinion), is it is my choice to bring RockIt into those situations that may cause him to react.  It then becomes my responsibility to by hyper vigilant. If  I need to check the running order, move my dog away from the crush, if someone let's their dog drift towards mine, it's not their job, but mine, to make it comfortable to my dog, their dog is fine. 

The only reason I feel qualified to make that judgement, is that I have and continue to live both sides.  If I want RockIt to be safe and never cause a threat, all I have to do is leave him home, and it's ok.  Because it's my choice, it also is my responsibility.

He is an awesome agility dog, but that does not give me the right to tell other dogs, who are also probably awesome, to react in a way to protect my dog.

We all do the best we can - agility can be magic.