Optional Bird Dog

[JugglingReferee]

We don't use it for Fed games, and we are supposed to for FIBA games.

I like it when I need to sell a call in a group of players, but that's it. Generally, I use it sparingly.

[Lcubed48]

Originally Posted by JugglingReferee

We don't use it for Fed games, and we are supposed to for FIBA games.

I like it when I need to sell a call in a group of players, but that's it. Generally, I use it sparingly.

Like you, I only use it sparingly when I deem it necessary. I've never been advised against it.

[APG]

I almost never use it. I dunno why those working the tournament use it as often as they do...even on fouls where it's obvious who is committing the infraction.

[stiffler3492]

Yeah I only use it when I've got a foul in a crowd. Even then I usually point with one finger...probably a habit I need to break myself.

[bainsey]

We've also been told that it's optional. So, if it's optional, how can it be a bad habit?

[JugglingReferee]

Originally Posted by bainsey

We've also been told that it's optional. So, if it's optional, how can it be a bad habit?

Maybe if you use it in completely the opposite times you should be using it?

[26 Year Gap]

I used it before the gap, but never after. It was required before.

[tref]

Originally Posted by stiffler3492

Yeah I only use it when I've got a foul in a crowd. Even then I usually point with one finger...

I use it in the same situation & also just a one finger point, while verbalizing "that's yours #12."
Never been told anything about doing it.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by tref

I use it in the same situation & also just a one finger point, while verbalizing "that's yours #12."
Never been told anything about doing it.

Now that I think about it, I caught myself doing it this way once this year in the season. Then, oddly, I did it again Saturday in a men's rec game.

[JWP]

I was originally taught to use the bird dog, back in the early 1980s. During a school game, I only use it in a crowd. None of the young refs ever seem to use it.

In youth or recreation league games, the "uniforms" often only have numbers on the back. I find I bird dog a lot then, and often, my partner will shout out the number to me, so I don't have to do a little dance with the player to find his number.