Icky Flyball Practice

Well. . . this week I hadn't done hardly anything with the dogs, and it showed.

My Spoiled One was skipping the jumps running back (he knows better) and Weasel was so obsessed with her idol dog that it was hard to get her to run at all. I guess neglect doesn't lead to good flyball dogs.

So, I guess my homework this week will be to do endurance training and strength training with Spoiled One, so that he doesn't blow off the jumps. Weasel needs concentration exercises. Maybe I'll use weave poles to help get her to listen. Oh, and lots of just fun stuff. They haven't had enough fun time this week. Poor neglected puppy dogs.

Lucky Flyball Shirt

Yes, it's a new design for my store

This one was inspired by the way our team uniform shirts seem to not last through a tournament - or even a single racing day. The early morning run though the McDonalds drive through, the lunch scarfed down between races, the trip over the jumps running back to call the dog for a recall, and the hyper little dogs themselves all leave a mark.

The answer key for the various stains and tears is on the reverse side of the shirt. If you notice, the morning's mocha vente from Starbucks turns into luke warm convenience store coffee over the course of the day.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the design, which is protected by copyright, and have fun at practice and tournaments.

Your dog wants a goodie. He also wants you to throw the ^&^?%^$$&**(( ball already. Ooops, you just spilled something on your shirt. . .

Saturday Flyball Practice

Weasel did it! She ran heats with the team as the third dog in flyball practice this week, and successfully passed both ways each time. She didn't run out to play with the puppies or go herd the soccer ball. She left the boxloader unlicked. She was a very good girl. There is a little distraction going on. I am having to physically push her head back because she keeps looking back over her shoulder at her idol dog when I am lining her up to run. Also, she is a little too interested in another dog's tug, so I need to get a hold of her quicker after she runs. I wouldn't know what to do with a perfect dog, though.

Spoiled one also did well running with his enemy dog. The enemy dog growled at my Spoiled One, and insulted his ancestry while they were lined up, waiting to run, and growled at him as my dog passed him. (The enemy dog runs last, my Spoiled One second to last, so they pass each other.) So far, I am able to keep Spoiled One's mischevious focus on the ball and not the enemy dog. The other dog definately focuses attention on my dog, though, and not in a good way, and my dog notices him. I would prefer they didn't run one right after the other. If my dog didn't bark and carry on so much as we are lining up to run, I suspect the issue would go away. All the noise he makes draws attention from the other dog.

Poor Weasel

Starter Flyball Boxes - DON'T USE THEM

A lot of times, when people start flyball, they are very excited to get their dog to take the ball out of the box. This causes them to start looking at things like this: Starter Flyball Box Just my opinion, of course, but I believe these are a complete waste of money - or worse, actually damaging to your training regimen.

The big bugaboo, the most important, firstest thing you want to teach your flyball dog is the swimmer's turn off the box. Little "starter" boxes like these teach the dog to slap the box with his front feet and the wonderfull tennis ball flies out. Now, if he is as ball crazy as 99% of flyball dogs, the blasted tennis ball is the one sole meaning to his life and obtaining it and getting it flying again is the be-all end-all of his existence. So, training effectively stops dead when that hypnotic sphere goes flying and you end up with a dog with a bad habit like my Spoiled One, of slamming the box with his front feet instead of doing a swimmers turn. He was the first dog I trained for flyball, and I am working and working with him, but I have not been able to train him out of this.

Especially if your dog is ball crazy, it's better to teach them the swimmer's turn off the box before you introduce any fuzzy green distractions. Trust me, they usually figure out what to do when the ball comes flying out at them as they bound off the box. But, if they don't have that swimmer's turn already set in their muscle memory, ingrained in their doggy soul, it probably isn't going to happen if there are tennis balls flying about. Here is more information on techniques for training a swimmer's turn.

http://www.cafepress.com/weaselpuppy

Metal Lawn Edging is Evil!

Poor little Weasel Puppy. She's sliced her foot open on the metal lawn edging in my back yard. That stuff is evil - and expensive! The emergency vet said it was often the corners or cut edges that cause the problem.

So, if you have metal lawn edging - watch out!