Border Collie Exercise Ball

Wow!

I've discovered a new border collie exercise device at flyball practice today!

We've been "cast out" from our practice area for a month, and so now practices are a bit nomadic. This weekend, it was at a local dog park. The park has a grassy, tree-y, heavily used main section and a smaller, fenced off area with wood chips that no one uses. So, we were practicing there.

My car was full of flyball stuff, and I couldn't really put the big ole' metal crates in there. I had these little cheapo fabric pop up ones that I thought I would use, or just tie the dogs to the fence. There was no shade, so I popped Weasel into one of the fabric crates while we were getting set up.

There was so much junk to haul. Water. Dog toys. Dogs. Flyball Boxes. Hurdles. Gates. Tape measurers. Lots and lots of junk. All down a hill from the parking lot to the park.

People and dogs arrived. Flyball lanes were set up. One of the handlers started doing box work.

"Rrrready - hit it - good dog"

And Weasel's crate tumbled over.

"Oh," I said, and started walking over to reassure her. But then it tumbled again, and again and again, end over end, in a very specific direction.

Now, Weasel is a border collie. Weasel is crazy. Weasel is exhuberant. Weasel is many things, but most importantly, Weasel is a flyball dog and Weasel isn't stupid. The first tumble may have been an accident, but that crate rapidly rolling toward the flyball lanes like an exercise ball for a hamster had a mission. Weasel had figured out how to get where she wanted to be.

I was laughing so hard I couldn't move, so someone else caught the crate and let the dog out, and I tied her to the fence.

Crazy dog.