Practice, Again, FINALLY

We've been rained out of practice for a while, and the dogs have been going stir crazy. I consoled myself by buying a 10 gallon aquarium. It takes for freakin' ever to get it cycled so I can add fishies. Enough bacteria have to grow to process the fish pee (don't get an aquarium if you like seafood). I tried a couple of things to jump start it, but, well, I just confused things. So, now, I wait. And wait. And wait. Stupid fishless aquarium.

Anyway, I have also been practicing boxwork with the dogs. I believe it's paid off some. At practice today Spoiled One turned backwards, the same way he does at home! It's been driving me nuts that at home, he does a four-footed turn over an obstical, but turns what I think of as counter-clockwise, and at practice he consistantly turned clockwise. I believe it's part of his conspiracy to drive me batty. What he doesn't factor into the equation is that I am already quite batty. . .

Anyway, as I said, at practice he turned counter-clockwise and all of his feet hit the box, over an obstical. I believe using the ball as a lure really motivates him to push off and book a bit more coming back, which is something a tug will never do, for him. Also, I believe it's less intimidating for people at flyball matches to see him running after tennis balls rather than growling at the end of tug. They know he's in the playful, not killer, mode. Now, if he would just do that consistantly without a prop. . .

Weasel also did well on her boxwork. I used the sticks laying on the ground and she took the appropriate number of strides to the box. It was nice. Also, I whined and so we used the props for full runs.

One of our teammates had a radar gun and a homemade timer and we timed the various dogs. Weasel went 33 miles an hour, according to the radar gun! Also, she was doing 4.1 runs pretty consistantly. Spoiled One was 4.9 ish and I forget how fast. It's geeky, but I like all the high-tech stuff. Spoiled One did have a little problem of fairly frequently launching so far ahead of the first jump that he overflew the beam and never triggered the timer. What can I say? He's my special boy.

I believe the best thing I can do for them over the week is to keep up with the boxwork at home, and maybe improvise a less substantial hurdle for in front of the box so I can begin to wean them off of the prop.

Blurry Photographs of Mythical Events

"Okay, now what's that supposed to be?" you are asking. It is PROOF, documented, incontrovertable, PROOF that Z-dog, my Spoiled one is perfectly capable of doing a box turn with all four feet on the box. He just chooses not to.

"Yeah, right," you say, "it's just some dude in a gorilla suit pretending to be sasquatch."

No, it's true, I tell you! Look closely, you can see his ear flying up and if you squint, you can kinda see. . .

"Somebody just stuck two pie plates together and tossed it up in the air and photographed it. It's probably grainy so that you can't see the tape and string."

NO! It's TRUE. It's REAL. He REALLY does it, at home.

"Yeah, right."

Well you try to aim a cell phone camera while juggling a dog, a tug, a very soggy tennis ball and besides, the light in the hallway has burned out and I haven't replaced the bulbs and cell phones take awful pictures and. . .

"Sure, whatever"

But, really. He really does it. at home, anyway. really.

Anyway, have a good Easter!