Posters, Luck and Jinxes

Flyball dogs in the Sky!

This week, I worked on a poster for the team.  It was fun.  I drove myself crazy constantly rearranging the dogs, though.  Hopefully, it will be eyecatching, silly, and fun enough to provoke some interest.  We still need new people.  Our teammates keep moving away, unfortunately.

Demon Puppy is at that stage where she wants to do so much more than she should.  (Actually, she's always been at that stage, it's just more so now)  It's very frustrating, for her and me.  I think I lucked out, again, on my puppy.  I have been consistently amazed at how wonderfully each of my dogs do.   I honestly don't know why.  Yes, I have some frustrations with Weasel in her agility, but, they are fine tuning, training type frustrations.  She in sound, fast, and has a blast.  Spoiled One, at nearly eleven years is also healthy and happy in mind and body.  He is a rodeo to run at flyball, but he does sub 5 seconds at tournaments.  For my starter dog, my geezer dog, that I completely screwed up teaching the boxturn to, he does pretty darn good.

Then there is Demon Puppy.  Honestly, what do you know at 8 weeks?  They're cute and fuzzy.  But, I love how she is turning out, how she is built, her size, her temperament, everything. She seems to have gotten her angles and proportions from her mother, her heart and biddability from her father, and her size from I don't know where.  To have an 18 - inch dog was an unexpected bonus.  I was just hoping for under 21 inches.

The puppy is young, and things happen, sometimes.  I really hope I don't break her, somehow.  But, I wanted to take a moment and acknowledge the happy that is now.  Hopefully, I don't jinx myself, or something.

Saturday Practice

The 45 minute drive to Los Lunas is worth it just let the dogs play in that field.   It was a beautiful day for practice.  We all arrived at about the same time, and as soon as the dogs were let out of the car, they joyously raced around that half-acre field.  I love seeing them stretch out and run.  Demon Puppy kept trying to herd Spoiled One, and Weasel stalked Captain unmercifully.  It seemed like every time I looked around, Weasel was so flat on the ground only her mohawk stuck up above the grass, with her eyes fixed on Captain. 

Demon Puppy ran in great arcs out around the other dogs, or tried to cut off Spoiled One and Nacho as they ran about.  That puppy wants sheep so bad.  I love that beautiful outrun.  So far, it doesn't seem to have caused her any tendency to break off and chase the dog in the other lane.  (knock on wood)  She is so easy I feel like I am cheating somehow.  I'm just starting the over and back over a low hurdle (she got it immediately, of course).  I am also trying to keep up with the fetch/switch, and restrained recalls, catching, and making certain other people call her and she responds.

Anyway, one of my teammates made a video of Spoiled One, Weasel, and a dog named Captain's boxturns (or lack there of) yesterday.  I'm happy with Weasel, but Spoiled One is using the prop as a foot rest.  PITA dog.  I'm not really sure what to do with it at this point.  He is ten years old, so I don't want to do a lot of bouncing off the wall kind of stuff.  Maybe I can work on having him sit up and other things to emphasize those back feet.

Lord Help Us

Our team is planning on going to JnJ in Hurricane, UT.  The singles and pairs are on Friday, with the regular racing on Saturday and Sunday.  Usually I don't do singles or pairs with my two because they run on the other teams and it doesn't seem fair to wear them out for the team races.  However, I have always wanted to do a pairs with Weasel and the Spoiled One, and it looks like I'll get to, this tournament.

I don't expect to win anything, I am just playing.  Plus, it gives someone else a chance to handle and run Weasel, which she needs, and which we will need if we want to ever use Spoiled One as an alternate in the "real" team.  Also, Demon Puppy seems to be catching on quite quickly and might be ready to run for next years' tournament (yes, I just jinxed myself) and if her and Weasel's flyball careers overlap, they often might end up on the same team.  It just makes everything more flexible if dogs can be handled by others. 

We had a nice practice this Saturday, though I showed up late.  Weasel was a good dog.  Spoiled One refused to do anything boxturn like and consistently turned the wrong way.  People keep wanting to switch the ball to the other side when he does that, but I keep insisting it go in the one side, because I think the switching back and forth just aggravates the problem.  His habit of switching and blowing off boxturns certainly aggravates me.  The green dogs were doing nicely, except for distraction issues. 

Demon Puppy ran her recalls with a distraction in the other lane and did just fine.  She's entering a more destructive phase, so dog beds and wicker work boxes, shoes, socks and carpet are all not safe from her.  When Spoiled One tries to nap, she also likes to wander around him in circles while he growls half-heartedly at her to stay away.  I have caught them in several chase games, which are very cute.  They take turns being "it." 

Bad Puppy

Design from http://www.cafepress.com/weaselpuppy, under "flyball designs"

Well, remember how I was posting about Bennie being such a good boy? Remember how I said he wasn't destructive? Ummm. . . I kind of lied.

I didn't mean too. It's just that I think Bennie's found his inner puppy. He isn't bad, mind you, he's just a typical puppy. But I had been suckered in by his earlier angelic behaviour. Today, every time I turn around, he's chewing on a shoe, counter surfing, or pulling yarn out of the carpet. I think it's just that he's beginning to settle in, and, also, I've been busy and distracted today. He got bored. Bored puppies are dangerous things.

He does it all with complete puppy innocence and greets you with a wagging tail. Such a good natured puppy.

He went to flyball practice with the other two yesterday. Of course, he is too young to do any intensive training. I just practiced recalls and let him play with different dogs and be petted by strange people. I've discovered he will howl in that circumstance. Ordinarily, he's so quiet. In his defense, everybody else was vocalizing to the best of their abilities at the time.

My two dogs, Weasel and Spoiled One, did well at practice. It looks like we are going to the Rio Rancho tournament, so Bennie won't get his out of state trip for a while. Weasel and Spoiled One did well on their box work. I seem to have broken my passing jinx. I didn't do well, but I was within a few feet and not running the other dog out of the lane. I did have to move Spoiled One back to 40 feet and wait until Molly had jumped the second jump, but I can deal with that.

I like long weekends. I finally got a new design up.

http://www.weaselpuppy.com

Some Days You're Hot and Some Days You're Not

Alas, I did not do well at flyball practice today. We were practicing a potential "B" team, with Dusty, Gizzy, Spoiled One and Spoiled One's Partner in Crime. Well, first we tried the line up with Dusty, Gizzy, Partner in Crime and Spoiled One. Gizzy is a cute little orange cattle dog sheltie mix. She probably runs about a 6 second run. Partner in Crime runs closer to 4 seconds. Partner's handler kept releasing too soon and having way early passes. So we switched Partner and Spoiled One.

I used to be good at passing with Spoiled One. Really. Not today. Spoiled One was passing Gizzy way early, when she was still on the jumps. Gizzy would end up veering completely out of the lane to avoid a potential collision, and it wasn't her fault - I kept passing way to early. And I knew it. And I tried to fix it, but I kept doing it, over and over. It was so frustrating, because Gizzy needs to keep her confidence up and being railroaded by the two biggest, most rambunctious dogs on the team isn't the way to do it.

I'm so frustrated with myself. I think I've gotten used to Spoiled One automatically slowing and adjusting for the oncoming dog. Gizzy is just so much smaller, he wasn't bothering to adjust for her. And, I just couldn't get out of the rut of making the same mistake, over and over. Hopefully, I can get back in the right zone again. Maybe, if I change my release point to the 3rd jump, instead of the first.

On the positive side, another dog, a little cattle dog/border collie (I think) was really showing some speed on recalls! She even beat Weasel a couple of times. Now, if we can get her to have the same drive to the box, she ought to be a little speed demon.

We may be going to Hurricane! I really hope so. At a U-FLI tournament, we can run the green dogs in singles and pairs and reduce the stress levels on their handlers. In a NAFA tournament, it's all or nothing, and we may not be able to field two solid teams with alternates, yet.

Practice, Toenails, and Cockroaches

So, we had practice today. Many people weren't there, but some were. Enough to run a couple of teams, anyway. The dogs did reasonably well. Spoiled One was going for the tug, and tugging very enthusiastically. I used a tennis ball as a crutch, but he's definately improved on that. Also, he did not create any passing issues. In fact, the littlest dog on the team, who is still refining her passes, whipped right by him, even when I released him way too early and they passed on the jump. His box turn wasn't, but I hadn't been working that like I should. I may have to just keep working that in homework.

Weasel was running fast, because she was running first and right before her Idol Dog, so she was in flying ferret heaven. With her running first and the Idol dog running second, they timed at 8.1 seconds, which I thought was cool. Of course you have to factor in things like the timer starts when the first dog breaks the beam, while in tournaments it starts and you have to hit it right to minimize the delay between the timer start and the dog crossing the start line, but hopefully, I'll do okay with that. Other factors weigh in the other direction: we're practicing on grass and an uneven surface, the Idol Dog was 10 - 15 feet late on her pass (because Weasel is such a spaz, she's hard to judge where to pass). It might be kind of fun to run them in pairs at the next U-FLI tournament we go to. Of course, I would also love to run Spoiled One and Weasel in pairs. There are a number of obsticals to that goal. Weasel usually runs with the team, so it might be too many heats for her to run pairs as well. I can't run two different dogs in the same race. However, someone offered to work Weasel at practice a bit, and seemed to have fun, so maybe I could sucker someone into running her and I could run Spoiled One? Hmmmm. . . .

On the way home, they each got a plain Lottaburger. As they sprawled in the living room, sated and tired, I lopped the tippy tips off of their toenails. Because I keep them in when I am at work, now, they don't get the exercise of running the fence and discussing politics with the neighbor dogs. This is probably the first time Spoiled One's nails have been long enough to trim. FWIW, the drimmel sucks, use chopper type clippers. Just my opinion.

Weasel is always bringing me little gifts to play with. She finds rubber bands and sets them on my knee and gives me the pleading, hopeful look, trying to entice me into a game of tug o war. Or she drops the unopened mail at my feet, checking to see if it's permissible to chew it up. Bottle caps and bits of scraps of things are always appearing around my feet as potential items to be tossed and caught for doggie amusement. Lately, she's been finding the cat's toy mice and offering them up. It's so cute. Well, this morning, I let her in from her morning constitutional in the yard, and she presented me with a cockroach. A LIVE cockroach.

Spoiled One Offered a Box Turn!

This picture shows Spoiled One's typical smash and grab. Horrible, isn't it? Tonight, I was dinging around with the practice box, a tug and a jump in the hallway and Spoiled One OFFERED a real box turn. I'm not talking lure him over and lure him back. No step in and back. I was standing halfway down the hall and made a vague gesture with the tug and he zipped down the hall, planted all of those tootsies on the box and zipped back.

WOW

I thought it was a fluke, and tried again. He did it again. And again. And again.

OoooOOOOooooo

I'm excited. Even though I doubt I will ever get a repitition of this momentus event, it shows he can, physically, do it. It also kinda shows that he knows what I've been asking for all along. But, the idea that he is a PITA, obedience is optional, make up his own rules type of dog shouldn't really surprise me.

Anyway, I just had to share this brief flash of joy. It's hard to resist making him do it over and over and over, just to relish the moment, but I know better than to drive him into the ground.

At least for this brief instant of time, he is a Good Dog.

Last Practice Before the Texas Tournament

Today was the last practice before the Texas Tournament. The dogs did well. Spoiled One and Weasel were consistant at the box with the prop. They both did well at the full runs. The new Jack is a little firecracker of enthusiasm. There were some handler issues, though. I forgot to insist on a prop for Spoiled One for his last full runs. I still need to refine the way I hold Weasel so that I can actually get my fat little tushy moving to run after her up to the line. The worst problem, though, was people weren't keeping track of their dogs.

We practice in a fenced, grassy field. It's so easy to get in the habit of letting the dog out of the crate, letting it zing all over the field and bounce around the flyball lanes and take a potty break while we decide the running order, set the camera, chatter, get a drink, then meander over and call them to us to line up. It's a bad habit, though. The dogs are obsessed with the flyball lanes and wander back and forth in the ten to twenty foot runback, or gallup up for a trial run over the jumps to see if there might be a tennis ball in the box. They also play games with each other, like keep away with the flyball lane. Today, when Weasel was released for a recall, one of the other dogs decided to meander across the lane and got clocked in the head by Weasel going full speed.

Weasel seems unfazed by the incident, but the other dog was visibly stunned, then erratic. I was concerned that she was concussed or maybe even going to have a seizure. She seemed fine after a few moments of panic, but what a horrible thing to potentially happen to one of our pets! A little while later, we were running the other team, and one of the owners was distracted and walked across the lane in front of Spoiled One in his recall. Spoiled One managed to miss him, but 60lbs of dog colliding with you at top speed could do a lot of damage.

Honestly, even without the potential for injury, it is simply frustrating to have someone's dog dancing around and deliberately getting in the way for recalls and warmups. The owner usually has no idea because they are distracted, and then, when they are ready to go, the dog zips right over to them.

Grumble, grumble, grumble.

I'm just as bad, though. I need to be more aware.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to the tournament. I hope Weasel does well and earns a new best time in singles, and I hope Spoiled One does well on the pick-up and earns lots of points. I also really hope I don't screw up and make a complete idiot of myself.

Dropping like Flies

This flyball stuff is hard on people. Everyone kept getting injured.

First, someone apparently wrenched something chasing after a puppy while they were getting ready to come out to practice. A big young smooth tri border collie missed the tug and got his owner. Then he and another dog with resource guarding issues had an "incident" with a young girl in the middle. The girl was nipped or clawed, though she handled it well. After that, someone got their fingers wrenched and a nail torn to the quick holding a dog for a recall.

They were all preventable things. Hindsight is cool that way. So, with this inspiration, some suggested safety rules for practice.

1. Keep your dog under control. Don't let it run around and possibly have an "incident" with another dog.

2. Resource guarding is bad. It isn't "protectiveness" Don't allow it, and if you know your dog has that issue, resource guard it to keep a zone of safety.

3. Watch out for children. Lots of dogs guard them. Other dogs are afraid of them. Still others with high prey/chase drive (like herding dogs and flyball dogs) think they make wonderful sheep substitutes.

4. Use flyball collars, harnesses, tabs or body holds when doing restrained recalls - especially with hyper or nervous dogs. They spin and get hands and fingers caught in flat collars, then panic and spin more.

5. Gloves.

Tugging techniques: Try to make the end of the tug away from you hand move more and draw the dog's attention away from the end in your hand. Hold the tug with both hands for large dogs. Encourage dogs to grab and hold on, rather than continually regripping on the tug. Wear gloves. Encourage an aversion to teeth on skin. Whenever doggie toofies make skin contact, draw back, make a sharp noise like "ow" and stop interacting with the dog for a few minutes - even if it was obviously accidental.

oowie oowie

Weasel missed the tug and got my hand at practice today. Hurts. I enjoyed a few hypochondriac moments wondering if it were broken, but all the fingers still work. Stiff, swollen and changing colors, though. Kind of interesting to watch.

The good part about it was that she was going for the tug. I think I am making real progress with her. I'm working her going straight back from the box now, instead of over-rotating her, and it seems to be going well. Spoiled One was going all the way over the prop sometimes. He didn't pull the "miss the first jump" thing he was doing at previous practices, either. He is tending to jump over the jump to the box, then bound off the box wide, instead of heading back down the lane. I was starting to make some progress by screaming for him just before he hit the box, while standing on the opposite side of which he turns toward. He was tiring, though, by the time I discovered that.

On the whine and grumble list: We ran a line up first thing, and the dogs were bobbling because they weren't used to the prop, so they took it out :( How will they get used to the prop if it isn't there? How will the dogs progress if they aren't challenged? Frustrating. Alas, the world doesn't revolve around me and my opinions. However, I did get boxtraining sessions in with both of them with the prop on their own. And, I've bought some gutter which I am going to use during the week with the practice box.

I'd really like it if we could somehow do a skill training/boxwork session midweek. I'd be willing to plan it if I could be sure of at least one other person showing up and if I knew of an indoor place with lighting where we could work. There are no lights in the field, and by the time I get off of work, it's dark. I live in a residential area, so I can't just set something up in the garage and do it due to the barking. grumble.

Anyway, nothing earth shattering. Pretty typical practice.

CafePress Has Flip Minos!

Cool! Cafepress has flip minos - those cool little digital cameras. So, I'm busy designing away to come up with some spiffy ones for recording passes at tournaments. Check them out!

http://www.cafepress.com/weaselpuppy.317856873

http://www.cafepress.com/weaselpuppy.317742503

http://www.cafepress.com/weaselpuppy.317741627

http://www.cafepress.com/weaselpuppy.317760953

http://www.cafepress.com/weaselpuppy.317762834

Maybe Running Veterans in Rio Rancho

Spoiled One may be running veterans on Sunday in Rio Rancho, which is both cool and kind of sad. It's cool because he'll get to run both days, probably, with the regular team on Saturday and with the Veteran's team on Sunday. But, my puppy is EIGHT YEARS OLD. He's getting older. He doesn't seem it, really, maybe a little calmer and easier to manage. I don't want my dog to be old.

Well, at eight, he's more middle aged than old, I guess. Anyway, I will be sure to do stretchies and warm ups for him. The sad part is a lot of core dogs on our team are getting near the veterans mark. The start dog, Weasel's idol dog, our current height dog, have all been there the entire four years Zeph has been training. I believe the idol dog and the start dog will be qualifying for veteran's in a year or two. With the new dogs, we'll have to be careful to practice with several different dogs in the start dog position and I would love it if we got more than one height dog going strong, so we could switch them out.

Weasel will run with the regular team both days, probably. She's just starting her flyball career. I should be working on their endurance conditioning (and mine - Spoiled One is a workout to run). Also, as always, building tug drive. The current tugging game is making them wait in another room, grabbing the tug and calling them to race and come get it.

I also ordered them one of the much coveted pheasants and a mallard from the website. Weasel has joyfully snuck into my teammates cars and stolen their pheasant every practice. She's so cute and proud as she would prance about, chased by the pack of dogs, proudly squeaking her prize and then drowning it in the water bucket. I tried a petwhatever one, but it held no thrill for her. My theory is that it's because it's SOMEONE ELSE's pheasant that she loves it so, but I am trying to accomodate her. Maybe my teammate and I can switch pheasants every practice.

Such spoiled dogs. . .

We survived the Tournament!

Actually, it was a lot of fun, after a rough start. I didn't leave home for the eight hour drive until long after I had planned, and didn't get to the hotel until 3:00 am. The it was walk dogs, feed dogs, water dogs, shower, and up at 6:00 to find the tournament site. I forgot a chair and stumbled around in a zombie daze the first day. I was too spaced to put on sunscreen, had the expressiveness of a corpse, and I think people were afraid to talk to me.

However, after I got a chance to get some sleep, I felt much perkier the second day. My Weasel did very well. She ran flawlessly, over and over. Even when I pulled an evil trick and passed her off to someone else to handle, she was briefly confused and then figured it out. She believed the boxloader was a boogyman, but they were patient.

Spoiled One was a BAD BOY. He was the one we were initially trying to have handled by someone else. The other person was a great handler, and very patient, but Spoiled One was being impossible. I'm surprised she got any runs out of him. She deserves a medal for putting up with him. Honestly, he was like a 60 lb Jack Russell with issues. (Sorry, jack lovers, I know there are some nice ones, but, well, you know. . .)

Weasel was chased back down the lane by a little terrier, but no damage was done. She handled it well, kept running back to me so I could intervene and save her. The little dog left off immediately when I pushed it away and told it no. Poor Weasel. She's getting to be everydog's chew toy. She still has an owie on her nose from the incident at the last practice. It always scares me when the little ones chase down the big ones, because they're really so vulnerable to a crunch or a pick up and shake if the bigger dog takes them up on it.

Anyway, it was a lot of fun for my first open team. The dogs won tennis balls in the raffle, which is all they want anyway.

Nervous About Tournament

I'm nervous.

I hope Weasel and Spoiled One do well.

I hope I do okay.

I hope I find the venue.

I hope the new fabric crate works.

I hope no dogs or people get hurt.

I don't know why I am so freaked. I've done tournaments before. The dogs have run before. I have had dogs break out of crates at tournements, have caught other people's loose dogs. I have been through bad tournaments and good tournaments. This isn't biggie.

But it is.

I don't know why.

Maybe I just need sleep. Maybe I'm just wigging because of all of the last minute organizational things (meet someone to get the pass, driving up so late, finding the people I'm running with, not knowing if I'm starting, finding the hotel, finding the tournament, etc.) Maybe I just feel very alone. I'm the only one from my team going up there.

Anyway, just feeling scared and thought I would share.

'night.

Weasel Was Bitten

Well, Weasel was bitten yesterday at flyball practice. I believe the other dog was just resource guarding the tennisball. He had an "incident" with another dog and made snarly faces at several others.



No real harm done, though I did some quick obedience with her afterward to get her out of the defensive zone. She passed near the other dog several times afterward with no signs of aggression on her part. My poor puppy.



Other than that, practice kind of sucked because it was hot. No one really wanted to be there, but it was my last chance for team practice before Weasel's first tournament. Ironically, Weasel did well, no jump skipping or ball dropping, came back nicely. I want more speed out of her. It was too hot, though and she was a black dog on a hot day. She gave what she could, which is all I can ask of her. I'll see how she does at the tournament.



Spoiled One pulled a little skip the jumps coming back kind of stuff, but got over it. He was a good boy. It's kind of hard to believe he'll be eight.



In shop news, I did a new design. It's all environmentalisty, not flyball, however.

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.

Nail Trimming Woes

My poor Weasel. I was trimming her talons with a real nail trimmer, instead of the drimmel tool, because I had let them go too long and I got the quick on one. I made my poor puppy bleed. Fortunately, I had quick stop, and she didn't seem to notice, but I still feel like a baaaaaad person. I guess watching Groomer Has It did teach me something.

On the plus side, she may get to run on an open team in Colorado! It will mean lots of driving, but I hope it works out. Of course, than I have to find a puppy sitter for the Spoiled One. Maybe I can talk one of my flyball teammates into it. I could take him with me, but it's a long drive, just to stuff him in a kennel. Besides, my Spoiled One is a high maintenance PITA, and I would kind of want to focus on Weasel and figuring out the details of running her with strange dogs, rather than worry about a neglected Spoiled One. And it would break his heart to go hear all the flyball noises and not get to run.

Weasel's Gotcha Day

I'm a bad owner. I didn't do anything for Weasel's Gotcha Day. It actually happened about a weekago (and two years) on June 22 2006 I brought home this teensy, soggy little puppy that was all ears and mohawk. Actually, those are still pretty noticable features, but she's grown into a greyound like body and some elegant feathering. Anyway, I remembered on the day and told her I was glad I had her. I'm afraid that was about it. I am so anxious for her to go to a tournament and run as part of a team.

Alas, no flyball practice. To many team members vacationing and whatnot. Our team has been somewhat decimated of late. One team member moved to another state - she had our height dog and our up and comer. Another team member has been preoccupied with work stuff - he has our start dog and one of the team dogs. So that left, me, the team captain, and a whole bunch of green dogs and puppies. There is a lot of promise in the newer dogs, but I wanna tournament! Wah! Maybe I can talk one of the newbies whose coming along well into a pairs race in Texas.

And the agility drill card has run out, so no agility, either. They were doing pretty well, too. Weasel was doing the obsticals and weave poles and sequencing. Spoiled One was doing it with treats, except he has to be babysat through the weave poles. The dogs have practically lapsed into a coma. I'll have to scare up some entertainment for them. However, it's so hot, it's hard to work up the energy. Whine, whine whine. We are all going on a car trip to Lake of the Woods. Four dogs, three people, one car. Fun. I hope I can figure out a way to get the dogs to the beach when I'm there. Weasel needs to see the ocean, and it's been so long since spoiled one got to run on a beach.

So, that's it. We're boring right now.

Update on Building Tug Drive

Forgot to report on the success or failure of my tug drive building efforts.

Actually, at flyball practice this weekend, I was surprised in a good way. Spoiled One actually showed interest and could be lured into dropping the ball and grabbing the tug after practice. Weasel, unfortunately, wasn't as cooperative. Part of the problem was that we were running her on the same team as her idol dog, and so she was very distracted. However, Weasel will have to learn to run with that dog. My teammates suspect that Weasel is focusing on the frisbee the idol dog handler uses. I believe she is focusing on the frisbee the idol dog uses.

I think I need to run Weasel by herself, using the tug, next practice. Also, I will continue working on fetch and tug exercises this week, and I will try to not let her play ball before the practice when we are setting up. She needs to work on meeting people skills anyway.

All in all, good. I have hope. I feel like I am making progress with this tug thingy.

Trying To Build Tug Drive

Well, I'm working on it. It's difficult, though, when you have a 60lb dog. But, tonight, Spoiled One and I did the fetch and tug, fetch and tug, fetch and tug. I made growly noises and swung that great goliath of a dog in circles with the tug. I let him win and play keep away with the tug. He seemed a little invested in it at the end, standind over the tug and wagging and looking at me. There is still the long pause while he decides to spit out the ball and take the tug. We'll try lots more of that.

Weasel was doing better. She spits out that ball and hits the tug on the fly. I hope it will carry over to team practice this weekend. There was a little bit of phoning it in - mouthing the tug then waiting for me to throw the ball again. Practice, practice, practice. At least she doesn't hurt my back when she tugs. I couldn't get her to do keep away or win when we played tug. The minute I let go, she dropped it, if not before.

They're both very intuitive dogs. I think if I stick with it, they'll get into it. If this doesn't work, maybe I'll get something washable and put Cheese Whiz on it and sew squeakers in it, until I get some enthusiasm from the dogs.