Saturday, January 19, 2008

Team practice

Some good news today: several of his turns were actually pretty fluid. We were "sort of" springing the box today, which could be a factor.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Team practice

Brought out the secret weapon today!! Gave it to K./J. to do a reverse recall and Walter was more than happy to run away from me to get it, over all four jumps. I feel so betrayed.

Very exciting news regarding some of the other green dogs: we used the knee technique to try to help them maintain the turn while picking up the ball, and it worked! It really worked!! T., T., and Z. tried it and were really getting the hang of it.

Saturday, January 5, 2008

Team practice

I forgot to bring my secret weapon to practice today, so couldn't try my new idea. But, I did have some midrange special treats to reward Walter with and he seemed to be somewhat more interested than usual. Just did one jump today.

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Goals progress report

Here's what I wrote this time last year:

"My goals for Walter's 2007 flyball year are for him to do independent full runs as part of a line-up. Once he realizes that he's supposed to pick up the ball and bring it, then the rest will fall into place... Come on Wally, we've got all year, you can do it!!"

Well, he's not quite there yet. Ok, he's got a long ways to go, quite literally. He doesn't like to run on ahead of me, even if starting from only two jumps back, nevermind four. The exception to this rule is if no one else is around, in which case he's not shy and does it no problem. On the bright side though, we finally managed to convince him of the merits of picking up the ball and bringing it, so that's one hurdle overcome.

By the end of 2008 it would be great if he can (a) catch the ball from a sprung box (which we only just started to do last practice); (b) drive out ahead to do the run even if people are around; (c) smooth out his turn; and (d) do it all in head-to-head and in a lineup.

Ohh!! I just now thought of something that may just help him learn to love driving out ahead of me in a busy flyball environment. I'll try it at our next practice.