Walter bids farewell to flyball

I hereby announce that Walter's days of training in flyball are over. He has patiently humoured me for all this time. But, after some thought I've concluded that the possibility of physical damage over the long term from doing so many boxturns given his big, top-heavy structure is too high. Walter's never been crazy about flyball so it's just not worth the risk. The two of us much prefer agility over flyball and it would be crummy if injuries sustained in flyball put an early end to our agility fun.

Walter's three years of training in flyball have been a fun and challenging journey and I'll miss his flyball training. But, I'll continue to enjoy his flyball career vicariously through watching his mom, who is a fantastic flyball dog! :)

Practice

Today and the last few practices have been better than the last one I wrote about. :) Back on track with the smooth turn and no ball dropping issues.

Crummy practice

Today's practice was a step back in time. Not picking up the ball; a slow, awkward turn; really slow to the box...

Hopefully this is just another temporary glitch :)

More progress!

Ever since Walter finally went back to his smooth, flowing turn (to which I totally credit the music stand knee and subsequent hiatus from boxwork), he has been making a lot of progress in the flyball department. Ok, still baby steps, but I'll take it! Today I could send him all the way from three jumps back, woohoo! Maybe with his smoother turn now, he knows that it will take him less time to get the ball and come back so maybe that makes him less reluctant to go all the way there? Granted, he's a heck of a lot slower on the sendout than the return, but just the fact that he's willing to go all the way out by his lonesome into the Mysterious Danger Zone is great for him.

Also, today for the first time in a long time we put the ball in the unsprung hole instead of on the ledge. Good news, he maintained the flowing turn!

Working with little B. in the other lane up close to their box was a tough distraction for him, but he worked through it, good boy. Oh and same thing with the boxloader holding the lever back - he was confused by that at first but got over it.

No problems with balldropping today except for one time.

Today's reward was his deflated soccer ball which he loves.

Practice - more progress

The lanes were set up only a couple of feet apart. Walter did head to head recalls against Z. and did just great. Then he did head to head boxwork, with Z. again. Only did one jump this time. I think he did better than last time in that he kind of looked like he was getting used to the concept of there being a dog running right next to him.

Practice

Now that his turn is nice and smooth again and he's consistently picking up and bringing the ball, today we went back to the tug instead of food reward. Of note, he brought the ball back all the way every time today with the tug whereas before with the food he was more likely to drop it early.

He did head to head for the first time, against Z., lanes pretty close and no gates. With only one or two jumps he did ok, definitely aware of Z. but he still went to his box. But then with three jumps, well that was just too scary so he turned around early and came back without going to the box. Still I was pleased with how he did today, good boy!

Ok this has nothing to do with flyball, but here's Walter relaxing after a productive evening:

First practice at new location

Although it was Walter's first time at our club's new practice location, and although he hasn't been at a flyball practice in a while due to agility events, he picked up right where he left off last time. Smooth turn with ball being sent from one jump back, pouch treat reward.

Last practice at TTH

Today was our team's last ever practice at TTH since we're moving to a new facility that's a heck of a lot closer. Hard to believe it's been two full years since we started holding our practices at TTH.

Walter did one session of boxwork. Can now send him from two jumps back, yay! Ball on ledge, turn flowy but very wide, must remember to put wings at box. Pouch reward. He dropped the ball early twice (we were running back over all four jumps), "where's the ball?" and no reward, he demotivates a bit but not too badly. Overall good with decent enthusiasm.

T, T, and Z did just fantastic racing against strange dogs, yeah!!

Practice

Whaddayaknow, another good flyball practice for Walter! Used the pouch treats again. Worked up to sending him from behind one jump. His turn was nice and smooth again today (no more of that step-by-step turn that plagued us for so long) with the ball on the ledge. His drive to the box was ok, or at least, he wasn't trotting! Haha! Some problems with him dropping the ball early so we removed all but the first jump.

Open practice in Carp

Turns out there was an impromptu open practice at the end of racing today so I figured what the hey, why not do something with Walter. Did a couple of recalls, then tried some boxwork. He was feeling pretty shy and wasn't really into it, so someone who was only trying to be helpful crouched next to the box and clapped and cheered to try to encourage Walter. Well, that did it, he put his ears back and looked at me in that way that screams "can I just go and hide under a rock now, pleeeeeeeeeease?". He had shut down so we just did one more recall and called it quits. Poor dog. It's a pretty sure thing that he'll never race in a tournament, but even if he can just do full runs in practice I'll be a happy camper.