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.

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.

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.

Team practice

Not much new to report lately. Still farrrr from drivey on the run-out. Good news today is we found something that works to get T. to keep his turn on the box: K. is to run up close to the box with him. Seems to have the same effect as the knee technique.

Oh one last thing, today we started to get Walter ready for triggering the box. The boxloader (J.) crouched down keeping a hand on the trigger. Of course this confused Walter the first time, but then he got used to it. :-D

Walter's year in summary

As far as Walter's flyball career goes, he still hasn't graduated from high school, but I'm still having fun and he's still kindly obliging me. Below is a compilation video of Walter's 2007 year in flyball (following the agility stuff).

Team practice

There's hope for Walter's flyball future yet. On one try, with someone holding him at the start and me up closer to the box then running back with him, he dropped the ball a bit early so I said "where's the ball" to make a point. Well, he looked around for a second and then went all the way up the full lane all by himself, and the boxloader had put another ball in so he grabbed it and brought it back. This is a step in the right direction because normally he doesn't have this kind of forward drive when lots of people are around. So yeah, one step back, two forward, or occasionally vice versa is the story of Walter's flyball progress. :-)

Team practice

Today's goal was to reward with the tug only, no treats for anything. Used the ball tug and it worked great; he gladly traded the ball for the tug just about every time.

His turn seems to be getting smoother, but still lots of room for improvement.

More distractions today, that being Zara, Milo, and Guinness doing boxwork in the other lane (not all at the same time obviously!). No gates at all to separate the lanes. He handled it well in that he didn't show much interest in them, but it will take some time before his drive gets up to what it is when no one but me is watching him. :-)

Team practice

Following Walter's two steps forward, one or two steps back approach to flyball, he didn't want to do an independant full run today with so many people around. He did head to head runs with Sammy in the other lane and someone else helding him so I could stand up close to the box. It went ok.

When we drive to Walter's favourite walking place, he barks in the car like mad, and the rhythmic sound of it reminds me of a flyball dog in the lineup waiting for the race to start. Maybe someday that'll be him... or maybe not, that's ok too.

Team practice sans team

Today's team practice was cancelled, but since I was in that end of town anyway for the agility trial I figured I'd stop in for a quick practice. For the first time ever, he was doing independent full runs with the ball in the (unsprung) hole! The bad news is, he clocks in at about 7 seconds, losing tons of time with his "how not to do a boxturn" boxturn. Hopefully he'll soon figure out how to pick up the ball and do the turn in one fluid motion.

Team practice (TTH)

Since he no longer needs super duper treats as a bribe to pick up and bring the dead ball, for the first time ever Walter's boxwork was rewarded with the tug instead of treats. (He's always tugged for the recalls.) It worked great! C. held him behind two jumps (we only had two jumps per lane today) while I was close to the box, then we ran back together after he got the ball. Like at other recent practices, a couple of times he didn't pick up the ball, but a simple "where's the ball?" and he'd go right back for it. No signs yet of him dropping the ball early in anticipation of the tug because a couple of times he accidentally dropped the ball after clearing the last jump but immediately picked it up and brought it all the way to the tug. Fingers crossed that that holds. He seemed to really enjoy this because he was doing his excited agility-start-line bark while C. was restraining him and he tugged harder than ever, seriously digging in and even vocalizing while tugging.

Head to head and opposing recalls went well with Zara although he was definitely aware of her being in the other lane.