Last weekend Elliot was "stolen" by Nat to go to a flyball competition whilst I was stuck at home revising :( For full details on the days racing go to Nat's blog (link on the right), but basically he was a good boy for her and even dropped his ball for his tuggy (not all the time but some of the time, which is a start, the more tired he gets the less he does it so I shall be working even more on his fitness!!)!! :) He also had a great time in her car - he loves the fact he can see and it is really difficult to get him out of it!!!
Jem had a fun-ish weekend too, I took her to the woods near me (Elliot is really naughty here and likes to explore a little bit too much!) which she loved and we had lots of cuddles, so I think she enjoyed having a weekend without the hooligan around!!
Friday, 6 May 2011
Sunday, 10 April 2011
Clever Jem, Rubbish Me
It was our last flyball training session today before the competition season starts.
It is safe to say Jem is ready to run in the pack in the blue lane - I did a couple of late changes and then pushed them up (to the point that I was about 3 foot early!!!!) and she didn't even bat an eyelid at Sonny (who she was changing to)!!! :D This does however mean I need to learn to do changeovers with her now too - damn it!! It is a shame we didn't have just one more session to try her in the red lane but I think she will get there in that lane pretty quickly now she can do it in the blue lane. I am so pleased we did this with her, not only because it will make life easier for Lou/Nat when they are deciding teams but also because it proved that she is not as naughty as I thought!!
Elliot was a good boy too, he did get tired quite quickly though - best get working on his fitness! He ran start in the first team as a replacement for Piper and it was great to be able to release him whilst he was standing upright and not at a 45 degree angle!! He is now putting in the extra stride between the box and first jump without the guttering in which is good and he even dropped his ball for the tuggy 3 (or 4) times straight away and then didnt stop playing tuggy when the ball rolled away (one of these times was after a few times of not playing tug, showing it is not JUST when he gets tired that he stops playing) :D The times he didnt drop the ball for the tug I just took hold of his collar and waited for him to drop the ball and then picked it up and let him go (not playing with him at all afterwards).
So all in all a good last training session for us, I am really looking forward to the few competitions we are going to be able to get too!!
It is safe to say Jem is ready to run in the pack in the blue lane - I did a couple of late changes and then pushed them up (to the point that I was about 3 foot early!!!!) and she didn't even bat an eyelid at Sonny (who she was changing to)!!! :D This does however mean I need to learn to do changeovers with her now too - damn it!! It is a shame we didn't have just one more session to try her in the red lane but I think she will get there in that lane pretty quickly now she can do it in the blue lane. I am so pleased we did this with her, not only because it will make life easier for Lou/Nat when they are deciding teams but also because it proved that she is not as naughty as I thought!!
Elliot was a good boy too, he did get tired quite quickly though - best get working on his fitness! He ran start in the first team as a replacement for Piper and it was great to be able to release him whilst he was standing upright and not at a 45 degree angle!! He is now putting in the extra stride between the box and first jump without the guttering in which is good and he even dropped his ball for the tuggy 3 (or 4) times straight away and then didnt stop playing tuggy when the ball rolled away (one of these times was after a few times of not playing tug, showing it is not JUST when he gets tired that he stops playing) :D The times he didnt drop the ball for the tug I just took hold of his collar and waited for him to drop the ball and then picked it up and let him go (not playing with him at all afterwards).
So all in all a good last training session for us, I am really looking forward to the few competitions we are going to be able to get too!!
Friday, 1 April 2011
Susan Garretts 5 minute formula for a brilliant recall
I have finally been proactive in trying to sort out Elliot's recall and have signed up to Susan Garrett's online course. It is a 5 week course with a new game to play each day and is all about not controlling the dog but controlling the consequences of their actions! Obviously I can't be too specific about the exercises we are doing but I shall keep you updated on how we get on and here is to getting a brilliant recall!!
Monday, 28 March 2011
We are properly back at Flyball :)
I took the dogs flyball training last week myself for the first time since November, I didn't blog about it then because seemed like a pretty uneventful session, but after this weeks training I feel I can now reflect on it better!!
Since the Rocket Relay seminar I had been working on Elliot's ball obsession and he had been getting a little better at home. Last week I just spent his time at training trying to get him to focus on me rather than the flyball - it proved VERY difficult and ironically he was better when I put a ball in front of him than when he just had to not look at the other dogs, I guess this was because it made it more similar to the training we had been doing at home! Because of this he didn't get to do any actual flyball, he didn't even get to pick the ball up as I knew he wouldn't drop it for the tuggy. After that session and a lot of thought and discussion with various people I decided not to continue down this line of training for now as he will still be racing this season and a few weeks isn't anywhere near enough time to sort him out properly! So, this week at training he trained as normal, however we put a guide in, between the box and first jump, to make him put an extra stride in, thus giving him more power coming back, stopping him jumping the jumps so high and hopefully make some difference to his speed! I am sticking with the rule that he is not allowed to go again until he drops his ball and plays tug - he dropped it really well the first couple of times, then went back to how he used to be as he got more tired! I shall be continuing to work on devaluing the ball at home but don't expect any miracles at flyball until next season when I have had a whole winter to work on it!
We have decided to try and get Jemma running in the pack as we have too many dogs that have to go start in the team, any of you that have read this blog from the beginning will know this is a brave task to undertake!! Last week she managed to go from 20ft as the dog before was coming through the gate (I pushed it more than that once and she took a little detour towards him, so I stayed where she was comfortable!)! This week she was much better, but that is because we had two lanes up and so she was paying much more attention to the red lane than to our lane!!! She did try to have a go at the first dog in our team so I just stood well out the way until they had gone. She manged to get to me releasing her from 20ft as the dog was landing the last jump, I think I could have pushed it further as she really wasn't looking at our dogs, but I shall leave that for next week!! I am not holding out much hope that she will be ready by the beginning of the season but hopefully she will by the end if she carries on like this :) Am also not sure what she will be like in blue lane, but one step at a time!!
Neither dog is powering back quite as much as they used to which is to be expected as I am still only jogging away and not running, but Jem did come back quicker when I introduced a second ball (she takes too long to convince to play tug to make it worth it!) and she held on to her first ball until I told her she could drop it :)
So all in all I was really pleased with this weeks training, it was good to be back, just a shame Jem and I wont be competing much this year as I have exams in September (Elliot will go with Nat as and when he is needed :))
Since the Rocket Relay seminar I had been working on Elliot's ball obsession and he had been getting a little better at home. Last week I just spent his time at training trying to get him to focus on me rather than the flyball - it proved VERY difficult and ironically he was better when I put a ball in front of him than when he just had to not look at the other dogs, I guess this was because it made it more similar to the training we had been doing at home! Because of this he didn't get to do any actual flyball, he didn't even get to pick the ball up as I knew he wouldn't drop it for the tuggy. After that session and a lot of thought and discussion with various people I decided not to continue down this line of training for now as he will still be racing this season and a few weeks isn't anywhere near enough time to sort him out properly! So, this week at training he trained as normal, however we put a guide in, between the box and first jump, to make him put an extra stride in, thus giving him more power coming back, stopping him jumping the jumps so high and hopefully make some difference to his speed! I am sticking with the rule that he is not allowed to go again until he drops his ball and plays tug - he dropped it really well the first couple of times, then went back to how he used to be as he got more tired! I shall be continuing to work on devaluing the ball at home but don't expect any miracles at flyball until next season when I have had a whole winter to work on it!
We have decided to try and get Jemma running in the pack as we have too many dogs that have to go start in the team, any of you that have read this blog from the beginning will know this is a brave task to undertake!! Last week she managed to go from 20ft as the dog before was coming through the gate (I pushed it more than that once and she took a little detour towards him, so I stayed where she was comfortable!)! This week she was much better, but that is because we had two lanes up and so she was paying much more attention to the red lane than to our lane!!! She did try to have a go at the first dog in our team so I just stood well out the way until they had gone. She manged to get to me releasing her from 20ft as the dog was landing the last jump, I think I could have pushed it further as she really wasn't looking at our dogs, but I shall leave that for next week!! I am not holding out much hope that she will be ready by the beginning of the season but hopefully she will by the end if she carries on like this :) Am also not sure what she will be like in blue lane, but one step at a time!!
Neither dog is powering back quite as much as they used to which is to be expected as I am still only jogging away and not running, but Jem did come back quicker when I introduced a second ball (she takes too long to convince to play tug to make it worth it!) and she held on to her first ball until I told her she could drop it :)
So all in all I was really pleased with this weeks training, it was good to be back, just a shame Jem and I wont be competing much this year as I have exams in September (Elliot will go with Nat as and when he is needed :))
Friday, 11 March 2011
Rocket Relay Seminar
Now Nat has updated her blog I can write mine!
We went to the Rocket Relay Seminar hosted by the Flyball Fever team at the weekend and had an amazing time! All I am going to say really is thanks to the organisers for putting on such a great event, if you want more details on how we got on, follow the link to Nats dogs on the right as there is little point me repeating what she has said, especially as she worked my dog!!
We went to the Rocket Relay Seminar hosted by the Flyball Fever team at the weekend and had an amazing time! All I am going to say really is thanks to the organisers for putting on such a great event, if you want more details on how we got on, follow the link to Nats dogs on the right as there is little point me repeating what she has said, especially as she worked my dog!!
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