Entries from August 2007 ↓

Some dogs never learn or have problems catching a ball and there are exercises that you can do to help.

• Two ball catch game - Get down on the floor with the dog, just you and the dog, and have two balls and play catch. You will want to be just a couple feet away from him and toss the ball to him under handed. Just have him catch one and tell him to drop it and toss the next. Start to build speed by tossing them faster. He should start getting the hang of dropping the first ball and catching the second. This exercise is meant to improve the dog’s catching ability and may lessen bobbles at the box.

• Watch me catch game - This is something that is done in obedience but can be helpful to improve the dog’s catching ability and focus. Have the dog sit in front of you and have his favorite treat in your hand. Make sure the dog sees the treat by luring him with it to a couple feet over his head and then drop the treat. Do this until the dog consistently catches the treat.

• Outside ball catch game - Just like with the two ball catch game, have two balls but you want to throw the ball in the air and have the dog catch it. Just throw the ball 5 or 6 feet over the dog’s head and have him catch it. This will help with focus and ball drive.

The next set of games is meant to build stamina, drive, and ball to tug transition. The first game is something that you can play without help from anyone, so it is good when it’s just you and your dog.

• Hold the dog the way you would when starting a race. You may need to alter this some because you will need a free hand to throw the ball. Have your motivator ready and the dog in the correct position and throw the ball as far as you can. If you are unable to throw the ball very far from this position a good tool that I use is a Chuck-it. Once the ball is thrown and has stopped rolling, send the dog to retrieve it. Just before the dog arrives at the ball, yell his name and start running away from him. Make sure the dog brings the ball all the way back before releasing it for the motivator. If the dog drops the ball too soon, put the motivator away and use the ball as a motivator and tug on the ball. Go back to the motivator when the dog understands that he needs to bring the ball all the way back to you.

This next exercise will require two handlers and dogs.

• Follow the instructions as in the previous exercise. The only difference is the addition of a second dog and handler. Each handler will hold his or her dog sending one dog first and as the first dog returns, the second handler will throw a ball for the second dog. The second handler may need to adjust the timing of the ball throw depending on how well the dogs pass each other. Just as in the previous exercise, dogs should return with their ball and release the ball for the motivator. This exercise is meant to help with passing.

I welcome your input and any other games that can be used to help dogs catch the ball.

Larry

This is the last of the flyball lessons and you should only start this lesson if all other lessons have been accomplished. Your dog is now ready for complete runs to the box over all four jumps. If you see problems in any area, back up and repeat the lessons up to this point.

Add distractions and other dogs gradually over several sessions.

Passing

Passing other dogs can be a problem for green dogs but with time and patience, this can be worked out.

Start by running the green dog in the start position and holding a second dog close to the start/finish line with enough room for the green dog to run by. Release the second dog after the green dog has passed. Keep doing this and start releasing the second dog sooner each time.

Passing the other way just involves the opposite, running the green dog as the start dog. Hold the green dog until the start dog runs past. Work up to releasing the green dog sooner each time.

Warm-Ups

See the Sure Shot Flyball blog for an excellent article about warm-ups in the ring.

If you have followed all of the lessons and have taken your time training your dog, you should now have an excellent flyball dog. If you are still having small problems, do not be afraid to back up and do some of the lessons over. The most important thing to remember is to have patience and work small problems out before you start running your dog full time. You will have a difficult time correcting these problems later if left uncorrected now.

Training Manual Information

This is a series of articles that I will post about Flyball training. I would ask that you please try to keep your comments to the specific topic of the each article, for there will be many others. You can see a high level outline of the topic to be covered in future post by viewing the Training Manual. Keeping the comments specific to each article will help future readers.

Please keep in mind that there are numerous methods in use, but these are the ones that I use and they work for me. If you have others that you would like to share, please post your comments.

I just read this on Yahoo News about people letting their dogs chew up Michael Vick trading cards and then selling them on eBay. The money is being donated to the Humane Society. It sounds like a good fund raising idea to raise money for these needy groups. Maybe something good can come from this and the attention that is being drawn to this horrible activity cannot hurt either.

See: Vick cards chewed by dogs are on eBay

Larry

The boxloader is one of the most important positions on the team and having a good one is the key to winning heats. I have seen my share of lost heats due to poor boxloading. I consider myself to be a good boxloader but I have had my share of mistakes that have cost the team a win. Therefore, I know that even the best can make mistakes sometimes. Here are some things that I have seen that may help all boxloaders:

• Do have a ball in the box at all times. This includes putting a ball in the box even after the last dog has run. I have seen heats lost due to this one problem more than anything else. As the boxloader, you will miss seeing an early pass or some other fault and not realize that a dog needs to rerun. On a rerun, it is not as important for the ball to be in the right hole as it is for the ball to be in a hole. If you are trying to figure out which hole to put the ball in you are going to lose the heat for your team.

• Do have the right number of balls in your hands. First, you need a ball in the box for the start dog. Second, you should have three balls in your non-boxloading hand. If you have a special ball for one of the dogs make sure you have an extra one of those balls in your pocket or ball pouch. Lastly, you need the second dog’s ball in your boxloading hand. Having this combination of balls will insure that you have at least five or six balls.

• Do have a ball in the box for the start dog. The first of my “Do’s” says that you should have a ball in the box at all times, but you may forget to have one there for the start dog. Scenario: You are rushing around during the warm up and you are trying to hurry to get everything ready for the start of the race, i.e. setting up props, holding dogs for run backs, taking away props, etc. After the excitement of the warm up, you forget to put a ball in the box.

• Do have the start handler check for a ball in the box. The start handler is in the best position to see if the ball is there. Before telling the judge the team is ready, that person needs to make sure there is a ball in the box.

• Do hold your arms up in the cross position if the box malfunctions. If the box malfunctions during a heat, raise your hands over your head and cross your arms to form an X. Do not touch the box or attempt to fix the box until the judge comes down to check it. If you play around with the box and make it work before the judge sees it, the judge will rule that the box is working properly.

• Don’t adjust the box during a race. Unless the box is completely out of kilter from dogs hitting it, do not attempt to straighten the box during the race. The dogs will figure out what to do if the box is a little crooked. I was boxloading recently and made a very stupid mistake by nudging the box a little because the first dog hit it so hard it moved, but the problem was that I had just loaded a small ball into a large hole. The dog was almost to the box when I nudged it, so you can just guess what happened. The ball rolled out of the hole and down the front of the box and the dog received a flag as he scooped the ball up off the mat. So unless the box is excessively crooked, just leave it that way until the end of the heat.

• Don’t get off the box until the end of the heat. The only time you should get off the box during a heat is to get more balls. However, if you have the right number of balls in your hands it is less likely you will need to get more balls.

• Don’t have the ball in a position where the dogs can see them. While holding the balls, make sure they are behind your back and out of view of the dogs.

• Don’t get too involved with the race or a dog in the race. This may sound funny but sometimes you can get so involved with a dog or the race itself that you forget to put a ball in the box. I am not too ashamed to say that I have done this on more than one occasion. I have seen other boxloaders do it too.

I hope these tips will be helpful the next time you are called upon as a boxloader for the team. I welcome any other boxloader comments that you have.

Larry

There are two excellent articles on the Sure Shot Flyball blog about these incredible hybrids. Robbie & Sonya Barton have done a great job of explaining the attributes of these amazing animals. Please see:

• Designer Dogs in Flyball
• My People

Larry