Saturday January 27th 2007 - Team practice

(Backfilled in October 2009 due to impending closure of Geocities)

Today we met our new house league guest, a cute little JRT. After a few warm-up solo runs we did line-up racing with Lucy first, followed by Sammy then the JRT. Lucy is clearly still having problems being passed coming back from the box. No, correct that, because we haven't been doing any actual passing. Her problem is even more basic, which is that if when she's coming back from the box she sees dogs who are lined up, she gets worried and goes around the last jump. So I picked her up at the third jump and sort of blocked her way while running with her and holding the tug over the middle of the jumps.

Saturday January 20th 2007 - Team practice

(Backfilled in October 2009 due to impending closure of Geocities)

More head-to-head against our house league guest, and like last time I only released her after the other dog was coming back from the box. This went fine other than I can tell due to her slowness (one time she actually *trotted* between me and the first jump) that she's worried. Once she realizes that dogs in the other lane are no threat to her, I'm sure she will be much more confident.

Tuesday January 16th 2007 - home practice

(Backfilled in October 2009 due to impending closure of Geocities)

I have the box at home this week so I took advantage. Did some turns with the box unsprung to remind her to really put her mouth over the ball. Also, took the jump away and for the first time ever she did the turn while getting the ball with no jump. The first two were great, but after that she realized that it was just as easy to only put her hands on the box.

Saturday January 13th 2007 - Team practice

(Backfilled in October 2009 due to impending closure of Geocities)

Started with the no-passing passing exercise over two double-wide jumps with Abby (finally back from her maternity leave, yay!), which went well. Then we did some head-to-head against our house league guest, which went well too. Also, for the first time we put two slats in the jumps. Lucy didn't cross over, but one time at the box she turned way wide and missed the first two jumps coming back. Note, today it was only quasi head-to-head since the second dog was released only after the first dog was returning from the box.

Sunday January 7th 2007 - House league #3

(Backfilled in October 2009 due to impending closure of Geocities)

Lucy and I had a great day today! Here's the short version:
- Left Walter at home so that Lucy would have my undivided attention
- A familiar teammate boxloaded for every race
- Lucy was last in the line-up for every race, running after Sammy
- Rewarded mostly with extra-special treats that she will only ever get at house league or flyball tournaments
- She was just fine at starting back past the end of the gates
- She never once looked at the doors or stuttered on her way to or from the box, and I never got the feeling that she didn't want to be there
- She got in some running passes with Sammy but I didn't push it since her confidence is just coming back
- In the final race of the day, someone timed one of her heats and she ran in 5.83 seconds. I'm not sure if that included the pass or not but I assume it didn't. Not too bad though, given it was the end of the day!
- Out of 5 races, Lucy ran two entire races totally clean!

And here's the detailed version:

Race #1 (Left lane with small door) Warm-up: 2 turns with ball and no jumps + 1 turn with ball and two jumps then run all the way back
- Heats #1 and 2: Whereas for the first heats of the last house league Lucy was craning towards the door instead of up the lane, this time she was focused ahead, but she dropped the ball halfway back. I praised and treated her heartily anyway.
- Heat #3: Clean!
-Heat #4: She dropped the ball early again. I rewarded, but with her less-special treats.

Race #2 (Right lane with huge door) Warm-up: 1 turn with no jumps (can't remember if ball) + 1 turn with ball and two jumps then run all the way back
- Heat #1: She fumbled the ball and didn't pick it up. I rewarded anyway.
- Heat #2: Clean!
- Heats #3 and 4: Can't quite remember but I think she dropped the ball for one and did it cleanly for the other.

Race #3 (Left lane) Warm-up: none due to time shortage
- All heats: Clean! Yay!!

Race #4 (Right lane) Warm-up: two turns, no ball, no jumps
- All heats: Clean! And no fumbles either! Yay!!

Race #5 (Left lane) Warm-up: two turns, no ball, no jumps
-Heat #1: She fumbled the ball and didn't pick it up. This time I didn't reward and instead said "where's the ball" in an upbeat voice.
-Heat #2: 100% clean!
-Heat #3: 100% clean!
-Heat #4: She fumbled the ball, but this time she took the time to find it and pick it up again and brought it all the way back. Yay!

I'm so happy that Lucy's confidence is on the rebound! It will still be some time before she can again confidently pass a dog while she's returning from the box, but what she accomplished today was a huge success and certainly our best house league so far.

Saturday January 6th 2007 - Team practice

(Backfilled in October 2009 due to impending closure of Geocities)

Started with the passing exercise over two doublewide jumps. First we tried it with Milo and let the dogs go at the same time. Milo did great but Lucy went around the second jump as soon as she saw Milo coming towards her, even though he was going straight to his human. We did it twice more but this time not releasing Milo until after Lucy was at the second jump, and she handled that fine. Then after a warm-up of a few box turns with ball, we did lineup racing with our house league guest and Sammy. It went quite well as it did last week. However, by far the most exciting thing about today's practice was that Milo can now do the swimmer's turn! He had been practicing all week at home on stairs with a cone and this transferred like magic to the box.

Monday January 1st 2007 - Goals for 2007

(Backfilled in October 2009 due to impending closure of Geocities)

My goals for Lucy's 2007 flyball year are for her to regain her straight return pass, prove herself in head-to-head racing with strange dogs, do more tugging with her treat tug, and race if a possible opportunity materializes. Mostly I just want to keep having fun with her and watch/help our flyball team continue to develop!