Saturday August 25th 2007 - team practice

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

Did a bunch of no-jump up-close boxturns with the box unsprung to get her to place her mouth better. Also, did the lanes-close-together thing doing recalls with Sammy. No question, Sammy's got the racing thing down, but Lucy, well, not quite! :-)

Sunday August 19th 2007 - guests at another team's practice

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

Did a new exercise which is full runs with the lanes right up next to each other, only a few inches apart, with very low gates the whole length separating the lanes. The idea is to increase the competitiveness, getting the dogs to really notice the other dog and to want to race them. It was a very neat exercise and with a few more repetitions it may just get Lucy to clue in to the race aspect! Of note, Lucy did a lot of tugging today.

Saturday August 18th 2007 - Demo at The Ex!

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

We were guests on another team doing three demos over the course of the day at The Ex'es Pet Pavillion. I learned that Lucy can play flyball even on an overly full stomach. :-) She got a hold of one of the treat pouches while in the car waiting for me to finish setting up her crate and did a terrific job of cleaning it right out! About a cup and a half of treats downed in one fell swoop! Somehow she found room in her stomach for more treats and so happily played along in the flyball fun, which consisted of racing not only dogs but also children who volunteered to give it a go against the dogs! It was a fun experience and Lucy's brain stayed in gear despite the interesting smells of a pot-bellied pig and pony who were hanging out in stalls adjacent to the ring.

Thursday August 16th 2007 - guests at another team's outdoor practice

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

She passed tightly into K. with no jump-deeking, and didn't do any of the weird interested-in-K. stuff she did last week.

Thursday August 9th 2007 - guests at another team's outdoor practice

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

Lucy hasn't done flyball outdoors in a long, long time, but she did well and didn't go off following her nose. Practiced passing into K. -- at first, she was interested in K., but after a few runs with someone holding her and me up at the box, she was doing much better.

Wednesday August 8th 2007 - home practice

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

Having run someone else's seasoned tug-crazy flyball dog at a tournament last weekend, I'd love to get Lucy to the point of enthusiastically grabbing onto her tug as her reward before she gets treats. So, I've been having her do recalls at home for the treat tug, and also sending to the ball on the floor over/back one jump coming back for the tug. The former is going well, but for the latter she's still reluctant to let go of the ball to take the tug.