Sunday November 5th 2006 - House League Tournament #1

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

Today was Lucy's (and my) first ever (unofficial) flyball tournament! It was a totally casual atmosphere, props and training allowed and gates separating the lanes, and nobody kept track of who won/lost races, so it was very low-stress (for us humans at least). Our team today consisted of Lucy, Sammy, and a guest, and we didn't bother double-running to fill up the fourth spot. The venue was warm so to keep temperatures down doors were open on both sides, including one gigantic garage-size door. I was concerned that Lucy might decide that it would be more interesting to go and explore outside than play flyball (I had even seen deer a few hundred meters away when we arrived), but except for her giving one good hard look at the door as she was returning on a run towards the middle of the event, my concerns were for naught. With 6 races each with 4 heats (or is that 6 heats with 4 races? I'm not sure of the terminology), she ran a total of 24 runs which really tired her out. The most runs she had ever run in a day before is probably about a dozen at most. By the middle of it I was releasing her right up close to the start line and picking her up close to it as well so that she wouldn't have to run so far. She ran as first and last dog and did fine with both positions, provided Sammy was the one she passed. (She got intimidated by the other dog after a passing incident on her return from the box on one of her first runs.) I noticed by the end of the day Lucy's return path veered quite far to her right after clearing the pretend timers, giving the next dog (Sammy, who she's used to and comfortable with passing) a lot of clearance. I will keep an eye on this at our next practice and see if her path needs to be straightened out. The strangest thing she did all day was towards 3/4 of the way through the day: she was the first dog to run, she dropped the ball after the second jump, then completely stopped right between the pretend timers, blocking poor Sammy's way. (But she moved out of the way when I called her.) Oh yeah, and a few of the earlier times when I sent her from further back, she would run part way to the box, then get confused as to where she was supposed to go, then when she saw the boxloader urging her to the box she picked up her speed and finished the run. In summary, Lucy gave a very respectable performance today: She was fine with strangers as boxloaders (many thanks to the other teams for helping out!), and the majority of her runs were clean with the exception of a handful where she either fumbled the ball and didn't pick it up, or dropped the ball too soon, or missed a jump due to turning too wide. I will work on building up her stamina over the winter, and I will be buying a food-stuffable tug thing which I think Lucy will really enjoy. And now, I'm off to give her the best massage she's ever had!

Monday October 30th 2006 - Anniversary!

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

Happy 1st flyball anniversary, Lucy! Lucy's (and my) first ever flyball class was about a year ago, October 2005. From humble beginnings obediently complying to my strange requests for her to jump onto and off of a carpet-covered plank leaning against our living room wall, to now doing full runs and getting super-excited every time she sees a flyball lane, she has from day one been a wonderful dog to learn the sport with. It's a true joy for me to have the opportunity to witness her eager, enthusiastic enjoyment of the sport. I look forward to a future of more flyball with Lucy!

Saturday October 21st 2006 - team practice (TTH)

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

Practice went fine; nothing new to report. Due to various circumstances, Lucy's next team practice won't be until mid-November. Between now and then, we have a flyball seminar to look forward to and hopefully our first house league event as well!

Saturday October 14th 2006 - team practice (TTH)

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

Our teammates all having other commitments, today it was just Lucy and me, and today's session was all about proofing with loose balls, starting with just one and working our way up to more. She made some "mistakes" on some runs where she just went for the closest loose ball, but by the end of the practice she was doing full runs with 7 or 8 loose balls scattered on both sides of the lane at various places such as where the timers would be, right next to the box, offset from the jumps, and immediately in front of jumps. I had practiced some loose ball proofing at home this week as a warm-up to this. I think this will be a two steps forward, one step back thing, meaning the next time we try this she will likely be back to square one but hopefully won't take as long to progress to where we left off today. In any case, it was definitely a worthwhile exercise.

Saturday October 7th 2006 - team practice (TTH)

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

We started with some head-to-head racing with Sammy, and the two of them decided to play comedians. In the first run, I released Lucy a few seconds after Sammy started, and Lucy decided she wanted to run in Sammy's lane (what a good dog, she totally ignored Lucy). I wondered if she was trying to chase Sammy, but then she did it again the very next run, when Sammy hadn't been released yet. Once Lucy got it straightened out which lane she was supposed to run in, Sammy decided she wanted to play the same game so Sammy ran over to run in Lucy's lane (before Lucy had been released)! These were their first runs of the day and after those initial goofups they ran in their proper lanes the rest of the practice. Good news: Lucy and Sammy can now do running passes with each other! "Passing" has been going so well in recent practices that we decided to let the dogs do an actual running pass. Both dogs did excellently, no matter if they were the first or second dog to run! I videotaped today's session and it's fun to watch the pass in slow-mo. For some of the runs I set up the video camera for a good side shot close-up at the box at dog's-eye level. Watching it in slow-mo you can see how the dog actually catches the ball in the air so I now have a much better appreciation for the co-ordination it takes on the part of the dog! Also, from watching the slow-mo I could see that she's starting to develop a half-decent push off the box.

Saturday September 30th 2006 - team practice (TTH)

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

Nothing much new to report other than I noticed that in the full run passing exercise, I can release her before Sammy has run all the way past. Also, she didn't fumble the ball today and the days of her crazily wide turns when there's no wing seem to be behind her.

Saturday September 23rd 2006 - team practice (TTH)

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

Worked some more on proofing with balls as distractions along the lane. Someone stood close to each ball and shooed her away when necessary. On one run she ignored the balls going to the box, but then on the way back dropped the one she had and picked up a loose one. Still, I think she's starting to get the idea.

Saturday September 16th 2006 - team practice (TTH)

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

Today's practice got off to a late start due to traffic, so it was a short practice and Lucy only did 5 or 6 runs with all four jumps and no wing. Her turns were actually pretty decent without a wing! Usually she swings way wide if there's no wing. After a few runs I tried something new: placing tennis balls along the sides of the lane. Lucy took the bait so obviously she needs some more proofing! By far the most exciting part of today's practice was Tashtego discovering how easy and fun it is to carry a small-size tennis ball compared to a normal one, and once he figured out that the whole point of running to the box is to get a ball, he couldn't get enough of it! Kenton could even send him from behind the fourth jump -- he didn't have to run along with him!

Saturday September 9th 2006 - team practice (TTH)

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

For the first time, Lucy did some head-to-head full runs! Sammy was in the other lane (divided by gate), and both dogs ignored each other aside from the occasional glance at the start or end of the run (three jumps, fourth as wing). Later, we did the full run "passing" exercise with Sammy. She fumbled the ball on 3 or 4 of the dozen or so of today's runs. I video recorded the whole practice just for the fun of it, and it just so happens that today was a really great practice for all of the dogs! We said farewell to Abby until the new year, but she really ended her flyball year on a strong note.

Saturday September 2nd 2006 - team practice (inside at TTH)

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

Today was our team's first practice at TTH and Lucy's first time there. She just keeps surprising me: when we go somewhere new I keep expecting her to want to sniff around and check things out, but no; as soon as she sees the equipment and realizes she gets to play flyball, nothing else matters and it's right down to business! We did a bunch of full runs (including some "passing" with Sammy) and I started to experiment with how far back to send her from. It's so neat now to have all that space to play with. For the first time ever we timed her runs (using a stopwatch, jumps set at the minimum height, slant board, and wings). I was a bit nervous thinking she might ring in in the 8 or 10 second range! Here are her times from the ones we timed, in order that she did them:

5.86 (sent from close to the start line)
5.7something (sent from close to the start line)
5.34 (sent from a bit back from the start line (15 feet maybe? didn't measure)

Obviously she does better with a headstart. I will keep experimenting with the distances to find what works best for her. Of note, she didn't fumble the ball at all today. Also, on one run there were no wings and she did a wide turn but corrected herself in time for the jumps.