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.