Saturday March 31st 2007 - Team practice

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

Timed Lucy on a couple of solo runs using no slats: her first was 5.5something and her second was 5.4something. She does this terrifically time-wasting deer-hop thing on the way to the box, so there's definitely room for improvement! Then we did a few lineup runs with Sammy, and Lucy's pass into Sammy is going really well, with Lucy doing only a slight arc. Also a few head to head runs against Sammy which went fine.

Saturday March 24th 2007 - Team practice

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

Started Lucy's remedial return pass training today, doing a two-jump recall with someone crouching down a few meters back from the timers as if their invisible dog was next in the line-up. At first she gave a leery look at the person, but after a few goes she was nice and straight. Also tried full runs with Jenn holding Sammy in the lineup but with Sammy to the left of Jenn, which went ok too. In anticipation of the upcoming U-Fli pairs event, we worked on passes with Lucy passing into Sammy which went really well. Last but not least, Jenn ran Lucy for a couple of solo runs while I boxloaded. After a couple of tries, she got the idea. For most of her runs today we left the box unsprung.

Friday March 16th 2007 - Team practice

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

Since TTH isn't available this weekend, we practiced at our old flyball stomping grounds, Best Friends. Focused on no-jump boxwork with unsprung box and I video recorded her so I could later watch to see exactly what she's doing at the box.

Sunday March 11th 2007 - guests at another team's practice

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

First we did head-to-head lineups with Lucy running after a big handsome chocolate lab. Well, aside from treats, tall male dogs are Lucy's favourite thing and the first time he ran past her on his way back from the box, she had to go flirt with him instead of go down the lane. After that she got back on track but still she had some trouble peeling her eyes off of him. Then we did a speed drill using two jumps: someone else holds her and I'm up close to the box facing her, I start running and call her name as soon as she passes me. The boxloader said she was definitely picking up the pace, particularly on the way back. We ended with more head-to-head lineups, this time with two different dogs in our lineup, Lucy running second, and in the left lane with a different box. She fumbled the ball without picking it up several times and I imagine it's the combination of different box, being in the left lane with nothing to block the view of the other box, and running with two new dogs. But also the captain noticed that Lucy catches the ball in the air several inches in front of the box rather than putting her mouth over the hole, which increases the chance of bobbles. So, I'll be doing some work with her with an unsprung box to get her to better position herself.

Sunday March 4th 2007 - House League #4

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

A great day! Here's the summary:

- This is the first house league for which they removed the gate down the middle, leaving a section between the boxes.
- A familiar teammate boxloaded for every race and did a fantastic job of putting the right type of ball in the right hole despite the different line-up for every race.
- No one crossed over on Lucy.
- Lucy didn't cross over, but I had no worries that she would.
- Started her from 30 feet back for the first 4 races, which seemed to be a good distance. Started her closer at the end because she was getting pooped.
- She had a lot fewer fumbles than in the past, and when she did fumble she always brought it back except for the last race.
- She seems to be getting more relaxed with the whole thing (passing aside). No more worries that she'll run out the doors in avoidance, yay!
- Passing into Sammy went great. I didn't attempt any running passes into the guest dogs.


And here's the play-by-play:


Race 1 - left lane - Lucy, Sammy, guest, guest
- 1st heat: Clean
- 2nd/3rd heats: Dropped the ball after the third jump on one and went around the last jump on the other
- 4th heat: Clean

Race 2 - right lane - Lucy, Sammy, guest, guest
- All heats: Clean! (no running passes though)

Race 3 - left lane - guest, guest, Sammy, Lucy
- Put Lucy in anchor since she did well at being "passed" into for the second race and didn't want to push it
- All heats: Clean! Some good running passes with Sammy too.

Race 4 - left lane - Sammy, guest, Lucy
- All heats: Clean!

Race 5 - right lane - Sammy, guest, Lucy
- All heats: Clean! She's getting tired though.

Race 6 - left lane - Sammy, guest, Lucy
- 1st heat: Fumbled ball and didn't pick it up
- 2nd heat: Clean
- 3rd heat: Fumbled ball and was attempting to pick it up but I called her off because it was rolling into the other lane.
- 4th heat: Clean!

Two pooped out pooches at the end of a long but fun day!

Saturday March 3rd 2007 - Team practice

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

Did some head-to-head with a guest. For a couple of runs we started behind Sammy since Lucy usually never has to run past anyone on her way to the box. She got confused and didn't know where to go, but that's probably partially because we were starting from way far back which she's not used to. Also, did a couple of runs with someone else holding her and me up close to the box; it would be interesting to time it to see if it makes any difference.

Sunday February 25th 2007 - Guests at another team's practice

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

Today Lucy and Sammy were guests at another team's practice. We started with double recalls with Sammy, with another dog working in the other lane. Lucy did well the first few recalls but then started doing her deeking around the last jump routine, so they suggested I modify how/where I pick her up which definitely helped. Then we moved on to head-to-head racing (no gates, not even between the boxes) with our lineup being Lucy, Sammy, and one of their dogs. We happened to be racing in the right lane which was good for Lucy since it meant she was turning away from the other lane. She did really well! As far as I know she didn't deek around any jumps, and she didn't seem phased when a dog from the other lane went sniffing near her during one of her runs. We realized that we hadn't set up the slant board but the dogs maintained their turns regardless. However, Lucy's turn was becoming pretty wide so at future practices I'll do some drills to help tighten it. Anyway, I was really happy with how she did today, especially considering the busy, lots-of-activity atmosphere compared to our tame, low-key team practices. Sammy did excellently today and she was fast! Neither dog crossed over at all. It was fun being part of a practice with so many people and dogs.

Here's a great shot of one of her bobbles:

Saturday February 24thd 2007 - Team practice

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

Did some solo runs (no head-to-head, no line-up) and after the first run, for the first time we removed the slant board to see what would happen. She maintained her turn, yippee! Of course, most of the time we'll leave it in place. I don't know if it's just my imagination, but it seems Lucy is happiest (ie fastest) when she's not running head-to-head or in a line-up. Not exactly ideal for flyball eh! Anyway, later we did some lineup racing with Sammy, Lucy going first. She didn't go around any of the jumps, yay! Sammy's still being released from far back though.

Saturday February 17th 2007 - Team practice

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

(Last week's practice was cancelled because TTH was in use for an event.) Today for the first time ever Lucy raced head-to-head with dogs she never saw before and no gates between the lanes! Two dogs from another team joined our practice for some head-to-head racing as a warmup for an upcoming tournament that they're in. I'm so proud of Lucy; she did just great. She never even thought about crossing over, and she didn't seem bothered when one of the other dogs came over to her lane and sniffed the ground for crumbs while I was holding her. The only time she didn't bring the ball back was when it fell out of the hole before she got there and it was hidden behind the slant board (which was the only prop we were using). We were racing as pairs with Sammy, alternating which dog went first, and the bonus is that with the excitement of having new dogs around she seemed to forget her worries of being passed coming back from the box: she took all of the jumps and I didn't have to block her! Mind you Sammy was being held a fair bit away from the last jump and not released until after we passed, but still this is great progress! We raced 2 races with 5 heats each.

Saturday February 3rd 2007 - Team practice

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

No special guests this week so we did some lineup racing with Sammy, mostly putting Lucy first. Lucy would take all the jumps when I met her at the second last one with Sammy held back a fair bit and not released until after we ran past them. She's still decent at passing on the way to the box thank goodness! Sadly, this month's house league has been cancelled due to bad driving weather.