Flyball St. George, January 31st, February 1st

I am a bit behind in posting about our very successful Flyball tournament with my team UTB.
This one was was sponsored by Stampede in St. George, Utah. The drive is not to bad and the weather was very nice.
Raygen and Ryker were signed up for singles races and Ryddick came along for the ride.
This was Ryker's debut race. His best time was 4.18 seconds. This was Raygen's second tournament and he really loved it. His best time was 4.77 seconds.
To my suprise I was asked to run Raygen and Ryker in one of the team races. Raygen's turn was on Saturday and Ryker was to run on Sunday. Both of them did fantastic and earned their of TF/Top Flight title. Maybe Ryker will go to Nationals in Nebraska this year?

Flyball

The weather has been incredibly nice for Flyball practice and it has been lots of fun. Raygen gets very excited when it is his turn to play. The one thing we haven't been able to get him to do is NOT double step between jump 2 and 3. Actually, the only time he won't do it is we play chase recalls. He loves those. G took some pictures at practice and he even posed at one of them. Can't wait to go to practice on Sunday again!

Flyball News

Ryker the Drool King

Ryker is back in Flyball training and we are having great results. We figured that we where putting way to much enthusiasm into the box turns and he wasn't able to concentrate. This is our routine for now, G will say quietly "Ryker get the ball" and I whisper "OK" and let him go. It was amazing. Of course he already knew how to do a box turn, but we weren't able to add the ball before then. He was doing full runs by the end of the day. It was pretty. We are going to be careful not to add to much other stimulation to his runs. I am hoping that we are going to be able to go to the next planned tournament. First we are looking forward to the USDAA trial in Farmington.

Control Unleashed Seminar, Flyball, Agility and Herding

Raygen is going to be a helper dog on Monday. He did really well at the classes and he was asked to help out at the seminar. I am looking forward to it.
Since a few weeks ago he seems to finally understand how to play Flyball. There is a difference in teaching the behaviors and the dogs understanding the behaviors. I swear I heard the switch turn on. He loves it! He has also become more confident in Agility. I would bet that Flyball has helped him with that. He is consistently Qing in Jumpers and even places a few times. I have to insist on contacts and not rush him for speed points. He has not yet been over course time and those DQ's are so needed.
Herding is going well, too. He is trying very hard to understand what I am asking him to do. I am not sure what I am doing either, other then staying clear of those darn sheep. Almost got knocked over, that would hurt.

Flyball

Did some Box training with Raygen . He is getting better every practice. I am going to run him for the first time at the October tournament in St. George. I am going to have a blast!!!

Flyball

Raygen and I are team members of the Utah Tail Blazers. We practice two times a week and we are having a blast. Raygen really has come out of his shell. He doesn't play with the ball much, except when we are at Flyball. He barks his head off and he gets so exited that only a few can hold him. His box turn has improved so much. It is very important to do a nice swimmers turn at the box or the dogs will have some major issues with the carpal. The pictures are of dogs getting a ball from box. One has a very nice swimmers turn, the other is really bad and at risk of injury. Our team knows how to correctly teach the turn.