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Luke's flyball debut

Lukesmom

Well-known member
Luke ran his first flyball tournament today, and he's got two ribbons to show for it!
1C16D007-B808-404C-A922-96108D9A95D3-16556-00000BCB1C410805.jpg
 
What a good boy! He looks very proud in the first photo :) and too pooped to pop in the next one
 
That's Great Some Advice Please

Luke ran his first flyball tournament today, and he's got two ribbons to show for it!
1C16D007-B808-404C-A922-96108D9A95D3-16556-00000BCB1C410805.jpg
[/QUOT I have two cavies learning flyball who love it. We are having trouble getting them to do the swimmers turn with the ball in. The can do a full run fine without it but once the ball is in it turns into a slam at the box and so don't want this because we know the damage it can cause the dog. Any suggestions?]
 
[/QUOT I have two cavies learning flyball who love it. We are having trouble getting them to do the swimmers turn with the ball in. The can do a full run fine without it but once the ball is in it turns into a slam at the box and so don't want this because we know the damage it can cause the dog. Any suggestions?][/QUOTE]
I've noticed lots of cavaliers have trouble catching. Luke's turn also tends to deteriorate as the day goes on. He has a decent turn early on, but towards the end of the day, he just doesn't have the energy to do it. Anyway, I've watched on Youtube and seen cavs having trouble catching. There is also another one racing in our region who has trouble catching. Luke actually has to only race using one type of box, because he can only catch on that one. We just combined with another team, and Luke has to use their box, because he cannot consistently catch on our team box. He'll get it for a bit, then it falls apart. That team used to have a few cavaliers.
From the videos I've watched, and also from what the team told me about the other cavaliers, foam balls may work better. They used to use foam cat balls for their cavaliers. I picked up foam practice golf balls for Luke. They have worked well for him on the box we have in our class, and we've had the best luck with those on the team box as well. We also slowed down the hole that he catches from on that box to the point that it is just within "legal". On the box that he uses to race, I use little tennis balls from Target for him.
It may also help to use a prop that forces them to get up really high on the box. Often times, people use those triangle shaped fedex or ups boxes. Those will not force them to get their butt up high on the box. Luke jumps 7 in NAFA, and most cavaliers jump 7 in NAFA I think. We'll put the 7 inch jump in front of the box for him, and even sometimes an 8 inch jump. As he gets tired, his butt drops. Now that he has been in more tournaments, and he's been photographed by the professional photographer throughout the day, I can see his butt drop as the day goes on. When he warms up for races, our sequence is, on and off the box with no ball, then with a ball, and then a recall. If he misses his catch and we still have time, we do that. I'd rather get a good catch and not get the recall. When he first started, there was one in between where the box loader held the ball for him. Holding the ball to make sure he grabbed it and it didn't go flying was very helpful for him.
We've also been doing lots of stamina and strength work, and it helps him not fall apart as the day goes on. His first few times, he just got tired at the end of the day, but he has to race all day right now because we don't have another height dog to swap out with him. His first time out he crashed his last jump of the day, and one time he started having trouble triggering the box at the end of the day. I've been lazy the past few weeks, but we've done some stretching and strengthening stuff. There's good stuff in the book Learning Games by Kay Laurence. He's also been doing weight pulling. He takes a flyball class most Fridays, in addition to our team practice. We get him in as many heats as possible during class. There were some other dogs also who would come in after class for some work because they couldn't work with all the dogs in there. Luke would run extra heats with them while they worked up to being able to run with all the other dogs in class. He also plays lots of fetch,which helps him work on his stamina. He can go for a half hour straight, and then I stop him.
Luke is racing again tomorrow morning. He's the #14 cavalier in NAFA right now. He might be #13 at the end of tomorrow, though we don't usually do too well at this tournament. Top ten within a year of racing is definitely within reach.
 
That is fantastic!
Well done to Luke!

It seems like you have a good plan of attack to getting him better at the swimmers turn.

I am going to start Flyball with Kokoda at the end of the year, but he isn't a big fan of tennis balls.
Is there any way I can get him chasing one of them ?

Currently we are training in agility, aiming to compete at the end of the year.
And after we compete i will start training flyball and maybe obedience, as i will have more time after this year.
 
Honestly, not being interested in a tennis ball might just make your life easier. We've solved it now, but Luke used to chase loose balls. It's tough with a ball crazy dog, because once they get the ball, why should they bother to come back to you?
My other dog actually started out with no interest at all in the ball. I'm still working on teaching her how to catch. But for her, I did a forward chained retrieve. You'll see lots of info though about a backward chained retrieve, but not so much on a forward chained retrieve. I can try to detail it for you later.
Luke didn't think agility was so great when we tried it. He just kept running into the crates in the back of the training area. I tried Rally Obedience with him once, but the instructor was just boring. I have a book on how to do it, but I'm not so good at actually following through with it. I might try it with him again sometime.
 
That is good to know, it does make sense that they would just chase any balls.

That would be great if you have time to detail the forward chained retrieve.

Kokoda loves the jumping of agility, especially when it is in a straight line and he can go fast,
so i think he would love flyball if he can get the ball catching and swimmers turn part down pat.

Just out of curiosity, what other dog breeds are on your team?
I don't see very many flyball cavs.
 
That is good to know, it does make sense that they would just chase any balls.

That would be great if you have time to detail the forward chained retrieve.

Kokoda loves the jumping of agility, especially when it is in a straight line and he can go fast,
so i think he would love flyball if he can get the ball catching and swimmers turn part down pat.

Just out of curiosity, what other dog breeds are on your team?
I don't see very many flyball cavs.

Our team just combined with another team. On that team, they actually used to have cavaliers. They had a black and tan one before too. There is one other cavalier running in the region we are in. On our team, we have lots of mixes, labs, border collies, an aussie, vizslas, a Jack Russell, and Luke. We don't really have a good variety on the team.

and here's an embarrassing picture of him from this weekend.
LukeBNF4-6-13net_zps94f0e3a2.jpg


The name of the facility was, In the Net. Luke missed his ball, and it rolled into the net. Thus, Luke got caught, "in the net". He was actually more caught, this just happened to be the best one, so I bought it.
And in a not so embarrassing picture, Luke earned his FDCH-G this weekend (2500 points).
LukeBNF4-7-13ribbon_zpse627cb32.jpg
 
Thank you

Thank you we are making slow steps forward now. We have found recently that the kong tennis balls that squeak have helped. Just hoping they are legal for flyball :)











[/QUOT I have two cavies learning flyball who love it. We are having trouble getting them to do the swimmers turn with the ball in. The can do a full run fine without it but once the ball is in it turns into a slam at the box and so don't want this because we know the damage it can cause the dog. Any suggestions?]
I've noticed lots of cavaliers have trouble catching. Luke's turn also tends to deteriorate as the day goes on. He has a decent turn early on, but towards the end of the day, he just doesn't have the energy to do it. Anyway, I've watched on Youtube and seen cavs having trouble catching. There is also another one racing in our region who has trouble catching. Luke actually has to only race using one type of box, because he can only catch on that one. We just combined with another team, and Luke has to use their box, because he cannot consistently catch on our team box. He'll get it for a bit, then it falls apart. That team used to have a few cavaliers.
From the videos I've watched, and also from what the team told me about the other cavaliers, foam balls may work better. They used to use foam cat balls for their cavaliers. I picked up foam practice golf balls for Luke. They have worked well for him on the box we have in our class, and we've had the best luck with those on the team box as well. We also slowed down the hole that he catches from on that box to the point that it is just within "legal". On the box that he uses to race, I use little tennis balls from Target for him.
It may also help to use a prop that forces them to get up really high on the box. Often times, people use those triangle shaped fedex or ups boxes. Those will not force them to get their butt up high on the box. Luke jumps 7 in NAFA, and most cavaliers jump 7 in NAFA I think. We'll put the 7 inch jump in front of the box for him, and even sometimes an 8 inch jump. As he gets tired, his butt drops. Now that he has been in more tournaments, and he's been photographed by the professional photographer throughout the day, I can see his butt drop as the day goes on. When he warms up for races, our sequence is, on and off the box with no ball, then with a ball, and then a recall. If he misses his catch and we still have time, we do that. I'd rather get a good catch and not get the recall. When he first started, there was one in between where the box loader held the ball for him. Holding the ball to make sure he grabbed it and it didn't go flying was very helpful for him.
We've also been doing lots of stamina and strength work, and it helps him not fall apart as the day goes on. His first few times, he just got tired at the end of the day, but he has to race all day right now because we don't have another height dog to swap out with him. His first time out he crashed his last jump of the day, and one time he started having trouble triggering the box at the end of the day. I've been lazy the past few weeks, but we've done some stretching and strengthening stuff. There's good stuff in the book Learning Games by Kay Laurence. He's also been doing weight pulling. He takes a flyball class most Fridays, in addition to our team practice. We get him in as many heats as possible during class. There were some other dogs also who would come in after class for some work because they couldn't work with all the dogs in there. Luke would run extra heats with them while they worked up to being able to run with all the other dogs in class. He also plays lots of fetch,which helps him work on his stamina. He can go for a half hour straight, and then I stop him.
Luke is racing again tomorrow morning. He's the #14 cavalier in NAFA right now. He might be #13 at the end of tomorrow, though we don't usually do too well at this tournament. Top ten within a year of racing is definitely within reach.[/QUOTE]
 
Squeakers aren't legal in NAFA, but I couldn't say about other orgs. Doesn't mean you can't train with them just to get the started. There is a dog in Luke's class who actually started with meatballs and a rawhide ball, and now does tennis balls.
 
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