Lexi plays at flyball

Turns

I took your advice and have been working on Lexi's turns. I'm not sure if it will translate to her grabbing a ball and making the turn, but I'm hopeful.

I made a video of her practicing. I think she's getting 4 feet about 75% of the time, and 3 the other 25%. Not bad!

I didn't add the ball to the box in the practices because as you can see the dogs have eaten the box (:rolleyes2:) so we are in the process of buying the materials to re-cover it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLtUj_ZwRNE
 
Those look great! I love the switch. Sca was always a lefty and from what I have heard it is rare for a dog not to swap sides a time or so as they are getting started.
 
Naughty box eating shelties! The swapping is hilarious - do you think she was just trying to avoid the chewed spot?

Her box turns are great, nice and high too. If you want to tighten up the turn have some sessions where you pick her up from the opposite side she turns. So when she turns left step right to pick her up.
 
High box turns are good. It was funny though, last night Sca was WAY UP and everyone gasped then said good :lol: For a mellow guy he is a wild man at Flyball
 
Duncan was a switcher, too. We eventually stuck with the ball on the left (dog's left) because that's what he did most often. When we did this, we stopped treating for wrong way turns. It only took one night (two box work sessions) for him to abandon his wrong way turn. But then again, he was already to like 80%/20% for left/right.

High box turns are good. They require more effort and the dogs get tired a little faster, but then you avoid the dreaded double tap. Right now, Duncan does a front paw double tap on the box because he lands a little to low to catch the ball and has to scoot closer to get it. But his back feet remain stationary and he pushes off nicely. Can't complain too much on that account. Besides, I would take a double tap over dog chasing. :no: We're still working on that. Making progress, but still working on it.

*Caro said:
Her box turns are great, nice and high too. If you want to tighten up the turn have some sessions where you pick her up from the opposite side she turns. So when she turns left step right to pick her up.
Click to expand...

Can you explain this more? I'm not visualizing properly.
 
The higher the turn the less impact injuries too. When Tully switches its usually a sign she is getting sore - but that's because she slams the box.

To practice tighter turns you should be launching the dog from the opposite side from the ball and then remain on that side when they turn. Its natural for the handler to step toward the other side to watch their dog turn but then it tends to veer them a bit in that direction instead of completing the swimmers turn. So for a left turning dog you make sure you launch from your right so the dog is hitting the box on the correct side, then when the hit the box call them back to your right side so the dog has to turn more to get to get back to you. You don't need do it all the time, just enough so they get used to the tightness of the turn.

We are using this approach now in training upcoming flyballers as it seems to get more consistency in the swimmers turns, esp for smaller dogs. I'm retraining Tully's turns this way too.
 
Triggering the box...issues

We've had a tough couple weeks the last two times we went to flyball. I'm sort of at a loss for the next step...

Basically Lexi's turns at home are great. I took her to class and even without the ball, and without the trigger, she just doesn't want to put 4 feet on the box. I'd get 2, or 3 (with the third way down at the bottom). I don't think she put 4 on a SINGLE time. I had her out there with treats and she just wasn't doing it. She was revved up and excited, I tried running with her, sending her, etc...nothing doing.

So, I decided to work on something else. I started with triggering the box myself and throwing treats out. Lexi did not appear worried about the noise at all, and was very excited about the sound since it would immediately lead to treats. So, I started having her trigger the box and I would throw a ball--awesome, no trouble (she was just pushing with two feet, but I figured that was okay since I was just working the noise/feel). Then I had her actually triggering the box with the ball loaded. She did it about 3-5 times, was excited, up, happy, etc...and then all of a sudden, she wanted nothing to do with it. She went from triggering the box and fetching the ball to refusing to put any feet on the box at all.

We took a long break, then I went back just a few more times and had her trigger the box for a cookie, and we called it a night.

This reminds me of what she did with the teeter. No issues that we could see, but one day she would just refuse it. We must have retrained it 3 times. Looks like a similar pattern with the box.

Any thoughts?
 
None. Sca was totally who cares about the box but the other beginners that I have seen once they get over the noise/feel they were fine from there on. Of course they are not Shelties :lol:

Good turns are a bit of a battle though. The two BCs still get warmed up with a cone to encourage good turns and one just cleared 15000 points
 
For the four-feet on: take one of the uprights off of the jump and put it in front of the box about 2 inches out. The remaining upright should be on the same side as she takes her ball. Practice with it up close before you try to send her to it.

Another option is a T. Sheep, I FINALLY have a picture of what I mean by T!!!
http://i800.photobucket.com/albums/...432016090_1106310061_32089015_842961385_n.jpg

I wouldn't push triggering the box too fast. I've seen dogs with amazing potential get set back because of pushing too fast. Then again, I'm over a year into training this and Duncan is still chasing!

When you starting triggering, though, start by triggering the wrong side. That way she can learn the feel and noise before having to also worry about catching the ball. You can use velcro to attach a ball.
 
It sounds like she just doesn't find it rewarding enough, based on her doing it for a short time and then losing interest.
It may help to shorten your training sessions and quit while you are ahead. It may help to spend more time building more interest in interacting with the box.
 
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