Flyball Practice With Videos

We went to our first flyball practice tonight.  It was fun.  Interesting.  Loud.  LOL!  That is the first thing everyone said when they met us, "Oh, it's your first time?  Well, it's LOUD!"  I think Tibby had a nice time.  We took little breaks to go outside and walk around.  She was eager to get back inside, so I think she must have liked it.....even though it was LOUD!  I think I may have lost a little bit of my hearing AND I already have poor hearing!  If/when we go next time I will bring earplugs.  2+ hours in there was a little too much LOUD.  It was fun though.

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I don't think we will become serious flyball players, but it would be fun to do every once in a while.  With Tibby's heart condition, I'm not sure if it is a good idea for her to be SO excited for such a long period of time.  With agility we can run for a minute and then she can rest and her heart rate goes down.  Tonight her heart rate was super, super fast the entire time, so over 2 hours.  I think she would eventually get used to it, but it still seems like it might be hard on her heart.  Still, I think we will do it again.  It was exciting to watch!

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She would, of course, have to learn how to retrieve.  And how to retrieve under pressure.  Tibby can retrieve.  I taught it as a trick, but she doesn't think it's very much fun.  However, she will do it if I want her too.  The things I liked about flyball that we could use for agility - 1 working around other dogs and still focusing on the job   2 - retrieving a ball.  Tibby loves her ball, but it would be nice if she would bring it back.  3 - Fast jumping  4 - Did I mention working around other dogs and people?  Very important.  And something we have had trouble with in the past.

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IF YOU ONLY WATCH ONE VIDEO - PLEASE WATCH THE 2ND ONE - TIBBY IS REALLY FAST!!

The first time (in the first video) Tibby ran away from me every single time.  They eventually had every one leave the room, but she still ran away from me.  I think she was trying to get out of the door.  The noise, the new building and all the dogs barking was a little overwhelming for her.  Also, I didn't have a very good reward for her.  As Loretta always tells me - If Tibby is running away then the reward isn't good enough!!

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After they trained all the beginner dogs (which I didn't get to see, because they had us sit in another room) they had the more advanced beg. dogs run and then the team ran.  Whoa!  They were fast!  It was fun to watch!

The last video is Tibby watching the other dogs running.  The other new dog is in the video too - behind Tibby, it's brown and white.  I thought it was funny, because for the first time ever Tibby wasn't the loud dog barking.  In fact, she was pretty quiet the entire night.  At the very end she felt comfortable enough to start barking. 

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There were a LOT of Tollers, a couple labs, a LOT of border collies, a chihuahua, a Welsh terrier, a jack russel terrier and some other ones maybe.  There were a lot of dogs and I missed some when I was taking Tibby outside a couple times.

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Then they did the new dogs again.  The other beginning dog had left, so it was just Tibby.  She did great!  I had cheese and that was DEFINITELY rewarding enough for her.  She was a monster trying to eat the cheese.  She was fast and did a great job jumping.  She also did fine putting her legs up on the box and pushing off.  She was very focused on me and the cheese.  Good girl!

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 It was a very fun night!!