Today at Flyball...

[Leslie and Halas]

Today is the first of 3 days at CanAm, a huge flyball tournament in Indianapolis. Our team has 4 races today, but Halas only ran in the first 4, so he's done for the day. He ran 5 heats in the first race, but took a very long pause between jumps on his 4th run, so we decided to only have him run 3 heats in his other 2 races. That worked out well. Our last tournament was in early June, so it's been awhile since he ran. He was pretty slow a couple of times, but his runs were clean, and that's what we were hoping for. On one run, the box loader forgot to load his ball, and he just stopped and stared at her when she told him to get his ball. She looked down, cussed, and loaded his ball. So he grabbed it and came back, just like he's supposed to. All in all, a good first day of racing for him. Now he can start resting up for tomorrow and Sunday.

By the way, we've seen several discussions about pit bulls and other bully breeds. There's a team here made up entirely of bully breeds. They formed the team to prove that the breeds are highly trainable and can be great dogs. They just need the right owners. Their team runs well, and I've never heard of any problems with other dogs or people. They are just like any other dog here. It shows what a dig can be when treated with love and respect. 

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Of course.  I certainly will check them out.  Sounds interesting

[Leslie and Halas]

I think I have a couple of videos on our page.  And this event is on-line at www.livestream.com/danphillips.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Congratulations about Halas. I'm glad the dog was found!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Oh, thank goodness the dog is safe!

And WTG, Halas!

[Leslie and Halas]

Day 2 is done. It started out just fine, but that was the high point. Halas was excited to go into the ring and warm up, but he just didnt seem to want to race today after the first race. We'll try again tomorrow. We're having a great time anyway, but I feel bad that he seems stressed about running.

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

Well it's all about the fun anyhow right??? I think Tara is starting to get a little crush on Halas after watching him race!! She's all about the athletic types!! :)

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

We all have our "off" days. Hopefully, tomorrow will be better!

And it is all about fun!

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

That is so awesome! I think that sounds like fun. I think the bully breed team is fantastic!

[Leslie and Halas]

Day #3 - We're starting slow today. First race we just did a recall and a full run during our practice time. That went well, so for our 2nd race, he did a recall and then ran the first 2 heats. I just had him nibble on a treat while the first 3 dogs ran. That seemed not to stress him out. He ran cleanly but slowly. We'll see how the rest of the day goes. We want success without stress, so we won't push it too much.

I also saw the same Jackdoodle look-alike that I saw last year.

I saw a new doodle this year, too. She is a rescue, pretty new to flyball, but she's been playing longer than Halas. The lady said she had another rescue doodle at home that used to play flyball. That doodle had a head-on collision with a border collie at full speed, and now she won't run at all. It didn't make her afraid of other dogs or anything like that, but she just refuses to run flyball now.

I'm watching a mini-doodle race right now!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Hoping Halas has a super day and you both have lots of fun!

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

Go minis!!!! Hope you guys have a fun last day of racing!! I'm thinking they might need to start requiring helmets!! LOL!

[Leslie and Halas]

We had a great time during our flyball weekend, even though Halas didn't run that well.  He did better Sunday, when I just took him into the ring for a warmup recall and then one or 2 races.  I just gave him part of a treat to distract him while we were waiting for his turn, and then I moved him into the lane at the last second.  That really eased his stress.  I think he probably over thinks it while he's waiting for his turn, and we've got him running last since he's still ducking out to avoid other dogs.  It's less stressful to just run by one dog instead of 2, so going last helps with that.  Eventually, we'd like to have him run 2nd or 3rd, because that seems to be where he does his best.  The other mini doodle was racing against us in one race, but we had a couple of mix ups before the race, so we didn't get to follow our normal warm up routine.  Halas is routine oriented, so we didn't run him in that one, figuring he'd be bent out of shape if things didn't go how they normally do.

 

His last race of the day looked like it was going to be faster than some of his others, but the ball bounced off of his nose and landed inside the box where he couldn't see it, so we just couldn't catch a break.

 

All in all, we did make a little progress, figuring out that he doesn't like to wait around for his turn.  And a couple of his runs were a little faster than he's been running, so that's good.  He's been running about 2 seconds slower than he used to, which is a lot in flyball.  Hopefully, he built up a little confidence.  He seems stressed when waiting to run, but he's excited about it at all times except that.  He's got his tail wagging, and he's doing his happy dance, and he runs fast during his warm up recall.  He's excited up until the second he realizes other dogs are running, too.  This was our first tournament since June, and it was a huge tournament, so it was nice to take a couple of positive things from the weekend.  We have another tournament in November, so we have a few training ideas to try until then, and we'll see how it goes in November.  We also have our regular team in November, and it will be the first time since March that the whole team will run together.

 

My teammates also think Halas probably knows my wrist isn't great, and that may be throwing him off a little bit.  I have to hold him differently because of the splint and the fact that my right wrist can't bear any weight.  Since he likes things to be exactly how he learned them, this could be confusing him a little and messing with his confidence.  I had a little setback with my wrist.  I was supposed to be able to start strength building exercises about 2 weeks ago, but I turned it funny right before that, so strength building can't begin until next week.  I'm hoping to have 4 weeks of strength building in by the November tournament and be able to play without my splint.  My wrist has also kept me from taking Halas running with me, so his endurance isn't great right now.  I hope to start running with him this week, so I think that will make a difference.