Saturday at Flyball

[Leslie and Halas]

We're at another flyball tournament this weekend. The last one we were at (3 weeks ago) was pretty large, and Halas was a little overwhelmed. He managed to do his first clean run that weekend, but that was his only clean run the whole weekend. We've been working on distractions, etc. at practice, but it's hard to recreate a tournament atmosphere at practice. So, today, we started out just running him during warm-ups, not running during races. Our team had 6 races today, 5 heats each. On our next to last race, we tried him during one heat, but it didn't work out. He jumped over the 4 jumps, but instead of hitting the box, getting his ball, and running back over the 4 jumps, he just left. He was headed for the door to go back to his kennel. We talked through different ideas after that race, and decided to try him again in our last race of the day. And in that last race, he did it! He was perfect in 4 of the 5 heats. In the one heat where he wasn't perfect, he bobbled the ball a little bit, and when he found it and picked it up, he ran around the jumps instead of over them. But he still came right back to me, so it was way better than 3 weeks ago. Three weeks ago, he was running all over, trying to visit with other dogs, and not coming back to me. So even though he bobbled today, he did the right thing by coming right back to me. So today was a huge improvement over the last tournament. We still have tomorrow to race, too. He may or may not do as well tomorrow, but every time he has a good run, he gets a little more confident. And being more confident will help him at the larger tournaments. This tournament isn't as big as the one 3 weeks ago, so that's helping, too. But I'm so proud of him for doing so well today. His energy and excitement are way better than they were at the tournament 3 weeks ago. Way to go, Halas!!!

[Donna K & Quincy]

Good boy Halas, you'll be a champ in no time.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Way to go, Halas! Keep practicing, sounds like you are on your way to being a flyball champ!

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Great job Halas! I'd love to see a video of one of your races. Good luck today!

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

Way to go Halas! I've watched some of these events and they are pretty amazing. Will be anxious to hear how he does today!