"Flyball Dood" - It's Going to "Make Him" or "Break Him"

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

WEEK THREE UPDATE....

Today was our third Flyball class....eventful as always with Murphy.  Today was actually less about Flyball and more about Murphy's other "issues".  When we first got there I took a seat with Murph, and another owner with a Border Collie approached us.  As this dog got within a couple of feet of us, Murph attacked.  Standing right next to me was the owner of the Daycare where the classes are being held.  She responded immediately and grabbed Murph by his collar...and got right in his face.  She verbally corrected him like nothing I can really describe.  It worked....he was "put in his place".  She put him right in a down/stay....he was whining and totally submissive.  Then the class started and Murph did great.  He totally "gets" everything he has to do with Flyball...he still needs to gain speed.  He was awesome...although we had one mishap which resulted in me having a bit of a bruised and swollen finger.  He lunged for a "loose ball" while I had the slip lead wrapped around my finger....not pretty.  At the end of the class, the Daycare owner got me aside and explained her thoughts and why she reacted the way she did.  She said Murph was guarding me.  This Border Collie is his "best buddy" in Daycare....they play together all the time.  He just didn't want him getting near me.  She explained that she had to take control of this, since she is the Alpha in Daycare....and all the dogs know that.  She could not let Murph get away with this, or it would be a problem for her going forward whenever he's there for Daycare.  She also told me some things that our trainer has said, but I didn't want to hear.  She feels that Murph is considering me to be "his resource".....thus the guarding.  Ben has told me this before.  She strongly encouraged me to put an end to this.  She said I need to stop him from constantly needing to be touching me....no more petting when he puts his head in my lap....no more letting him lean on me....no more acknowledging him when he runs to me because he hears an unfamiliar sound outside....no more "lovin" except on my terms.  So now this is two trainers telling me the same thing...but it's so hard to do. 

WEEK TWO UPDATE...

Yesterday was Murphy's second Flyball class...so much fun!  He's doing great.  He had no fear of hitting the box, and he had a perfect swimmer's turn on the first try.  So now he can run the lane, take all the jumps, hit the box and retrieve the ball, make the turn, and run the ball back and drop it.  The only thing we have to work on now is speed.  He's fast, but he needs to be even faster.  He did a good job yesterday of handling his dog reactiveness, except when another dog actually had a ball....he thinks all the balls in the room are his.  That's his dominance showing through.  We're working on that.  The instructor was really happy with Murph (or "Fluffy" as she calls him) and said it took her Border Collie many more lessons to get to where Murphy is after just two classes.  Lots and lots of running for Mom...good for me I'm thinking.  So that's the latest from the "Adventures of Flyball Dood".

Today was Murph's first Flyball class, and I just can't seem to stop laughing since I got home.  It was a truly crazy experience....good, but totally nuts.  You all know more than you'd even like to about Murphy's reactiveness to other dogs.  So taking him to this class today was enough to put him right over the edge...and me right along with him.  Let's say he didn't disappoint...but not to worry, it ended well.  When we got there there were several other leashed dogs and owners getting out of their vehicles.  I "put on my big girl pants", leashed him up, and took him out of the car.  Did he react?....of course he did.  No training collars were allowed...just flat collars of slip leads.  He was on a slip lead. I managed to keep him controlled, got him inside and put him in a sit while I wrote the check...all these other dogs passing by.  Every hair on his body was standing at attention, but he did not "flip out".  So in we go and take a seat....the seats were all really close together.  I had a Boxer on my right and a Black Lab on my left....within striking distance of Murph.  At that point the sweat was starting to pour off of me and I started taking off the first few layers of clothes, while holding the slip lead with a death grip.  Murph had no idea what was going on...he just knew he was as uncomfortable as it gets.  None of these dogs were "well behaved"...they were all as nutty as Murph....and that was just the beginning.  The noise level was indescribable...every dog (except Murph) was barking.  Okay, then we start.

The first exercise was to have the instructor hold your dog back at the beginning of the "run" which was gated in and included around seven jumps.  I had to run along the side with the ball and when I got about a quarter of the way up the run call Murph...and the instructor would release him.  I'm supposed to get to the end of the run at the same time as him and then bounce the ball which he then catches.  On his first run Murph was really amazing...it was like he never even saw those jumps and he was flying.  Well that was a problem because he got to the end before I did.  At that point the instructor nicely asked me "can you run any faster?".  When I breathlessly answered..."no", she said okay well then I'll make an adjustment from my end....meaning releasing him a little later...like when I was at the end of the run.  So we made the "adjustment" and for the rest of the time it was perfect.  Murph is really fast, and beautiful to watch.  When I wasn't gasping for air, I was really proud of him.

We did that several times, and he got faster and faster....I got slower and slower.  The problem was that Murph decided he liked this so much that he wanted to be the one to run EVERY time.  So as each dog took his turn, Murph tried to get to the "starting gate" himself.  I expect to need shoulder surgery before this is over.  When I tried to discipline him, the instructor told me not to...."we want him excited and ready to go"....easy for her to say. 

He also rocked the next exercise.  The instructor was at one end of the room and Murph and I were at the other end.  She would drop the ball and I would release him.  He had to run, grab the ball, bring it right back to me and immediately drop it at my feet.  No problem...we've been working on this and he did it perfectly every time.  This was my favorite exercise....I didn't have to run at all.

He had one minor "altercation" with the Black Lab.  When Murph finished his run (before I could leash him) the Lab also finished his run and was barking and running while his owner was chasing him.  Murph went after him...barking and cornering him.  I went after Murph and the instructor told me to stop and calm down.  Her take was that Murph was just reacting to the energy, and it would be fine.  She was right....they both calmed down.  There was one bad incident when a Boxer went after a Jack Russell Terrier...there was a bite involved in this one.  It's amazing to see all these dogs at the highest level of excitement I've ever seen all in one room.

So, Murph and I are both exhausted.  I think we like it, but I'm still a bit "shell shocked".  I had to laugh when I first got there and the Boxer owner said to me "I never thought of a Poodle as a Flyball dog" (idiot).  I said, "well he's a Labradoodle, and let's wait and see if he makes a good Flyball dog".  At the end of the class she came and apologized to me.  Her Boxer would not drop the ball...hahaha.

So this is as close to "flooding" as it comes for a dog reactive guy like Murph.  He clearly loves to run, and he's definitely "in love" with the ball.  Putting him around this much excitement, noise, and other reactive dogs will either help him through his issues...or not.  If I think it's too much for him, we'll stop, but today I think he was proud of himself....and I could not be any prouder of him.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Maybe Guinness will have to join the team, too!

It sounds like Murph is a "natural" at flyball and I'm so glad he loves it!

[Bonnie and Kona]

I'm glad Boxer Lady sees what a star Murphy is. I cannot imagine having to spray Bitter Apple in a dog's mouth to get it to drop a ball. Honestly I have had the blessing of being able to open every dog's mouth that we have owned, but they have all been in the hunting group, soft mouths I guess.

[Donna K & Quincy]

Jane this sounds like so much fun, I'm a little jealous! Bonus, you get lots of exercise along with Murphy.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Another great job by Murphy the Flying Doodle and his Fast Footed Mom :)

[Tina, Clover, Plus 5 More]

This would make a great title for a childrens book. 

[Bonnie and Kona]

yup. ;o) 

[BG and Gavin]

Wow he is really catching on fast!  I hope that there are enough dogs for a full team.  Go Murph!

[Tina, Clover, Plus 5 More]

Jane, this sounds like a lot of fun.

[Leslie and Halas]

Way to go, Murphy!  It took us months to get to that point.  Your place has a different approach than ours, so that's part of it, but even considering that, Murphy is way ahead of where Halas was at the same point. 

So do they still have the gates surrounding the jumps?  One problem I had with Halas early on is that he knew it was faster to go around the jumps than over them, so he kept going around.  We didn't use gates unless a dog had a problem, and then we only used them between the box and first jump.

Is he taking the ball out of the spring-loaded hole?  Or are they just having him grab the ball off of a ledge on the box instead of having it fly out of the hole?

Even if it takes a long time to get a team together, it's still really fun, and great exercise for both of you.  We lost a few dogs (retirement and/or injury) over the last couple of years, so we have a hard time putting a full team together sometimes.  There are ways around that.  You can borrow dogs from another team if your instructor knows other teams.  Or you can loan your dogs out to other teams, once all of them are really solid (can run with strange dogs, etc.).  It's called an Open team, which means you can't technically "win" your division (which means you get a ribbon - yippie!), but you can still win races and earn points.  I'm pretty sure the dogs don't care about a ribbon for 1st place in their division; they just want to run.

Having a ball-crazy dog is where the solid recall comes in.  If coming back to you is the best thing in the world to Murphy, then he will come back to you instead of chasing a ball.  We have a border collie that will chase balls, and we've talked to some other teams about it.  The idea seems to be that Eliza (the dog) is self-rewarding. She loves chasing the balls, and she's making that her reward for running back.  Ann (the human) needs to make sure that she's the one rewarding Eliza.  Eliza needs to figure out that Eliza isn't the one that gets to do the rewarding; Ann is.  We're still working on how to get to that point, but there's one thing Ann does that seems to help.  She keeps another tennis ball with her, and when Eliza runs back, she makes sure Eliza sees that tennis ball and bounces it in front of her.  We want Eliza to go for that ball, and then Ann can get ahold of her collar to make sure she doesn't chase another one.  I don't know if that's a good solution, so I'll be interested to hear what works for you guys; maybe whatever that happens to be, we can try it for Eliza.

I'm so glad you're having fun!

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Leslie, yes they still have the gates surrounding the jumps....they've set up a fenced in "lane".  They think it gets the dog used to going over the jumps to get to the ball.  They are putting the ball on a ledge for now versus coming out of the spring-loaded hole.  For this week they wanted the dogs to get the idea of hitting the box, grabbing the ball and making that swimmers turn...then running back and dropping it.  When he's doing one of his runs, he's always coming right back to me.  He wants that treat.  For him those high value treats are very motivational.  It's when he's waiting for his turn and he sees a "loose ball" or another dog comes near him carrying a ball that he reacts.  I put him in a down/stay when he's not running....but he'll break it when there's a ball in close proximity.  I do correct him, and put him right back in a down.  There's some disagreement about that among the Flyball trainer and the trainer (Daycare owner) who is putting the team together and sponsoring the class.  The Flyball trainer is opposed to any corrections during "Flyball time", while the Daycare owner thinks it's important that I continue with everything I normally do with Murphy's training.  It's a little difficult to correct with a slip lead, but he gets the message.  Any ideas on how I can work on speed with Murph?  They suggested having him chase me, but he's so much faster than I am that I don't think that's going to work.

[Leslie and Halas]

Halas was running really slowly at our October tournament, so here's what we did at practice between our October and November tournament that really helped.  I stood up by the box, and someone else released Halas from the start line.  I cheered and encouraged him, and he ran faster towards the box, since I was up there.  Then, as he was hitting the box, I took off towards the finish line, and he would run really fast to catch up to me at the finish line.  Doing that for a few practices really made a difference.  But the key is timing, and that will be tricky for you.  Murphy is faster than Halas, so you'll have to take off towards the finish line earlier, to make sure he doesn't catch up to you.  But if you take off too soon, he may stop and head back with you instead of going all the way to the box.  If there's another human that he's comfortable with there, maybe they can stand to the side of the box and call him and encourage him, with you releasing him.  Another possibility: maybe you can release him, and run part way up with him, just enough to get him moving fast.  Once he's ahead of you going towards the box (so he's ahead of you, which means he can't see you turn around), you can turn around and run back to the finish line. By the time he turns off the box, and sees you again, you'll be running towards the finish line, ahead of him enough that he can't pass you. 

If you're going to run fast, be sure to stretch first :).  Sprinting works muscles that us grown-ups don't use much any more.  I run and work out a lot, but I'll still have a little soreness the next day after the day I sprint at flyball.  It's just different.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Thanks, Leslie.  At the end of class we tried having someone else release him when I was half way up the lane cheering him on....then I turned and ran back to the finish line also cheering and calling him (yelling "treat", LOL).  That did seem to help.  I actually thought he was pretty fast, but they want a little more speed from him.  Good point on the stretching...my muscles are definitely not in the habit of being "used" like this.