Flyball Oh My

Two weeks ago, I headed up to Lynden, WA with the dogs for a U-Fli flyball tournament. This is our first U-Fli tournament that wasn't in Gridley, CA. Unfortunately the Gridley tournament was cancelled, so we headed to this first-time tournament in Lynden instead to get our once yearly U-Fli tournament in.

It marked the very first time Koira ran U-Fli. Pallo has run in four U-Fli tournament now, but Koira has always either been not ready (reworking her turn, mostly) or injured (that neck injury last spring) when it comes to U-Fli, so it was fun to finally get to play it with her. Not that U-Fli is much different from running NAFA. The jump heights are lower and the timing/lighting equipment is a bit different, but otherwise, team racing is the same. A new change to the rules even makes the start light sequence the same. NAFA has always had a 1 second light sequence, while U-Fli in the past had a 1.2 second sequence. U-Fli has now changed to 1 second, making starting easier when switching between organizations.

The start lights still took a bit of getting used to though. I'm used to, on NAFA lights, saying READY (as the yellow lights flash upwards), SET (on the first yellow light), and GO (on the second yellow light), my dog is running during the third yellow light, and crosses the line as soon after the green light flashes on as possible. I release my dog immediately when that second yellow light comes on. And I'm normally a really decent starter, consistently getting starts in the .0xx range, and often putting in at least one .00x start at each tournament, sometimes with each dog. But the U-Fli lights don't have the yellow lights flash upwards before the lights start counting down, so my rhythm was all messed up at first. About halfway through the first day, I figured out that the little green lights at the bottom of the starting light tree went off as soon as the judge hit the button, and a second later the first yellow flashed on. So I did my READY when the green lights went off and more or less got my rhythm back.

It was pretty hot all weekend, though Sunday was better than Saturday and even delivered a little bit of light rain. Koira was running slow all morning on Saturday, and a couple times I thought I saw a limp. But when I trotted her out, not only could I not see a limp, but no one else (and I asked about five different people to watch her trot) saw anything either. The most anyone commented is that she is just a little tight on the front right, where her old elbow and shoulder injuries were. We figured it was just a bit of arthritis (she is seven and a half now, after all, which while not old certainly isn't young either). So I kept running her, making sure to give her plenty of a warm up before each run. Her times actually got better as the day went on, making me think that our longer warm up routine was helping get some stiffness out. Her last race of the day actually looked pretty great and she threw down some 5.2s, which were the best times of the weekend.

And then I took her out of her crate to potty one last time and she was limping. Bad. Barely weight bearing on the right left leg. Luckily, there is a pretty awesome vet on one of the other teams who agreed to take a look at Koira. The vet gave her a chiropractic adjustment and a massage, said Koira was super sore and probably as tight as she had ever felt on a dog. By the end of getting worked over, Koira's limp was almost completely gone. But for the safety and wellbeing of my dog, I let my team and the doubles team I was going to run with on Sunday know that I was pulling her. Koira would just get some vetprofen and rest for Sunday. She did earn her first U-Fli title on Saturday, Top Flight. So I was very proud of her despite the slower times.

Pallo on Saturday did pretty good. He wasn't running with our team. He was just set to run doubles with a super cute corgi from another team- the doubles team was named Short Stacks, and they were pretty much just adorable as can be. Pallo did do his stop and spin two out of the eight heats the doubles team ran, but otherwise ran great.

When I pulled Koira for Sunday, our regular team became short a height dog. In U-Fli, the jump heights are measured very different than in NAFA, and Koira set 9" jumps. Neena, a little cattle dog type mix, was our other height dog, and while she was perfectly fine, it's always nice to have an extra height dog. All the rest of our team was made up of large, leggy dogs. So I offered that I could put Pallo in Koira's place in order to provide Neena a bit of a rest from providing height. Pallo jumps 6" in U-Fli, so dropped the jumps quite a bit.

Sunday was cooler, which was really nice. Pallo ended up running great. I think he was in three or four races, and he only did the stop and spin thing a couple times. Keeping him crated and calm for as long as possible before going to the ring helps a lot with him not spinning. Koira of course wasn't limping at all on Sunday and would have been happy to run, I'm sure. But the long term health of my dogs is more important than any tournament, so she stayed on crate rest for the day. Our team ended up doing decent despite the swap-out. Pallo's issues didn't cost us more than a second here or there. And everyone had fun, which is ultimately the important part.

And while I know that that is a huge block of text to read with no photos, I can't take pictures of my own dogs. It is sad, but true.

Today, I am getting us packed and ready for a tournament this weekend. Saturday and Sunday at the Marion County Fair, in case anyone wants to come check it out.

Koira went to the vet yesterday for another issue, but was cleared as sound and ready to race by our vet. So she'll be running and hopefully it won't be a repeat of the last tournament!

Pallo will be running on Saturday only. He is retiring at this tournament. His long term health is more important than flyball, and every time he stops and gets confused at flyball, I am pretty sure it is a tiny seizure happening. And every seizure makes the next one more likely. So we are doing one last hurrah this weekend.

Puppy Love

We had a great weekend in California. Pallo was awesome all weekend, running clean every time. Even I didn't mess up at all, and we had no ball dropping, jump skipping, or early passes at all. His times were good for the most part, in the 5.2-5.3 range, even on Sunday afternoon. My passes made him get some times more in the 5.6 range a few times, but overall, we both did really good.

Warm up with the prop, nice high box turn

Koira was entered in singles. It is basically the same as regular racing, only there is one dog in each lane instead of a team of four. Singles is offered only in U-Fli, which we don't compete in often (NAFA is much more common in our region). During our warm up time, I had Koira do both close up box work with the prop, and a few full runs with the prop. Her turn was okay for a few runs once the race started, but I pulled her from the last few heats in both races on Saturday, and didn't race her at all on Sunday, we just used our warm up time. Her turn still has a long way to go.

Running without the prop. Koira's rear is low, one foot not even up on the box. We have some work to do!

I spent a lot of time taking pictures of the other dogs running (and major, huge thanks to the people who used my camera to get some pictures of Koira running!). This mastiff was about the most adorable thing ever at flyball. He was hilarious to watch. His first run of the day, he went over one jump, then casually veered to the side to try to get some pets from the spectators. The rest of the weekend, he was much more solid on his jumps, but hilarious at the box. He would either jump up, put his feet on top of the box, and lick the box loader, or else would stand in front of the box for a moment before grabbing the ball, without ever touching or triggering the box. Very cute, but the rules require the dog triggers the box with the ball still in it, so he got a lot of flags for this. He did get his first points ever though because of interference from the other team. And really, he was a crowd favorite every time he ran!

Cutest dog ever doing flyball

We ended up packing up and leaving before the end of the racing day on Sunday. I had 8 hours of driving ahead of me and wanted to be home before midnight. We skipped Koira's last singles run and left shortly after Pallo's last run with his team. I like to stay for the end of racing and awards, and have never skipped it before, but that drive was motivating for getting out of there. 

Before taking off, I had to load the car back up with everything from the weekend, plus a pair of flyball boxes that my team purchased and that I needed to bring north from me. Flyball people are awesome, and one of the people Pallo was running pick-up with brought the boxes over from Las Vegas, where they were made. Everyone was worried about me being able to fit them both in my rather small car, but it didn't turn out to be an issue at all.

All packed up for the drive home

Awesome Flyball Weekend

Just a quick post to share a little about the weekend. I spent all day Friday cleaning the car, packing up, and then driving down to Gridley, CA for the flyball tournament. We arrived a little after 7pm, and ended up heading to dinner with one of the teams down there who were all camping at the tournament site. It was plenty warm for tent camping.

I set my alarm for 6:15 the first morning. With check in at 7, followed by measuring, then racing at 8, I wanted to give myself plenty of time to shower, walk the dogs, and eat. The jack russel alarm from the next camp site over, however, was set for 5:30, so I ended up with an even earlier start (the JRT alarm held off until 5:45 on Sunday morning).

I know most of my readers don't run flyball, so I try not to do play-by-plays of the weekend that most people don't end up understanding. So, here is the quick version.



Pallo measured in U-Fli for the first time, and sets 6 inch jumps. U-Fli has a different measuring system, using the length of the bone in the foreleg to determine jump height, instead of the dog's height at the withers. We ran 3/3 on Saturday and 5/5 on Sunday (meaning each race is made up of 3 or 5 heats). Pallo ran like a rock star. His best time for the weekend was a 5.1, and he pulled off plenty of 5.2 and 5.3s for the weekend. He held his ball solid, and ran perfect. The only error we had all weekend was mine, an early pass late in the day on Saturday.



Gold Coast Flyers, the team we were running with for the weekend, was hosting the tournament, and did a great job. Everyone was super helpful and friendly. I did lunch and dinner with them, and we had a good time. After dinner, I even had two awesome, very experienced flyballers take a look at Koira's box turn and got some advice about how to train it.

All the people we met were awesome. I spent a lot of time taking pictures, trying to get some of every dog and every team. I think I finally figured out how to change my camera settings to get decent pictures in the dim indoor lighting of dogs moving at lightening speed- it was a trade off between grain and blur, and I chose grain. And, a ton of people were awesome and used my camera, set on the tripod, focused, and ready to go, to take pictures of Pallo while he ran as well. For my first time taking pictures at a tournament, I think it went really well. I'm looking forward to taking pictures at our outdoor tournament in July though, for the better lighting.



We ended early on Sunday, at just after 2. Pallo was super tired, and conked out in his kennel until I packed up. I stayed to help with some of the clean up and for the awards ceremony, then headed on home. I stopped in Yreka, CA, just south of the Oregon border, for dinner and to check out the solar eclipse, which was total in that area. I ended up getting home about 11:30 last night.



More pictures from the tournament to come later!

Flyball and BSL

A team in my region posted today on the region's Facebook page that they will not be hosting their anticipated 2012 tournament this year. Since I love going to tournaments, this is kind of sad news. But, I fully support the reason for their decision: They have not been able to find an affordable facility in a location without BSL* (breed specific legislation).

This decision means a lot to me. I, for one, would not have been attending the tournament if it was held there, regardless of if the city applied an "exception" for those dogs participating in the tournament (as would be required by NAFA for sanctioning of the event). If you have been following my blog, you will remember my post from a while back when we traveled to a tournament outside of Auburn, WA, which also has (to a much lesser degree) BSL.

It hurts a lot when dog events are scheduled for places with BSL, even more so than when the random strangers act suddenly terrified of my dog only after hearing her breed. Somehow, I expect the dog community to know what BSL is and to support the owners of those banned and restricted breeds**. Hosting dog tournaments or events in places with BSL in place is like giving the city or county the message that the dog owning community is okay with this decision. When the club hosting the event doesn't even let participants, many of whom are not from the area, know about the BSL in place, it feels a lot like a slap in the face to those of us owning the breeds affected; it sends the message that they don't care about our dogs.

Unfortunately, something seems to get lost in translation sometimes. Clubs who host events in BSL locations get told that their event will be boycotted by those who own banned breed. The clubs, instead of listening to the very valid fears these dog owners have for the well being of their beloved companions, react instead as if the boycott is a personal attack on them.

Many people who own banned or restricted breeds, including me, have had our fears of the breed bans laughed at or brushed off by other dog lovers as over reactions. And let me tell you, it hurts. We aren't trying to be difficult, or to upset your club, or ruin your day. We are trying to protect our family. And when dog clubs ignore the effect BSL can have on any dog and does have on those of us who own banned breeds and choose to host in BSL affected locations, it feels like an abandonment by those who should be fighting by our sides.

When it comes right on down to the base of the matter, dog clubs and dog related organizations, including any and all sporting and conformation groups, should be at the head of the line to object to BSL. Having those self same organizations give passive support to BSL by hosting and attending events in BSL locations is like a slap in the face. As a fellow flyball participant and banned-breed owner so elloquently stated it, if anyone should know better and make a statement, it is them (referring to dog clubs of any kind).

So, I really want to say thank you to JCJ for making the decision to not support a BSL town by hosting your tournament there. We all look forward to your tournaments and plan to attend as soon as a suitable facility can be located. The statement that we would not attend a tournament in Enumclaw is in no way meant to be a slight against your team. Instead, it is an expression of our fears for the safety of our canine family members. We hope that you understand where these fears come from and join us in the fight against BSL.

*BSL includes any legislation which specifically applies only to dogs meeting specific breed outlines or physical characteristics, while not applying to those dogs who do not conform to those breed profiles. This includes but is not limited to outright bans, requiring muzzles or additional restraint, requiring owners to carry insurance, or mandatory spay/neuter laws.

**Banned breeds do not just include so-called pit bulls. Breeds affected by BSL include the American Pit Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Rottweiler, Doberman Pincher, Shar Pei, German Shepherd, Belgian Malinois, Siberian Husky, Alaskan Malamute, Great Dane, Irish Wolf Hound, Scottish Deer Hound, Mastiff, Boerboel, American Bull Dog, Akita, Chow Chow, English Mastiff, Tosa Inu, Presa Canario, Dogo Argentino, Cane Corso, and Bull Terrier. Additionally, BSL affects dogs over certain weight limits (such as 100 lbs), regardless of breed, and can affect any dog deemed to have the features of any of the affected breeds, regardless of the dog in question's actual heritage.

Flyball Practice (IE: When Things Fall Apart)

I will be getting back to the next installment of the flyball training series shortly.

Last night I took the dogs to flyball practice. I had a wedding to go to earlier in the day, meaning the dogs got to come to the wedding, wait in the car (in full shade, in the wind, in a wire crate, both windows and the hatch open full, checked on often), then drive really fast when the reception was over to get to flyball only a few minutes late but very overdressed. I changed, potty walked the dogs (with nothing to show for it) and got to some practicing.

I used Koira's new coursing slip to release her for flyball for the first time in practice. She seemed much faster than last time we ran, either because she was super excited after missing a week, or possibly because she equates the slip with running-full-speed-away-from-mom. She was fumbling the ball at the box quite a bit in the first round, possibly because her increased speed on the way in messed her up, possibly because she knew I forgot her tug in the car and only had cheese (which she runs for, but is less enthusiastic about receiving as a reward).

Then I potty walked the dogs again. Pallo's habit of pooping in the building at practice or in the ring at tournaments, while not super often, is way to often to make me pleased by it. But, nothing.

Pallo came in, did his warm ups, then ran really nicely. He was running start against our super fast border collie Trix (who is currently working on running on the right side of the lane) with Raff, a Keeshond, passing into him. He had really nice starts, giving me a good crouch, then a spring-loaded release at the command "Go!" but then failed to carry his ball across the finish line 3/5 runs. Sometimes he drops early because of needing to potty, so we went out again. Finally, he pooped outside. I had to take him off his leash and let him wander away from me a bit before he would go, though. Kind of driving me nuts...

Pallo's second session in the building was very similar to the first, right on down to the great starts and horrible ball spitting issue, giving me a 3/5 drop rate. Not good, Pallo, not good.

Koira's second turn in the building resulted in a first for her: Crossing over. This is one of the nightmares in flyball, as a cross over can easily result in injury to one or more dogs. We practice running on the right and left lanes, switching during practice to get the dogs used to it. Sometimes, dogs will cross over to the other team's lane to chase another dog, get a ball from over there, or because they want to run to that box instead. This is super dangerous as it can cause a collision with the dog in the other lane. It is very important that any dogs about to run are NOT released, as additional dogs can cause additional chaos and injury (in a tournament, a very distinct whistle sound is blown loud, clear, and repeating, along with gestures from the judge, to stop additional dogs from being released). A dog that crosses over twice in a race (generally 4-5 heats per race, remember) is asked to leave. If they do it again that day, they can and often are dismissed from the tournament. Serious problem, serious response.

Anyway, after all that technical talk, Koira crossed over for the first time ever today in practice. She has never, ever crossed in practice or tournament, so we aren't sure why she decided to this time. Luckily she was going for the box in the other lane, rather than chasing the other dogs and backed off to give the dog running there room, so no collisions or injuries, or even really close calls. After crossing twice in a row, I moved her up right in front of her correct jump, and she did the course correctly. I moved her back to her customary position. She crossed again. (Our instructor was standing by the other lane, along with other people, to make sure if this happened that the other dog was not in danger of colliding with Koira.) I moved her back up right to the jump again and ran her from that position for our other 3 heats, moving only a few feet back with each successful run.

We're hoping this was a one-off thing, a bizarre day, and that it won't happen again. But, we discussed what to do next week if it does happen again. We need to be able to correct the crossing immediately without turning Koira off running. She has been so hesitant in the past to really run to the box that having someone stamp their feet, wave their arms, and yell at her for running to the box will really turn her off. She was moving much slower by the end of that session, either from being turned off, being tired, or from not having the room to get up to speed. If it happens even once next week, we will stretch a gate between Jump 1 of each lane all the way across, blocking her path to the box (she just took a beeline straight over there each time). It should correct the behavior in a non-threatening way, redirecting her to be able to succeed and be rewarded.

Why is it that problems always arise just before tournaments? We have a demo next week, then a tournament the week after that. Not exactly the time I want to be discovering and trying to correct problems with my dogs.


Don't forget to leave a comment for a chance to enter the Giveaway!

Monday, training, rabbits, and more

I finally think I figured out how to share a video, and thought I would make one of Pallo learning a new trick. I want to teach him to "line up" with the goal of him ending up between my legs. I have seen a lot of agility and flyball people use this trick with their dogs, but, mostly, it seems fun to learn and show off.

The end result I am looking for:



The video was the second 2-3 minute session of having him try this trick. It only took a couple tries luring him in the first session before he caught on, but as you can see with his last try in this video, he doesn't quite have the hang of it yet. Also, you can see that "roll over" has become one of his fall back behaviors, which he tries whenever he gets confused.



Pallo also got to try out some herding... Kind of. What actually happened was my mom's rabbits discovered a hole they can use to get out of the fence, so I was asked to come visit and catch them. Chasing rabbits by yourself rarely ends up with catching anything at all, so I took Pallo with me and sent him out and around to the other side of the bunnies, and told him to find them. He did an awesome job, went out in a wide circle, then coming back in toward the fence, driving the rabbits in front of him towards me (and I had a net on a long stick for catching the creatures). He even would stop on cue, or back off, if he was freaking them out too much, driving them too fast, or in the wrong direction. So, while Pallo has never seen sheep, ducks, or cows, he is an excellent rabbit herder.

Once the three baby rabbits who were loose were caught, I introduced the dogs to them.

Koira snuffled the babies all up and down, then decided they weren't all that interesting after all:


Pallo smelled them, but was cautious:



And, Pallo just wanted me to let them go so he could chase them around some more. Here he is, caught with his mouth open, whining with excitement:



And here is the rabbit pen. It has wire along the bottom of the fence, laid on the ground, about 2 feet in from the fence on all sides. They can dig burrows and everything, but the wire discourages them from trying to dig out of the pen. The hutches are where the babies will be kept until they are too big to escape the fence, and where the does go when they are ready to kindle. I spent a long day building this pen so the rabbits would have a lot more room to move, areas to dig, and grasses to munch on. I think they are much happier like this than in a hutch all the time.




As for the flyball question I posed in my last post, I agree with everyone that answered. I would consider it box loader error and flag it. I did, when I saw it as a box judge. However, a discussion with a team mate revealed that many judges do NOT consider this a fault. No where in the rule book that I could find does it actually, explicitly say the ball must be in the box when it is triggered by the dog.

But, if it doesn't count as a fault/flag for the ball to roll out of the box, what would there be to stop someone from training a dog to trigger the box, then grab the ball from the ground, and run back? I see little difference between the ball rolling out of the hole versus the box loader placing it on the ground for the dog. I actually tried to read the relevant parts of not only the NAFA manual, but the U-Fli one, as well as BFA, the Australian one, and the South African one, and none of them explicitly mention that the ball must be in the box when it is triggered.

I would have thought this was a given in the sport of flyball. But, if some people don't view it as a fault, don't flag it as a box judge, and some judges don't require it, what is to stop someone from training a dog that has problems catching the ball from the box to simply grab it from the ground?

Have a happy Monday, and enjoy the week!

Flyball practice, and a rule clarification question

Well, first off, flyball practice went great. Koira ran really well. She did drop early twice, but we were practicing reruns in anticipation of our tournament coming up in two weeks, and she did her reruns clean each time. Plus, she didn't take much time to set up for the reruns, which is nice, since some dogs can take forever to reset (of course, she didn't get her tug because of the ball drop, so I didn't have to argue with her about that part of it). She is finally seeming like a flyball dog. When the start dog's handler starts getting their dog revved up, Koira stops barking and stares, until the start dog passes by, then she looks up at me and barks for her turn.

Pallo was running good, though he got really distracted in one heat by Zip, a super excitable Belgian Tervuren on our team, whose barking got just a little bit too excited for Pallo to ignore. He ran to the side when released, and I had to reset him and release him again before he ran down the lane. On the next heats I made sure to redirect his attention back to the racing lane instead of Zip, and he refocused really well. He loves running with loud, excited dogs, loud, excited handlers, and fast, fluffy dogs. The team he'll be running with at the tournament will give him all of that. Hopefully it will mean a recipe for success for him, and for the rest of the team.

Now the slightly more technical flyball talk:

Before we began practice last night, our instructor/team leader Patty talked with the whole team, and specifically our newest members who will be running dogs or helping out, about some technicalities of tournaments, especially reruns. If a dog messes up during their run, a flag comes up, and the judge will stick out one finger, meaning one rerun is needed for the heat to be finished "clean" and a time be awarded. It is up to the team and the dog's handler if they want to rerun the dog.

Pretty much the only reasons to rerun (at least for our team) are to win the race (which only applies if the other team has at least one rerun as well) or to correct a problem the dog had (such as running around a jump or dropping the ball). There are plenty of reasons not to rerun, including the most basic of not wanting to tire out our dogs, not wanting a dog to continue making mistakes and build a bad pattern, etc. For our team, a team captain will be paying attention to let us know which dog needs to rerun, and if the other team has any reruns. It is up to the dog's handler to decide if they want to rerun their dog. If the dog is not rerun, the team takes no time for the heat and is written NF, for No Finish.

This brought up a short discussion as to reasons a dog would have to rerun. There are plenty of them, but basically, a mistake on the course such as: an early pass, missing/going around jumps, not triggering the box, not returning with the ball, or returning with the wrong ball (can happen when a loose ball is on course and a dog picks that one up to bring back instead of the one that was in the box) are the most common. There are four judges in addition to the head judge at a race, two on each racing lane, one box judge and one line judge, that will raise a flag to indicate to the head judge that an error occurred requiring a rerun.


The Question:

Now, I have a question for you. I would like to hear from flyball competitors, about what judges do with this situation in your region/organization, as well as from any one else who wants to weigh in on what they think should be done:

The situation is this: A tournament race heat is being run. The box loader cocks the box, loads a ball, then stands upright again, calling for the dog. The box loader doesn't notice that the ball they loaded has rolled out of the hole in the box, onto the ground. The dog approaches the box, does a turn triggering the box, picks up the ball from the ground, then returns. As a box judge, sitting to the side to indicate errors at the box, would you flag this as an error, or not?

For a little context, I will quote the relevant statutes from the NAFA rulebook as it is posted online:


Section 8.3, Subsection (i): "Flags. Dogs that receive a flag must be rerun after the initial four dogs in the order they were flagged. Racing infractions requiring the rerunning of a dog include:
...
(iv) Does not trigger the box;
(v) Dog takes the ball from the cup without first triggering the box;..."

Also relevant to the situation is part of Section 8.3, Subsection (a) which states: "... Each dog is to hurdle the four jumps in succession, trigger the box, releasing the ball, retrieve the ball and return over all four jumps and the start/finish line with the ball in its mouth..."


This is a situation I have been in, as a box judge, and I know what I did, what that particular judge decided, and additionally know what I think should happen here. But, I want to know what other people have done, would do, or think should be done. And, if needed, I will submit a proposal for a clarification of this rule to NAFA.

And a blog hop too: