Guest CleverDog Posted April 9, 2007 Report Share Posted April 9, 2007 Ok, so I got a flyball box as a gift...I thought we might as well try it then, although it's never really hit me before! But Caper LOVES it. I've been doing things on my own, as the team I am supposed to practice with has been away at tournaments, and then I have finals...they said not to start until they show me, but...I can't wait until fall! So Caper can go down the line, get the ball with a pretty swimmer's turn, come back...I guess passing is something we can't practice, so I'm sure we're doing this out of order, but Caper is pretty resilient. My question is: After Caper crosses the finish line (I'm assuming it's a finish line?), what does he do with the ball? He is not a very good fetcher, I click when he reaches my feet and he spits it out (right at my feet-it's a miracle, I'm telling you) and it goes rolling past me and he gets to play with a balloon. Then it occured to me maybe there's a proper way to deal with the ball, haha. Does he have to retrieve it to my hand? Do I have to have it at the end, or is it ok that it's dropped at my feet and rolls a ways....what is the proper protocol? And if there are any other glaring mistakes in this routine I'm not not aware of, let me know! Thanks in advance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2 Devils Posted April 9, 2007 Report Share Posted April 9, 2007 The ball only has to be carried over the start/finish line. It is nice when they bring all the way back though since when passing a dog can have a problem spitting the ball. The start/finish line is 6 feet past the jump. I would start working away from the clicker though and use a motivator of some sort. A clicker in the lanes can be a distraction to other dogs. If you can find another dog, you can work on passing exercises. There are different things like teaching the other dog to go over the jumps and have the "other dog" at the box for a recall to the owner while you send your dog into that dog, to the box BUT you need to work on passing slowly. Don't force your dog with a tight pass. You start long and shorten. If your dog wants to chase the other dog you can have someone else release your dog and you go to the box and call your dog in. This involves you then running back to the runback area to reward your dog. You can also set up double wide jumps and have dogs doing opposite recalls while passing over the jumps. You will need a total of 4 people for this though. I am also not explaining fully because it is hard to write everything on a message board. Hope this helps some. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest CleverDog Posted April 9, 2007 Report Share Posted April 9, 2007 Wow, thank you for all the information! The stuff on passing was very helpful, I'm sure I can get together with some friends and work on that this summer before we come back and finally 'officially' practice. I'll phase out the clicker/balloon for a tug before we start to practice with other people, thanks for the tip- right now I was just using it so he would bring the ball back to me. Thank you again for the helpful advice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
border_collie_crazy Posted April 10, 2007 Report Share Posted April 10, 2007 most teams get someone to "ball shag" for them, all the ball has to do is cross the lin in the dogs mouth, after that it no longer matters...though speaking as a former Ball shag for a team that always drops the ball right after the finnish line sending them flying in all directions, its nice in the ball is in the same general area as the lane as opposed to 100 feet away lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest CleverDog Posted April 10, 2007 Report Share Posted April 10, 2007 Haha, that makes sense...I'm feeling a lot better in terms of my dog's fetching ability now... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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