Tank, Lucy, and I went to check out flyball for the first time today. We visited a local dog sports club, and it was a great time.
Only a few dogs were out at one time. You'd work your dog for 10 minutes at most then crate them up for a rest. This was much more pleasant for me and my dogs. A novel approach from working obedience drills for an hour solid.
Lucy, a pug/terrier mix, did super on her first shot out. Took 4 jumps on a recall without hesitation. We also worked on touching the box with her front paws. At first she would just jump on top of the box. So we worked at clicking for only 2 paws on the box. After 2-3 repetitions, she was no longer jumping on the box. She'd put 2 paws on the box, and turn her head to me looking for the click.
Tank, a Saint/pyr mix was more hesitant to go over the jumps, and his recall was much slower. I'd thought to use a ball for motivation. He wasn't interested. Another member suggested that I get my clicker out. First we clicked for going over the first jump a few times. Then over 2 jumps, and so on. By the end of our 10 minutes, he was going over 3 jumps on a recall. Maybe next week we'll try it off leash.
I am always amazed at how the clicker perks the dogs right up. They continue to tell me what works, and that I should stick with that. "Hey Mom! We get the clicker!" It feels good when your dogs know better than you do.
