Last night, we tried the outdoor Flyball session. It worked beautifully! Duncan had so much room to run and was very eager to hit the box. When I had Thane as a box loader, I was able to leave balls around our starting point. Duncan got a bit ball crazy and would run back, holding one, and then drop it and bring me three balls before I could really catch him. It was really cute. After the initial 8 ball round, Thane pulled Abigail out to play fetch. She is really doing well at that. Another few weeks and I think we'll be where we can start some flyball work. I worked with Dunc again, doing some more specific box work with the board. It worked nicely to force all four feet onto the box.

No triggering this time!

Total time: 30 minutes including all the fetch breaks and equipment set-ups and such

Tonight, we tried it again. The sequence was: taunt Duncan with the ball (well, rev him up), load ball onto velcro, grab him and carry him away from box, set-up him up, reeeaddddyyy, seeettt, GO, repeat. We did this over and over again (his reward was me tossing the ball and him bringing it back... he is truly ball CRAZY). Duncan was bursting from my hands, flying to the box, then either barking at it or gingerly grabbing the ball, and then loping back. He was reliable with his recall and got some nice speed both ways. I figure, when he is slamming the box, then we'll trigger. Until then, let's build that confidence. I think I'm having a patient day. Give me a few more and I'll lament why we aren't already done with the box training!

Duncan's box turn is not good at the moment. Re-training the direction has really thrown it off. I don't like using the shelf because it is thick wood. I will see if I can borrow a jump. I don't want an accidental injury! It is pretty cool to see his confidence blooming with this home practice.

Total time for today: about 20 minutes