Things went waaaayyy better than yesterday. I felt like Duncan wanted me happy and he had really great ball drive to make things even better.

We got two sessions at the box. The first time we went at it, I had the fleeting feeling Duncan had forgotten everything we had learned previously because it had been two weeks since we had been to actual practice. A few 'good boys' later and it seemed to click. We worked him further and further back from the box. Every time, I had to get the ball from him, have a happy dance, then reset up for the next run - and toss the ball back. If Duncan doesn't see the ball go from me to the box, he doesn't want it. Definitely something to work on next round.

And we did. We did a couple 'fake-out' throws to get him going. Eventually, I want him to learn that the box has a never-ending supply of balls. The first time I did it, Duncan took a step, turned around, and barked his head off calling foul. It brought up a few issues like going ofter balls not on the box and such, but I think we did great for our second class.

I need to remember to tug with Duncan or at least offer it to him. The first couple go's, he didn't seem to want to do it so I just tossed it aside. I think I would have gotten more out of him if I had redirected some of his over-the-top energy with the tug.

Without further ado, a video of a few runs.


A side note:
We took Pierre to see if he had any natural talent or inclination to do Flyball. He is really smart, but man is he stubborn. He was not afraid of the box. In fact, he go right up on it, trying to get to the box loader for some love. He did not want to touch the ball, smell the ball, look at the ball. I started talking for a moment and looked away and Duncan strutted down the running aisle and took every jump at his own sweet little pace. If only we could get him ball motivated AND have him listen... he would make a great sporting dog. But alas, we have a Toy.

Weeellll... tonight was definitely not one of our shiniest moments. Thane had play practice, so no videos - not that I would want evidence of the evening to survive.

We have been working and working on tunnels, weaves, and jumps (with a little plank thrown in) in the heat, with distractions. We've even gotten some pretty good distance work for our level. For the first 50 minutes of class, it felt like all of it was for naught.

As everyone was getting settled, I tried to run Duncan through a curved tunnel to warm up. He loves them so at home. He refused it. I gently put him at the beginning and tried to call him through. Nope. I stuck him in and crawled after him and he seemed to enjoy running through. One more time and he seemed warmed up, besides - the set up was being announced.

The instructors had four lines of three obstacles each set up for us.

Line #1 - Tire jump, teeter, weaves
      Tire jump is no issue if I put Duncan in a wait and call him from the other side. We have yet to get a Go. Working on it!
      Teeter... this is where my stomach sank a little. He wouldn't get on it unless I was constantly feeding him a turkey hotdog. Then when he was on, he walked to the end like nothing was a problem (instructor was guaranteeing a slow descent). The weird part? As soon as he was on, he ignored the food. That's right, a Sheltie did not want food. We tried it again and a few steps up he stopped. I tried every call, whistle, and thing I could thing of to entice him up. The instructor lowered the teeter before he passed the fulcrum hoping to encourage him down. Eh, he said, I guess I have to meander down this thing now...
      I suddenly remembered the tug! Oh, please work... It did a little, but his nose was still stuck to the ground. He got one or two really good weave passes before we moved on to the next line.

Line #2 - Wait table, dog walk, curved tunnel
      The wait table isn't a problem. I imagine we'll actually do more with it when he's actually running, but for now - no biggie.
      The A-frame is a contact, therefore Duncan did not like it today. His nose was glued to the ground. I tried running start, placing a line of hotdogs up the ramp, enticing him with his tug, and even tried to trade treats with classmates... nothing. So I picked him up and put him on the flat top part. What does he do? Saunter down the other side. I put him a little further back and get the same nice result (if sassy). I put him on the top of the first ramp and he goes down fine. But will he get on the contact of his own free will? Absolutely not.
      We did the tunnel just a few times, as Duncan was pretty good at this, if slow and distracted. The only time he really paid attention to me was to go in the tunnel (I guess because he did it) and the the two seconds afterward. Even if the 'party' was still going on, he was done with it. When we had a successful go of it with a little more attention, we headed back to the dogwalk. One of the other students (a terrier thing) snapped/growled/attacked a lab and was getting some direction while I was doing the tunnel, so we got a little more time on this line.
      A-frame again, why? Masochism. Duncan would not look at me, listen, wait, or sit because there was this spot on the floor that HAD to be licked or at least you MUST pull and try. I don't like having Duncan on leash for practice, but understand the necessity with anything with height. He never really pulls - ever. Until tonight. An instructor came over and I mentioned that ever since I've been treating on the ground rather than from my hand, my pup had had a preoccupation with the floor and his focus is gone. so no more ground feeding. We'll fix the eyes-glued-to-hands later. I was grateful when he had to switch.

Line #3 - Chute, A-frame, jump
      Chute? Nope, it's shoot! I called 'tunnel' as we ran up and Duncan went in. Yes! Wait, where is he? Oh... backing out and prancing toward me. I put him in a wait, went to the end and lifted the chute, and called him. He went around. Several more attempts later, and an instructor comes over to help. Thank goodness! She held him and I went around and repeated it. He ran through. We redid it several times until he went through the chute on his own. He really wanted the tug. Things were starting to look up...
      ...To the A-frame. We run up, I say "Up on it" which tends to just be what spews out of my mouth, and he diverts at the last second, avoiding the dreaded contact. We had a repeat of the dogwalk but worse, much worse. I felt like I was going to rip my hair out but was quite determined to have FUN and to get a success and to not show Duncan how grumpy I was at the world.
      The last jump was fine. Duncan will jump for me. I used the last few minutes to tug with him and try to raise his bruised ego, as I know I was not as peppy as I could have been on the A-frame.

Line #4 - Weird slanty jump, looooooong tunnel, jump
      The first jump was fine, I guess. Duncan did a decent wait but would not look at me. I got tired of waiting and called him over. It worked. Bad me for not sticking to my methods.
      There was a sign on the ground (where Duncan's nose was) in front of the tunnel: Tunnel refusal is much more fun than actually going through it. Duncan believed the sign. The instructor was trying to help me, but Duncan was being particularly uncooperative. She said, "Walk away and ignore him." Holy moly, it worked. He really wanted attention. Through the tunnel he went! He tried to goof up again and I walked away, playing bored. He followed like a puppy (haha... sorry). When I knew I had his attention, I put him in a wait and walked 10 feet in front of him. I was feeling a bit defeated and fully expected him to stare at something, move out of wait, or start smelling the bleeping floor again. Nope, we got our first three obstacle run of the night. Jump, looooong tunnel, jump, tug, tug, tug. It was awesome! We ran it like 10 times (okay, like 6), reveling in the glory of connectedness. We love tunnels.

At the very end, we were asked to do our least favorite then our most favorite things and end with a party. A-frame... not so good. Running a tunnel... very fun. It was a nice way to end that gut-wrenching class.

The heat and rain has not let up a bit, but we've still managed some practice.

Our most notable foray was with astounding amounts of distractions. My backyard is actually communal between all the neighbors and many of them have the fishing bug. So, when I set up the equipment and Thane brought out his fishing pole, there was a high level of interest. The tug was simply not enough to lure Duncan away from the people, fish smells, and bait.

Between breaks where I brought out Pierre and Abbie (Duncan's rescue Sheltie sister) for socialization where Duncan got to cool off in the A/C, we did quite a bit. We started with weaves. This is quickly becoming one of my favorites. Duncan starts to pop out if I move the poles too fast, so I am having to show major restraint and just inch those poles in sloooowly. Then, we did weaves and the plank to get Duncan re-familiar with contacts. I really wish I had an actual contact to work with, not just a plank. Then we did weaves, tunnel, plank. At first, Duncan got barky with the combo but soon had the drive to power to the end - many times ahead of me (if I remembered to ask him to!). Gosh, he loves that tunnel now!

I felt like Duncan was tiring of the weaves, so I traded them out for a jump. I worked with the jump significantly to the left and right of the tunnel and worked him through both directions. Honestly, I feel like I learned more about where I need to place myself in order for Duncan to have the most successes. I very much want to work on directionals, but I'm not exactly sure how. Wouldn't you just call the obstacle name? If Duncan were to go over the jump and the tunnel was to the left and the weave to the right, I think it would matter more that I said "tunnel" if he needed to go left. Things to ask my instructor!

Overall, we are making steady progress with the equipment we have at our disposal. If our club allowed you to come practice on the equipment between classes, I could easily see myself there 2-3 times a week other than class night.