Karran
Well-Known Member
I have now had Mrs Spaniel for just over a year (ownerversary 20th Feb!) and we took up flyball in November.
She absolutely loves it although being a natural worrier has a tendency to panic and drop the ball.
Our First competition (for both of us) was yesterday and so we jumped in the deep end and entered into the Open Competition at Chatham.
This is going to be one of those bad day on paper, but yet so proud of her posts!
Our last training session didn't end too well, she was harassed by another dog who was a bit ball happy and as we did a run to build back up after that a terrier came out of its lane and nearly tripped us both up, so with her confidence a little low and knowing this would be her first indoor run and worrying about letting her team down it was with some trepidation I set a 5.30 alarm on Friday night.
I am going to confess to being woefully underprepared for what a day of Flyball Competition actually entails. I will make note for future and remember to pack treats and a drink for us both, a picnic and a chair! Thank Goodness for burger vans although the woman was rather alarmed when I asked her for raw burgers to feed Mrs Spaniel with.
In my head it would only be a few hours at most and then home early afternoon!
The competition was held in a gym in a school and I was deafened by other dogs barking, whistles, music and God only knows what she must have thought about it all. I kept her out to watch one heat and then popped back into the car to have a think about it all.
Our first run set the tone for the afternoon really. She warmed up well and we let her go as end dog. She ran up, got the ball, dropped it and ran back, but fetched it nicely second time.
I felt ok about this, she does it in training first go but then switches into gear and is fine.
Second run and I think we overshot the light system and the dog running in front of us snapped at her. Well that was a straw too far for poor Mrs Spaniel and she just downed tools, abandoned running to the box and came back to me. Bless her.
We pulled her out and let her watch our team run the others and I took her back to the car, had a game of tug, had a walk and a pep talk.
2nd heat and again it was just too much for her. My dreams of flyball superstardom evaporated and we decided to make it a training session for her, after all this was all new to her and who could blame her for being a bit worried.
She did genuinely want to get involved, quivering with excitement and yelping encouragement for her team mates but just got terrible stage fright when asked to run her leg.
We got her to do a warm up for heat 3 and then watched from sidelines.
Heat 4 and we decided to go again, again as end dog, she failed completely on first run and then we tried again last run. Well I was over the moon with her! She ran to the end of the box, but failed to bring the ball to the end of the line before dropping it. This was my fault entirely! I was so surprised she ran, I just stood at the start open-mouthed.
Final heat of the day and we decided to have a final run. I would have been overjoyed had she re-inacted her last run but we popped her in as final dog on the final leg and she only bloody well did it!!!
I couldn't believe it, the hall seemed to go quiet and all the people that had seen her struggle all day suddenly burst out cheering and clapping for us. I gotta say how nice the flyball community seems to be, so many people came up to offer us reassurance and tips to help her get over her nerves and to have what seemed like the whole hall cheering for us was amazing!
So, so proud of my little dog. She was clearly overwhelmed with the day but tried her little heart out for me.
We will have another couple of weeks of training to rebuild her confidence around the other dogs and then are trying one in Hampshire over Easter Weekend. I think she may find this a bit easier as it will be an outside environment which is what she is used to.
Finally a post is rubbish without pics so here is Mrs Spaniel proudly sporting her special rosette!
She absolutely loves it although being a natural worrier has a tendency to panic and drop the ball.
Our First competition (for both of us) was yesterday and so we jumped in the deep end and entered into the Open Competition at Chatham.
This is going to be one of those bad day on paper, but yet so proud of her posts!
Our last training session didn't end too well, she was harassed by another dog who was a bit ball happy and as we did a run to build back up after that a terrier came out of its lane and nearly tripped us both up, so with her confidence a little low and knowing this would be her first indoor run and worrying about letting her team down it was with some trepidation I set a 5.30 alarm on Friday night.
I am going to confess to being woefully underprepared for what a day of Flyball Competition actually entails. I will make note for future and remember to pack treats and a drink for us both, a picnic and a chair! Thank Goodness for burger vans although the woman was rather alarmed when I asked her for raw burgers to feed Mrs Spaniel with.
In my head it would only be a few hours at most and then home early afternoon!
The competition was held in a gym in a school and I was deafened by other dogs barking, whistles, music and God only knows what she must have thought about it all. I kept her out to watch one heat and then popped back into the car to have a think about it all.
Our first run set the tone for the afternoon really. She warmed up well and we let her go as end dog. She ran up, got the ball, dropped it and ran back, but fetched it nicely second time.
I felt ok about this, she does it in training first go but then switches into gear and is fine.
Second run and I think we overshot the light system and the dog running in front of us snapped at her. Well that was a straw too far for poor Mrs Spaniel and she just downed tools, abandoned running to the box and came back to me. Bless her.
We pulled her out and let her watch our team run the others and I took her back to the car, had a game of tug, had a walk and a pep talk.
2nd heat and again it was just too much for her. My dreams of flyball superstardom evaporated and we decided to make it a training session for her, after all this was all new to her and who could blame her for being a bit worried.
She did genuinely want to get involved, quivering with excitement and yelping encouragement for her team mates but just got terrible stage fright when asked to run her leg.
We got her to do a warm up for heat 3 and then watched from sidelines.
Heat 4 and we decided to go again, again as end dog, she failed completely on first run and then we tried again last run. Well I was over the moon with her! She ran to the end of the box, but failed to bring the ball to the end of the line before dropping it. This was my fault entirely! I was so surprised she ran, I just stood at the start open-mouthed.
Final heat of the day and we decided to have a final run. I would have been overjoyed had she re-inacted her last run but we popped her in as final dog on the final leg and she only bloody well did it!!!
I couldn't believe it, the hall seemed to go quiet and all the people that had seen her struggle all day suddenly burst out cheering and clapping for us. I gotta say how nice the flyball community seems to be, so many people came up to offer us reassurance and tips to help her get over her nerves and to have what seemed like the whole hall cheering for us was amazing!
So, so proud of my little dog. She was clearly overwhelmed with the day but tried her little heart out for me.
We will have another couple of weeks of training to rebuild her confidence around the other dogs and then are trying one in Hampshire over Easter Weekend. I think she may find this a bit easier as it will be an outside environment which is what she is used to.
Finally a post is rubbish without pics so here is Mrs Spaniel proudly sporting her special rosette!
