Have You Discovered FLyball?

Pepper, Ron and I made our first trip to the local dog park a few weeks ago. When we first moved here almost 10 years ago I used to take Tali and Barney to the very same park. (Rancho Coastal). They loved it, and so did Pepper. He's a very social dog, and this was a chance for him to get out and run, and can he ever run. I met a woman named Mary that day who couldn't believe how fast Pepper could run. She suggested we might like to try flyball, a relay with 4 dogs per team, that involves jumping low hurdles, then catching a ball and racing back to the beginning. I told Mary we would come on Sunday and check it out.

We spent most of a Sunday morning learning more about flyball, and we're definitely going to give it a try. I watched 4 dogs that have been at it for awhile, and was so impressed. First, the dogs absolutely love what they're doing. They are so focused on the activity and they are so competitive. I watched a jack russell, cocker spaniel, border collie and an Italian greyhoud run the course. The greyhound was so delicate, she looked like a ballet dancer. The cocker spaniel just loved what he was doing. The jack russell was fantastic. Fast, focused, and so intense.

The trainer Vicki started working with Pepper, and within minutes he was jumping the hurdles. He loves to jump. By the end of the morning he would stand at one end of the hurdles and jump all four hurdles to get to me and a treat. While others were working the hurdles, Mary took us to another area of the park where we worked on ball retrieval. This will be a much harder skill to learn. He has to learn to push a box with his nose to make the ball pop out, catch the ball, and keep it in his mouth while he jumps over the hurdles. Apparently some dogs get it right away, others take months to figure out what we want from them.

Every behavior is rewarded with a treat. I think Pepper is going to be a quick learner. I would expect that in 3 months he'll be running the course and getting the ball. He came home absolutely exhausted, physically and mentally.

The people in the group are so nice. They want every owner and dog to have success and work hard with the dogs during the 2 hour training session, then give the owners lots of "homework" to do during the rest of the week. They even organize hikes with owners and trainers so that everyone can get to know each other.

I think I might have found a fun new activity for Pepper and I to participate in. We're going on a walk with the group this week, and will practice the ball drill every day. Last week I'd never heard of flyball. Now I'm involved, and hoping that Pepper likes it as much as I liked watching the other dogs perform. I think he did.