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Comment by Nancy Geddes on October 17, 2010 at 7:14pm

The practices have been somewhat sketchy lately - the team has travelled and demonstrated in Raleigh, Blacksburg, Charlottesville; Linus went to stay with Kate for a few weeks and we are now approaching the busiest time of year in culinary services. This Friday evening however, Tasha went with me for a "first" flyball lesson while Linus was away. Tasha is a sporting corgi! She immediately caught onto hurdle relays and working on a slanted platform before beginning the ball box. John Nelson said that it is apparent that she has done lots of training before (obedience, agility and herding). Tasha sped over the hurdles, tugged on the tugtoy and showed advanced skills at her first lesson. She is an amazing corgi! There will be no lesson next Friday; but then we will resume. I am going to try and take both Linus and Tasha next time - it will be hard to leave Bear at home.

Comment by Quincy ^,,^ & Michelle : ) on September 11, 2010 at 9:16am

Hi Linus & Nancy,
We had flyball last night too, Quincy is making good progress! He jumped two jumps went up to the box to get the tennis ball, I told him "bring it" and he came back with the ball over two jumps!!! He didn't trigger the box but he did a great job. Quincy is funny he LOVES the jumps, but when he gets to the box he is ever so careful getting the ball and then flies back over the jumps. Flyball is really a lot of fun! We have 2 classes left to this session. Your flyball pals Quincy & Michelle :)

Comment by Nancy Geddes on September 11, 2010 at 7:19am

The fall semester of flyball classes has begun again! Linus is going to continue with the lessons as the team practice is too far ahead of his curve right now. We are now velcro-ing a smaller tennis ball onto the padded, slanted square to simulate the ball box and Linus is removing the "stuck" ball from the velcro. We have also added one return hurdle into the mix. Learned that I had to change my command to "get your ball" for this exercise. We did many relays and chasing relays with other members of the K9K team. Linus worked hard. There will not be a class next week as the team will travel to Raleigh, NC to attend an event held at their state fair. I brought home a hurdle and square so that we can continue working on our skills. All the best, Nan

Comment by Nancy Geddes on August 14, 2010 at 9:10pm

We went to class last night in Richmond and a huge car crash on I-64 made our travels all the more challenging. Lots of guests last night! The K-9 Kamikazes did very well in the tournament last weekend and it is great to watch the team do their runs towards the end of practice!! There is the lovely old lady, Roxie, who has more than 30,000 flyball champion points. Moving slowly, but gracefully, she still loves to come to practice.

Linus did well! We brought home a large square to put up along a wall - and this square has velcro on which I will stick a tennis ball. We are trying to encourage him to turn on the square and take the ball off the board. He has the somewhat clueless tendency to touch the ball with his nose and......he's done. Did good hurdles and relays trailing and passing another dogs.

Have a great week! Nan

Comment by Nancy Geddes on August 9, 2010 at 4:56pm

Hey Quincy: Isn't it great? Tell me, do you go around the hurdles when your Mom isn't looking? I love to do that! Mom finally got the CD of my lesson and now has to turn it into something to post! It has been deathly hot and since there is no air conditioning only fans, class was cancelled. Mom was scheduled for work two more Friday nights. Hope to be hurdling this coming Friday. Keep up the great work Quincy!!! Your friend in flyball, Linus

Comment by Quincy ^,,^ & Michelle : ) on August 8, 2010 at 4:12pm

Hi Nancy,
We finished our intro to flyball and will be starting flyball 2 this Friday. Quincy loves it! I will keep you updated on our progress :)

Comment by Nancy Geddes on July 7, 2010 at 8:43pm

Friday the real work begins. Linus is officially a dog-in-training with the Richmond K9 Kamikaze flyball team. Our lesson is now only thirty minutes long and soon we will have to practice with the team. Nancy, the human, will have to begin to learn how to set up the course and all the ettiquite that goes along with the sport. I am still waiting for the CD from my brother with our lesson footage!

Comment by Nancy Geddes on June 20, 2010 at 7:00am

Our last lesson in our second semester will be this coming Friday. This past Friday, my brother from Michigan was visiting so he came along, videoed Linus in action and I hope to have a few clips of our flyball practice. That's terribly cool. Linus has also made the B Team as it were - now officially classified as a "Dog in Training". We will now be admitted into the team practice and be expected to learn to set and work the relay course. It's really hot here in Virginia so practices may be cancelled due to sheer heat.

We continue with box work and relays. Linus has taken all four hurdles, sometimes three, sometimes two, sometimes only the first.... This was also the first lesson that Linus actually used the tug toy! That's exciting!

Comment by Nancy Geddes on June 13, 2010 at 12:38pm

We are nearing the close of our second semester of flyball lessons. Teresa, lead instructor, said that we are soon going to put all the fragments together. I hope that Linus listened. This Friday evening, we had to put human "gates" at the second and third hurdles as Linus was skirting around. His boxwork (unloaded still) is really good and you have to work at getting such a long dog's four paws on that turn!! The club is going to talk about involving Tasha. She is a little more assertive. That will be a potential drawback. Linus is terribly laid back - a fluffy twinkie in disguise! This is such a nice group of dogs and people. It is well worth the hour drive to Richmond on Friday evenings! Cheers!

Comment by Nancy Geddes on June 10, 2010 at 9:42pm

Wonderful news!!! A couple of ways to begin working the box is to fashion a perhaps 30" x 30" piece of plywood and have carpeting stapled onto it. Rest this carpeted square against the angle formed by the wall and floor. For the first few times, with a lead, guide Quincy onto the platform in a nice upside down "U". Reward at the end of each "U". Use your verbal command, the best one here is "hit it". Soon Quincy will have muscle memory and you won't need a leash. You want to be sure that all four legs are solidly hitting the target. When you begin on the box, practice your own choreography, too. A quite a few lessons, do not spring load the box. Practice getting Quincy in a nice, gentle high :"u". We noted that the corgi is very long and you will have to work alongside all that length. Also, BE SURE you have practiced ball retrieval so that you know which side Quincy will turn towards. That is very important while teaching the box. Linus goes towards the right.

We will have a lesson tomorrow evening. I am going to ask if I can start training Tasha but I cannot afford to pay a lot more tuition.....

Stay in touch and have fun! All the best, Nan

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