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fly ball
- Thread starter gallopingaround
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you'll have to find a place that offers classes as you need their equipment to start training, as well as the space (a flyball course is really long).
generally, the first series of lessons are just recalls over the jumps and getting your dog to jump all the way down to the box, then turn around and jump all the way back to you. There's a lot of getting the dog to ignore other dogs, as well, in addition to very strong recalls.
You can work on "dead retrieves" in the meantime, which is getting your dog to retrieve a ball a distance a way that you have not throw or dropped. Start by holding your dog, and tossing the ball a foot or two away. After the ball has stopped, tell your dog to go get it. Gradually increase the distance, and get to the point where you can walk away from the dog, set the ball down, go back to the dog, and tell them to go get it. Placing it on something raised up, like a bucket, helps a lot too.
generally, the first series of lessons are just recalls over the jumps and getting your dog to jump all the way down to the box, then turn around and jump all the way back to you. There's a lot of getting the dog to ignore other dogs, as well, in addition to very strong recalls.
You can work on "dead retrieves" in the meantime, which is getting your dog to retrieve a ball a distance a way that you have not throw or dropped. Start by holding your dog, and tossing the ball a foot or two away. After the ball has stopped, tell your dog to go get it. Gradually increase the distance, and get to the point where you can walk away from the dog, set the ball down, go back to the dog, and tell them to go get it. Placing it on something raised up, like a bucket, helps a lot too.