wherezaball

Hi all Hope someone can help me with this one. I have Olympus SP-550uz Digital Camera and when using the sports mode for taking piccies of moving doggies (i.e at flyball) the shots come out with blue haze over them (both on camera screen and on computer when downloaded). Any ideas why this is happening and how to fix it? I can take shots in Auto mode at flyball and with no blue haze while AUTO mode is OK some do get a little blury. Sports mode takes about 15 shots per sec (dont quote me but something like that) while the shots are great they have the blue haze. Any help appreciated. thanks

I feed my Lab with HD Hills Science Diet JD (Joint Diet) It is brilliant!! You need to feed for about 3 weeks to see a difference and it is not cheap to feed but it is well worth it. she is 8 been diagnosed almost 2 years ago and you would barely know she had a problem. She bounces around like an idiot as much as I try to stop her JD has all the supplements that help with joint problems and I really cant recommend it highly enough. I know a few people who feed it and they are all happy with it. It is only available from your vet.

Ok I think you need to back a few steps and backchain the behaviours until they are stronger. An alternative is to put netting up either side but I think going back and breaking down the behaviours will give a better more realible result. I would start back as far as sending him over one jump to get the ball and you be at that first jump to remind/guide/lure him back over the same first jump. As he is reliable start moving back "slightly" only baby steps further away from the first jump then doing the same exercise. As you begin to start some distance from the first jump increase the difficulty by sending him over one jump, get the ball and back over 2 jumps and reward him. Once he is reliable at that - send over one jump, get the ball and back over 3 jumps. Once he is reliable at that, send him over one jump, get the ball and back over 4 jumps. Again once he is reliable at that you can start sending him over 2 jumps and back over 2 jumps, then 3, then 4....etc this wont take as long as you think. the key to teaching flyball is firstly setting them up to succeed and secondly breaking the exercises down for the dog. Some dogs need them broken down further than others as you are building to more and more jumps you can have them placed closer together than the standard 10 feet apart. This helps make it easier for the dog to succeed. Then as they get it you gradually move the jumps back out to the standard 10 feet apart. Give no praise if he gets it wrong.If he gets it wrong think about how you can break it down again for the dog to make it easier. Make sure each link in the chain is strong before you move onto the next.

I taught Cooper a swimmers turn using the method on this website http://bcsportdogs.com/Turns.html using the tug toy as a reward. You can use food however if the dog is well motivated by the tug toy it work very well. Cooper is my third flyball dog and I have taught it many ways and found this to be the best for a quick and effecient turn.

Carpe Noctem Seems like your "lady friend" might be one smart woman? I seem to remember my lady friend giving my chooks 1 week with my staffy cross and the chook pen I had built. I also remember building a better and stronger chicken coop for the replacement chooks 5 days later.

this is simply a management and training issue As others have said dogs are predatory animals and chooks are prey. Its that simple. Socialisation can go part of the way to preventing problems such as this. But as I say Staffies (BTW, I love staffies) get "the cant help its" They really do. So do many other terriers and some working dogs. Many people have the same concerns about their dogs after they have attack an animal... will the dog attack a child? who knows... depends what the child does to the dog... depends what experiences the dog has had with the child or children in general. But generally speaking staffi are great people dogs but need alot of socialisation with other animals. But even the social staffi will find it tough going if the is a squeaky fluffy animal running around in front of them. if they can get to it they will. Thats what dogs do. Has the dog been to training to help him respond to you better? Wont stop his prey drive all together but will give you a bit more control when you are there and you use good management strategies when you are not there. Does the dog get much exercise? Dogs dont repreatedly attack because they have been "blooded". They are dogs NOT vampires. They do it again and again cause it is fun and they can. its thats simple. You just need to make sure the dog cant get into the chooks.

Hi all thanks for the interest but the flyball box has been sold! cheers

Laffi I have word document detailing each step. Send me your real email address and I will forward it. Thanks

OK I will try to upload pics of my Steve Pitt original flyball box it has wear and tear marks and is not in perfect condition but it works fine. It has been chew by a dog when left with a friend for training their own dog Steves new boxes sell for over $1000 these days but a re very good and hos boxes do last for many years. PM me if are interested in discussing further. cheers jo

Ok found the swimmers turn website. Should take you straight to turns but if it doesnt go to activities/training/turns These guys also promote alot of cross breeding specifically for flyball. Everyone has their own opinion on that. anyway this methods works VERY well for a tug toy motivated dog. We have used it for food motivated dogs but the handler needs to be very animated as well and the key is to have the dog at maximum "hype" without crossing that sometimes very thin line and loosing the dogs focus. checkout all the videos and give it a go. We started with the "HUP" exercise using plastic guttering from Bunnings. You buy a 2.4m piece and Bunnings cut it into 3 even pieces and build a pyramid type structure from that. http://bcsportdogs.com/Turns.html

the best way to teach a dog (especially one that doesnt naturally retrieve) a retrieve for flyball is by shaping it with a clicker. Like ALL exercises for flyball each exercise must be broken down and taught in tiny little links in a behaviour chain. Because flyball is one BIG behaviour chain. All links must be taught separately and then gradually linked together one at a time. This can as others have said take months to years. Depends on the dog and your experience. First thing is to learn the basics of clicker training. Most flyball clubs are using these methods these days. this link below is to Lonnie Olsen Dogscouts website. Check this out for heaps of great info. Also google Karen Pryor who is the queen of clicker training. Lonnie Olsen wrote a great flyball training book about 10 years ago now and many of the methods are still used today only modified slightly. But the principles are the same. The book is available on www.dogwise.com or www.amazon.com who sometimes have second hand copies going very cheaply (USD). There is also are website that shows how to teach an awesome swimmers turn. We have gone past the buckets, witches hats and sticks these days. Will try to find it and post it for you. I taught my BC using this method and he has a fast, efficient and most of all a safe turn i.e. all his 4 feet are on the box at once meaning he pushed off with his back feet and doesnt not slam the box with his shoulders. Which is how we orginally taught our dogs to do a turn. will try to find that swimmers turn website now... http://dogscouts.com/retrieve.shtml

Hi guys Yes good old flyball boxes do hold their value. I have one the original Steve Pitt type boxes I am thinking of selling to upgrade. It has normal wear and tear marks. i.e. not perfect but works fine. i am in Sydney and could have contacts for transport to other States in needed. PM me for further enquiries. I will try to get pictures up if I can tomorrow. thanks

Have PM'd you.

HI CDT Two of the four that ran in the line that broke the record of 17.672 were Tia relatives Dad "Buddy" (start dog) and "Cooper" (with the 2 blue eyes/white face) big brother was 3rd dog. The others were "Kelsie" BC x Kelpie and "Pebbles" Foxie X BC (height dog) Tia's mum Coco and other big brother Milo were in the team for the Nationals as well. To everyone else, I too was a little disapointed about the small number of races but had a good time anyway. I heard that the magic number of teams to make a 2 ring comp work is 26 (i think we had 25) not sure why that is the number but info from America suggest this is the case.

Yep it was Norwest Thunderdogs 1 who ran under 18 recently. I was not in the team for that comp but I am for MPW and Nationals. Hopefully we can do it again. We should on our first runs of the day when the dogs are fresh. We have a fabby new 11 inch height dog who can run under 5 seconds. I think the singles and pairs are good idea and the AFA are just trying to introduce the concept to Australian flyballers and the Nationals are a good place as everyone gets together. Plus it gives us a day to socialise before the main event. Hopefully the concept will then take off in other states. Would compete in it if it was a one day comp and no the Nationals. Most of us are camping. Geese I hope it doesnt rain like Canberra 2 years ago when we camped in caravans and it poured rain for 2 days.

Yep we will be there. Looking forward to it just like you guys. Anyone competing in the Singles and Pairs on the Friday? I'm not ... don't want to wear out the dog.... or me!!!! Will be there watching though. Where are the Vic teams staying on the way up? We found a place dog friendly place at Nambucca Heads for the Wednesday night. Then leaves only about 4-5 drive for the Thursday. Leaves plenty of time to pitch my tent.... which I will need!!!! I can't wait to see the sub 18 second team run. I hope they make the trip.

The blind toy poodle is Whitney and she officially retired from flyball about 2 years ago. Maybe a little longer.... while she learnt flyball back in about the year 2000 with good vision. She ran for some time with no vision in one eye and very little in the other. We often thought she counted the jumps and towards the end of her career her Mum used to soak the balls in bacon so Whitney could find them if she fumbled. The little black toy poodle sheryl is racing now is Whoopi who has been racing for about 3 years now I guess. I have seen heaps of different breeds do flyball and the key regardless of breed is focus and motivation. if you have those key attributes in a dog than any breed can do it. If you dont have those attributes you need to teach it. I love watching the non working breeds do flyball. i often say that training a dog such as Callaghan the Irish Wolfhound to do flyball is far a greater training achievement than training any working breed to do it. While I love racing my BC who can run times as quick as 4.1 secs for the lower heights and 4.3 for the higher heights. Competing with my once out of control ratbag rescue Labrador was a far greater achievement. As I said she was a resuce when I got her and a complete nutcase. Took me 2 years but we started competing when everyone thought we wouldn't and she retired recently with HD. My goal now is get a Labrador who can run under 5 seconds.... I still remember watching Penny the Lab from Croydon (think that was her name) thinking how does that Lab run that fast!!!! Whilst mine and other Labs can run fast they would rarely put themselves out that much. They are just happy to do it.... in their own time.. So yes any dog can do flyball. It just takes time, determination and sometimes a hell of a lot of patience on the trainers part. I have witnesses a blind poodle participating in flyball so I guess it shows pretty much anyone can have a go Bella, my silky, has quite a good swimmers turn and she can get high onto the box but she is so light that her front feet hitting the box doesn'tt trigger it, it is when she turns and pushes off with her back feet that the ball flys out. She got spooked by the ball hitting her in the bum so she became scared of the box and would only go up to it, stop and tentatively touch it with one paw and then run away from it. I took her back to basics and worked our way up again (no ball) and had her going round properly with a stick in front of the box. Unfortunately our poles are these plastic electric fence posts on a spike and they have a couple of hooks for holding the fencing tape. Bella wears a tiny black dog harness. She went racing down, jumped high on the box, leapt out and the harness handle snagged on the pole hook and there she was swinging in the air unable to touch the ground. Flyball box bad!! Not going near that bad thing again!!! Bella doesn't do flyball anymore! Maybe one day I'll try again. Jo

Have PM you with some class details. thanks

Our Staffy cross Rotti was being "Puppy sat" by some friends while we were away. She decided to go for a swim in their (fortunately very shallow) fish pond. Chasing the fish was bad enough but why did she have to extract the large fibreglass and foam crocodile head that was floating in the pond and chew its upper jaw off? What a mess! I got to clean up and have a trip to Australia Zoo to replace it!