Ye Olde Hotdog Retrieve

Okay, so it's not a real hotdog because I'm a special sort of snowflake and that would make me gag which is hugely counterproductive.  However Miss Hopie is being taught the hotdog retrieve (using a 'just as tempting but not-hotdog sausage') as our trick for getting into agility classes at the end of the month to prove I can train and she can learn.  It's easy enough to teach and hopefully it looks swish enough for us to earn enough points to get in to the training center because I really, really don't want to wait ages before testing again and would vastly prefer to just be able to train.  The whole trick will involve her going out to hotdog that is thrown as if it were a dumbbell in an obedience exercise, have it retrieved, front and handed over neatly before finishing.  It's coming along pretty well at the moment, I'll try in a few days to get a picture of her being a clever bean. :)

Cuebiyar Cross My Heart PT FDX

After our last flyball comp at Frankston, we were off to Yarram this weekend and onto more in the following weeks. At Frankston we ran Hope limitedly - much to her dismay (but MUM... the tennis ball is getting away!!!) that is we made our teams up of 5 dogs with her and another novice being switched so they each only ran in a few heats out of each race and weren't overwhelmed.

After Frankston we decided she seems to be running best as the lead dog and that she was okay to have more runs, so she ran in all 5 heats in each race this time all day long. Hopie heaven!

She did really well and I am starting to feel a bit more coordinated. When we got home last night and I'd gotten an e-mail saying she'd actually gotten both her FD and FDX. Fancy pants hey! LOL

Of course the most important job of all is still just being La's best friend! He can't wait till he's a bit older and can play flyball with her. :)

Lily on the other hand just wants to pat, hug and kiss everyone and then splotz on mums lap for a nap!

First comp :)

Our first flyball comp was Saturday. You could definitely tell it was her first comp but she did manage to pull out 4 nice runs and our Hastings Hit and Fly team ended up scoring 2nd in our division by the end of the day.

I snapped this one of miss Chilled Out Chickiebabe, who had fun along with her brother running cheerfully amok. I do have some footage of one of Hopies runs but I can't get it to upload to youtube at the moment! Our next comp is coming up in a few weeks at Yarram and then we'll go up to Euroa and later to the Nationals! :)