Odin's first Box Turns

[Liesje]

Debbie that's pretty close to what we've got going on the basement, but I send Nikon closer (I have a line on my carpet that marks where the jump would be but rarely work that far back, it's way back by the other wall and I have large table in the way now). The angle was actually a lot greater than what the video suggests. The furniture in the video (chair and futon you can kind of see) is actually straight in line with the board, so if Nikon were to come straight off the board he'd end up on the futon. Because of that I have to send him at an angle as well, so I'm basically sending him and catching him from the top dot.

And I agree, I wouldn't use boots unless they are needed. They are cheap and not going to hurt, but it's just another thing to deal with at practice and tournaments. They are difficult to put on with a large dog. Usually someone helped me and Pan hated it. Pan and Kastle were the only dogs on our team that wore them. Nikon's never worn anything and we've only ever trained and competed on mats, though I do check his pads at practice because he likes to slide into his tug (thankfully NOT the box). After Pan and Kastle gained more experience they both wore them less. Kastle might not need them anymore and Pan would just wear them in a tournament.

[blackshep]

Originally Posted by Cassidy's Mom

Right turners rule!

Our club is left turners! :P

How old are your GSD's before you start teaching the box turns? I've been doing restrained recalls with my girl, just over very low jumps. I'm having preliminary hip x-rays done next week, to make sure things look ok before we decide to progress to anything else.

[Liesje]

Depends on how you start the turn. With a puppy or young dog I'd be OK starting the "turn" by doing chute type drills on flat ground or a flat pushboard with the jump no more than 4". With puppies our clubs starts runbacks on flat mats (no jumps) and works turns by playing trade games (training the dog to get the ball, bring it all the way back, and trade for toy or treat). The box does not factor in.

[blackshep]

Yeah, we've been doing the restrained recalls for her tug, and trading. What age do you start incorporating box work?

Reason I'm asking is I think you have to be extra careful with GSD's and they have been talking about starting my pup (9 months) on the box. I'm having her hips checked out first (next week), but even still I don't want to start that too early.

To be honest I'm a bit worried because she's always (since I got her at 8 weeks) squatted a bit unevenly (not every time, but most) when she pees, so I want to get her checked out anyway. I hope she's ok, because she really seems to love the stuff we've done so far, but if something is up, then that's the end of flyball for us, I'm afraid.

PS. awesome action shots!

[KristiM]

My 20 month old dog has hip dysplasia (not the one in the video) and he has still been given the go ahead for flyball and agility from the vet and physio. Hip dysplasia isn't the end of the world (depending on the severity) the worst thing for dysplastic dogs is keeping them overweight and inactive. If you are concerned about it though, I would wait, no need to rush.

[Liesje]

I think you should be OK assuming the prelim checks out. Everything in moderation. I started Pan on everything pretty young, but it was a while before I officially joined the flyball team and we only had practice 3 times a month. Box work was only a small part of that (maybe 10 reps total). Pan did not compete until he was 19 months old. I did not start working turns at home until later and even then I'm still careful not to over-do it. If you can develop a *safe* turn with good technique you will be saving your dog from a lot of stress and possible injury.

[blackshep]

Originally Posted by KristiM

My 20 month old dog has hip dysplasia (not the one in the video) and he has still been given the go ahead for flyball and agility from the vet and physio. Hip dysplasia isn't the end of the world (depending on the severity) the worst thing for dysplastic dogs is keeping them overweight and inactive. If you are concerned about it though, I would wait, no need to rush.

Thanks, that makes me feel so much better! That's my biggest fear with a young, active dog. I don't think she'd be happy to be a couch potato, she genuinely loves to work.

I'm still going to get her checked out though. If something is wrong, I may need to modify our activities somewhat.

The good news is, she LOVES scent detection, so that and tracking is also a good options for her. She loves schutzhund too, but I don't think I'd be doing the wall or a-frame if there's something wrong with her hips.

But she's so cute with flyball, she even brings her tug back and lines herself up to go again, with no help from me

[KristiM]

You Tube

You Tube

Odin did a nice turn, complete with the ball in practice today!!! He also did like 10 where he fumbled the ball.... but look boys can multi task We borrowed the box again this week to work on turns with the ball. (Multi tasking is hard for Odin's boy brain, turning AND catching a ball??? OMG)


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[Cassidy's Mom]

THAT looks really nice! Even experienced dogs bobble the ball once in awhile, and it's certainly not unusual for green dogs to do it until they get the hang of it. Sometimes we rig the box so the ball doesn't come out as quickly, we did that for awhile with one of our dogs but she's now pretty consistently getting the ball without the clip in place.

Halo was pretty funny the first few times we added the ball to the box. She was used to plucking it off velcro on the push board, but the first time she triggered the box and the ball flew out past her head she did a double take - whoa, what was THAT??? My homework that week was to toss a ball for her to catch to improve her coordination.

[KristiM]

Thanks Debbie! I will practice him doing some ball catching this week along with getting the ball out of the box I think it will just take a bit of time for him to get used to the idea of catching the ball. The club was SUPER happy with his progress on the turns! They figured it was time to add the ball since he was turning really nicely pretty consistently. I'm just wondering should I do a split of turns with, vs turns without the ball? I was thinking of doing like 2-3 warm up turns no ball and then working with the ball in for a few turns each session? Does that sound right or should I just have the ball in every time until he is catching consistently? (I have the box again this week.)