'Top Tips' to get Fun Flyball ready!

Congratulations on booking your space on 'Fun Flyball!' Here are some tips to get ready for your course- we look forward to welcoming you!

The first few weeks of your beginners flyball course will be focused around running drills to prepare your dog for the way of the game! Below are some of the training tips we will be using in these drills so the more you can practice-the better! It's great if you can practice in different environments so your dog(s) know what to expect.

Remember- KEEP IT POSITIVE!

1) Toy & Tug Drive

Most of our dogs are foodies, but from the other end of the flyball course, food is tricky to see! A long tug toy is the perfect eye catching reward for your dog to run to. Other options can be a ball on a rope, flirt pole, a teddy or a frisbee. It needs to be something you can keep hold of at the other end.

Once you have decided on your toy of choice-stick to it! Your dog ONLY gets this toy when you run these flyball drills so ensure it stays out of sight unless you're training. To get your dog excited by the toy, keep the playtime to 5 minutes at a time and make them work for it! Wiggle the toy around, use excitable voices and make them want it! Allow them to get it every 30 seconds as a reward then continue. If your dog has resource guarding tendencies, use this time to trade for food. Never try to physically open your dogs mouth as this doesn't build trust. If your dog is an overenthusiastic tugger, watch your fingers! If they catch you, please remember it wasn't on purpose, they're just excited by the game. You can ask your dog to wait/stay as you walk away from them then call them with the toy. As they are running towards you, run a few steps back so they keep that momentum going! Reward them with a game of tug.

2) Recall

An obvious but important one! You want your dog to run back to you after they have the ball, not away! Most of us make the mistake of only calling our dogs back on walks when it's time to go home, recall should be practiced throughout the walk. It's time to brush up on those skills!

3) Restrained Recalls

You'll need a second pair of hands for this one!

Get someone to hold your dog (off lead) by their harness/collar whilst you run away. As you call their name, your partner lets go and your dog should make a beeline for you! Feel free to run some more if your wish! Ensure lots and lots of praise and a treat when they get to you. With all recall, it's important to reward your dog within split seconds of them getting to you (so have a treat ready in your hand-something yummy!) By asking them to perform an action when they get to you e.g. sit or down, you are actually rewarding the secondary action and not the prompt recall.

4) Retrieving, Catching and Giving Up The Ball

Some of you will be lucky to have a dog that lives for a game of fetch, others not so much! If you want to play flyball, the dogs has to learn to retrieve-this can be a tedious and long process. At this point I will note that no squeaky balls are used in the game of flyball so please train with a normal tennis ball (the exception to this is your reward toy but again, the squeaky ball is only used as the reward, not as the retrieval ball).

To make the ball more interesting, you can leave it in a zip lock bag in the fridge with pieces of chicken/treats so it smells fabulous to your dog. Be careful with this tip if you have a food resource guarder! Roll the ball across the floor and praise your dog when they pick it up in their mouths. You can put a leash on your dog to help 'reel them in' to you when they have they ball (please do not yank- gentle pressure!) to guide them in the right direction to you. Trade for their reward toy when they give it up. Build up distance between you as the dog gets better at this game. Again, you can run away from your dog to help them keep that recall momentum. If they drop the ball, send them back for it.

Some dogs (my Lola included!) cannot catch a ball at all. I've tossed this dog slices of ham before and they just land on her face. Her perplexed face is just pure comedy gold! She has now learn't to catch a teddy. We did this by using smaller objects such as bits of doggy popcorn as it doesn't move fast. For larger dogs, I'd recommend something bigger than popcorn and softer as we don't want the popcorn inhaled mid air to become a choking hazard! If you'd like a size guide, Lola is a small shi tzu poodle cross weighing 6.9kg so her mouth is tiny!

The one that everybody dreads, giving up the ball! We've all been there!

The trick is to be patient and not to let frustration get the better of you.

After you have completed your retrieval exercise and your dog is running back towards you, use your reward toy to get your dog focused on this so they drop the ball. This might not happen first time so please be patient. Make your reward toy look interesting to your dog, you might find that just standing there showing it to them won't cut it! The truth is, many dogs require a swap for something of equal or higher value than the object that they're holding. I know I wouldn't swap my ice cream sundae for a handful of pine nuts...offer me a pavlova though and we've got a deal! Every dog will have something-you've just got to find out what makes them tick!

Remember not to chase them! This game will trump everything! If it's not working out, ignore them and walk away ready to try again in 15 minutes.

5) Ball Target

When your dog can happily drop the ball, bring in a target mat. During the flyball game, the ball will be on a sloped target box attached by strong velcro for your dog to take from here. Due to this, your dog needs to be comfortable with putting their feet on a different textured surface to collect the ball. A door mat is a great tool for this as it will not slip when the dog runs to it. For safety, I wouldn't recommend a towel. Put the mat in an area which has a clear run to it and place the ball on the mat in a position that means the dog will have to put their front paws on it. If your dog is uncomfortable with this, start with the ball right at the edge of the mat and place it further into the middle of the mat as the dogs confidence grows.

6) Ball Obsession

This one is more of a training tip instead of a flyball drill. If your dog is or becomes ball obsessed, start using a 'dead ball', this is a ball that is present on the floor in training but you do nothing with. Those of you that have attended my intermediate/advanced agility sessions will be familiar with the concept of dummy obstacles! When doing your tug games, have the dead ball on the floor. If your dog goes towards it, call them away, if this fails and they run off with it, IGNORE THEM. Carry on making the tug toy/reward toy look incredibly appealing (you might look slightly odd in the process but it's all part of the fun!). Praise your dog when they return to you, no matter how long it takes!