more about the flyball competition on Australia Day

When Penny and I competed in the Australia Day flyball competition last Tuesday, some other members of the club took photos, and they've been kind enough to let me post them here.


Here we are waiting with our team.




Well, I was ready and raring to go, but Penny decided to have a sit down and a rest.




She obligingly set off over the jumps when I pointed out there was a tennis ball at the other end. But once she got down there she visited a few people in the crowd to see whether they had something for her in the way of pats or treats. After a while she noticed I was at the other end screaming and going red in the face, so she wandered back the long way, around the jumps.



I guess we're never going to be flyball champions. Luckily, we joined a club whose motto is, 'We run for fun'.

But later she did amble over the jumps and saunter back over them with the ball. At least it was a clean run, as they say, even if not fast.

practising flyball

Seeing Penny seemed okay today, on her first day of antibiotics, we thought it would be okay to go to the park and practise some short flyball runs.

I'd been told that it's fine to keep up her interest in tennis balls, necessary, in fact, if we are to succeed at this new sport; but it's better to throw the ball behind us rather than in front, so she gets used to running away from her human.

Here she is running away from the camera.



I think the idea is not to look where she is running, because in the actual sport you run away from her to encourage her to come over the jumps fast in order to catch up to you. (We've only been to three sessions, so I'm not quite on top of technique yet, as you can imagine.)

Here's a shot of her coming towards the camera. I think human number two is doing a great job of not turning to watch her.




And, as it was getting towards sunset, the flash on the camera went off, so don't be scared by the 'devilish eyes' as she races toward the camera in the last shot.

a dog practises flyball techniques

Penny did well at her first ever flyball event, last Saturday. She's keen to chase a tennis ball (too keen, in some situations!), she loves grabbing a tug toy and she flies over jumps with great enthusiasm. So I guess the main issue for us will be whether her human can learn to play her part, and also to make sure Penny plays this new sport safely.

At our first session we learned that it's most important to conquer the turning technique before participating, so she can turn efficiently without any strain on her joints.

Here we are practising at home. Of course, as soon as I left the venue I forgot nearly everything the teacher had told us, so maybe our technique isn't too good.

But I think we got the basics right.

lure coursing is lots of fun for dogs

Penny loves lure coursing. I've just received a notification from the Rhodesian Ridgeback Club of Victoria that their next lure coursing day will be at KCC park in Skye (Melways 128 J 12, for Victorian readers), on the 10th of August from 12 noon - 4 pm.


I'll rephrase that first sentence. Penny ADORES lure coursing. The problem is to hold her back as we wait our turn. One time she managed to tear her way through the plastic fencing around the course, but we hauled her back. She hasn't come to terms with the concept of waiting your turn, such an important part of the Australian psyche.)

The photos here are not of lure coursing at KCC Park, but of the same sport at Lilydale. It was organised by Animal Aid. That's the place where Penny goes to training each week.


I enjoyed looking at a video clip of a dog in the US running a course. I found it at Spot On K9s, after following a link from Bark Blog. At Lure Coursing Fanatics there's a good explanation of this sport and its history. I like the fact that they emphasise the safety aspect.

I've been happy that the Rhodesian Ridgeback Club and Animal Aid both maintain good safety. Every time we've participated they have made sure only one dog is in the field unless owners wanted to run two compatible dogs, and they manpulated the plastic-bag lure to suit the ability of the dogs.