Flyballin'

Last week we shared a little bit about Athena's progress in her beginning Flyball class.  We received some great advice for how to manage Athena's socialness during class, and this past weekend's class was much more successful than the last!

Instead of barking in her crate the entire hour and a half, Athena spent Sunday's practice in the car where she was able to relax and be bark free.  I noticed that each time we took her out of the car and brought her into the training facility she was WAY less anxious than she had been when we would let her out of the crate.  I think that the car solution seems to be a great one for keeping Athena's anxiety and stress low and helping her to focus on the game rather than on the presence of other dogs.

Here's a video of Athena jumping over eight hurdles (can you tell how much she LOVES Flyball?):

Yes that's my squealing voice in the background encouraging Athena to run to me for some fun tug time with this beast of a tug toy:

This tug started out with four brand new tennis balls, but in the end, only two of them survived.  I'll just say that Athena's distraction issues were partially cured due to this miracle working tug toy.  She thinks it's the greatest thing to tug with in the whole world!  Unlike last week, this week Athena completely ignored another off-leash dog for some time to tug with her new toy.

Don't forget to enter the February Bow of the Month Giveaway.  A winner will be chosen tonight (February 6th) at 9 PST!