# Flyball pics!!



## KristiM (Oct 18, 2011)

Got some nice pictures of Odin doing flyball this weekend at our outdoor practice
Dork face




































Thanks for looking


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## Neko (Dec 13, 2012)

Wow cool!!!


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## Metro_Mike (Mar 29, 2013)

Really great pics!!!!


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## Rei (Oct 10, 2008)

Great shots!! What an awesome dog.


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## Shade (Feb 20, 2012)

Great photos, especially the third one! 

I hope you don't mind me asking, but what are the wraps for? To protect him if he knocks the jumps?


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## KristiM (Oct 18, 2011)

Thanks everyone! Odin loves flyball and is so much fun to run, it blows everyone's mind how amazing his turn is considering he's twice the size of most flyball dogs

The wraps on his front legs are just extra protection for his wrists since flyball is pretty high impact. He's got a beautiful turn and is hits the box lighter than most of our 40 pound dogs but I still worry about the impact on his wrists over time. In short they just make me feel better


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## Shade (Feb 20, 2012)

Thanks for the explaination, that makes sense  I only have experience with wraps for horses and I've never seen them used for dogs before and was curious


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## Metro_Mike (Mar 29, 2013)

KristiM said:


> He's got a beautiful turn and is hits the box lighter than most of our 40 pound dogs


Out of curiosity I have been looking at a few of the clubs in the area. Most dogs are quite small would even venture to say about 35lbs.

I think of a GSD on the flyball track like a muscle car at a drag strip where the smaller dogs like Porches. Add to that the depth of their voice if they are a barker compared to the yaps


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## KristiM (Oct 18, 2011)

Yep he certainly has a bigger bark than most of the other dogs haha. And he barks like mad when he's on the line! Most dogs are about 30-40 pounds. That being said we also have a 65 pound pitbull mix on our team that runs 3.8! Another team around here has a pitbull that's close to 70 pounds and runs 4.0. At Odin's first tournament he was running 4.2 seconds and I have no doubt he will get faster. It is possible to do with a big dog....just slightly more challenging. The challenge is what it's all about though! Plus its way more impressive when you pull it off


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## ksotto333 (Aug 3, 2011)

That looks like so much fun...he looks like he loves it.....great pictures...


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## Liesje (Mar 4, 2007)

Nice! What brand skid boots did you get?


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## KristiM (Oct 18, 2011)

They aren't actually skid boots, they are just basically neoprene wrist wraps. He really doesn't skid at all (otherwise they would have been destroyed by now.) They are just for pastern support. 

Carpo-flex-x


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## Neko (Dec 13, 2012)

The wraps make him look so cool, lol


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## KristiM (Oct 18, 2011)

Neko said:


> The wraps make him look so cool, lol


Lol he absolutely HATED them the first few times I made him wear them. Now he loves it when I put them on, cause that means he gets to do flyball. Ill be sure to tell him that they make him look extra cool


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## Neko (Dec 13, 2012)

Please do =)


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## Liesje (Mar 4, 2007)

Wow those are really nice! Are they pretty easy to put on? The thing I hate about skid boots is that they are SO hard to put on, and the dogs can only wear them for racing. I forgot to take Pan's off once and his feet swelled twice their normal size.

His turn is looking fabulous! I can see from the pics he's coming off with his head pretty low, something I'm really working on with Nikon (his turn is great but he tends to come off pretty high which makes him a little "sticky" on the box). Does he triple stride between the box and the jump? My team is trying to get Nikon to triple stride and I just don't think he can.


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## KristiM (Oct 18, 2011)

They are really nice and they seem to be way easier to put on than the skid boots everyone else on my team has. They are pretty easy, I do make Odin lay down to put them on though cause other wise I seem to screw them up (now that he doesn't complain so much about it, its easy peasy.) I was planning to get a leather patch sewn on them as I have heard that dogs can burn through neoprene in one weekend. But after a full tournament and several practices they are showing no wear at all. 

Thank you! I am honestly beaming proud of his turn It really is so nice, snappy and super efficient. And most important to me he doesn't slam into the box like a lot of the bigger, fast dogs do. One of the pics he is pushing off a little low but that was our first warm up turn, 99% of his turns he's high centre. I found that doing up close work and having him target a ball on a rope on the ground really helped to get his head down. I did a lot of this when I first taught the turns and especially when I took the props away. I would have the ball basically close enough that he could come down right on to it, so that he was really driving down low and pushing hard off the box.

I would have to get some video and slow it down to be absolutely sure but I'm 99% sure that he is taking two _collected_ strides to the box. I really don't see how there is any way to get a dog this size to take three strides to the box. I also seem to recall rocket relay saying in one of their videos that even most mals will only take two strides to and from the box.


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

His turn looks great! :thumbup:


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