# Short video clips of Cava at flyball practice (updated)



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

We had 7 a month break due to Covid, but have been back for about a month and a half, with a couple weeks off for her spay/pexy/OFA last month. There are two clips working on the box turn - it's not perfect but she's triggering the box, getting the ball, and bringing it to me for a tug reward. Then side by side recalls with another dog who is recovering from an injury, and finally a passing recall. 






The video quality isn't good on the passing clip, my teammate was recording with her Android phone and there are always issues when sending videos between Androids and iPhones. Here's a screen grab from the video, this is about a 4 foot pass. That means that when the exiting dog crosses the start/finish line (marked by the poles), Cava is 4 feet away from the line as she enters. You can't see it in the photo but we recently added an additional challenge, there's another dog lined up as if ready to race, Cava has to run by him before passing into Psyclone. In a race, there will be 4 dogs in each lane, so this scenario simulates her running in the second spot on the team, with dog #3 lined up and ready to go.


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## David Winners (Apr 30, 2012)

I was watching a bunch of crufts flyball videos the other night when I couldn't sleep. Looks like a blast!


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

It's super fun! Lots and lots of training goes into flyball, the box turn especially and desensitization to running past other dogs full speed in a pass, and with dogs in the lane next to them.


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## Whiteshepherds (Aug 21, 2010)

Love watching flyball. Looks like the tradition is living on in your house!


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## WNGD (Jan 15, 2005)

They need to do it with a squirrel duct velcroed to the box instead of the ball .....


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

Squirrel duct. Say what, now? 🤣


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## Fodder (Oct 21, 2007)

i’m ready to come see her compete already!!!!
love that girl..

ps. use Whatsapp to pass videos between android and iphone.


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## Heartandsoul (Jan 5, 2012)

That was fun to watch and did so 3 times.


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## WNGD (Jan 15, 2005)

Cassidy's Mom said:


> Squirrel duct. Say what, now? 🤣


Combination of duct taped and velcroed  Both would hold the squirrel but the dog would have an easier time ripping it off the velcro (a Canadian invention btw)


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

Fodder said:


> ps. use Whatsapp to pass videos between android and iphone.


Mostly we just don't let Mindie video our dogs, lol. Or we hand her someone else's phone to use. She was doing the pass calling though, and I had her send me that one clip since it was Cava's closest pass of the set.


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

Heartandsoul said:


> That was fun to watch and did so 3 times.


We do a lot of video at practice, especially with passing and box work. You can see so much more when you view in slo mo than you can in real time. We use the free Coach My Video app and it works really well.


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## chuckd (Jul 16, 2019)

Thanks for sharing this. Though I had heard of the sport before, I had never seen what it looks like. That is truly an incredible thing to ask of a dog.... wonderful to see.

Going off the name, I assumed "flyball" somehow centered around "fetch" and mechanically or pneumatically launched tennis balls, hahaha!


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

chuckd said:


> Thanks for sharing this. Though I had heard of the sport before, I had never seen what it looks like. That is truly an incredible thing to ask of a dog.... wonderful to see.
> 
> Going off the name, I assumed "flyball" somehow centered around "fetch" and mechanically or pneumatically launched tennis balls, hahaha!


The first flyball boxes had an arm that would launch the ball up in the air for the dog to catch, so you are actually correct. I've seen some videos and it looked dangerous as heck! There are many modern versions these days that while they have minor differences, they all have a front pedal that the dog hits, releasing the ball. Because the dogs learn where the ball is as they jump on the box and their mouth is right there, you often can't tell that the ball is ejected unless viewed in slow motion. Regulations dictate that a loaded ball must travel at least two feet when the pedal is hit, and at the beginning of each tournament day the head judge will check to make sure every team's boxes are functioning correctly.

This is not a great picture, but I found this photo online of an early flyball box showing the arm that held the ball:










Here's a good article about flyball, the only inaccuracy is that jump heights are a minimum of 7" and a maximum of 14": Flyball Racing - Whole Dog Journal

From the article:
_*Lonnie Olson, one of the early board members of NAFA, says the sport of Flyball has changed dramatically over the years. According to Olson, Flyball got its name because it involves a mechanical box that throws out a ball for a dog to catch. In the original Flyball, the ball flew up high in the air. The dog would wait for the ball to come down, like an outfielder in baseball waits to catch a fly ball. As the dogs became more intense about the game, they began trying to catch the ball on its way up, instead of waiting for the ball to come back down. This, as you can imagine, became dangerous for the dogs. Olson said that some dogs began bashing their teeth on the “cup” that threw the ball. Flyball boxes started changing dramatically at that point, to create greater safety for the dogs.*_

The world record for a 4 dog team to complete the course, which is 51 feet in each direction, is under 14-1/2 seconds. That's an average of about 3.6 seconds per dog! I raced Halo for 5 years, her best time was 4.3 seconds. Cava is still in training so we're working on several aspects of the sport separately, eventually we'll start to combine them into a full run. I think she'll be faster than Halo, our training methods are better now than they were back in 2011 when I first started taking classes with Halo and she'd lose a couple tenths of a second on her turn. 

Here's a video of our team racing at a tournament in 2016 - Halo is running 2nd on the team:






And here's one from a 2014 tournament showing box turns in slow motion. These are heats from two different races, Halo is running 3rd:


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## chuckd (Jul 16, 2019)

Whoa- it happens so fast, I didn't realize that the balls _are_ ejected!

Thanks for all the info... as well as enabling my next youtube time-suck, lol!


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

chuckd said:


> Whoa- it happens so fast, I didn't realize that the balls _are_ ejected!
> 
> Thanks for all the info... as well as enabling my next youtube time-suck, lol!


🤣 Here's a video we shot at practice of Halo's box turn from the boxloader's perspective shown in real time and then at 25% slo mo:






I can help you with that youtube time suck, lol. This guy does great videos from the CanAm classic each year, which is the annual North American Flyball Association (NAFA) championships.


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

We're on lockdown again so I haven't been to practice in a couple of weeks, this is from December 7th. Cava's box training is going well, so we added a jump. We backchain to full runs, continuing to add additional jumps as she progresses. We're looking for her to maintain her box turn high and horizontal, with good rotation, as we increase speed.


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## Bearshandler (Aug 29, 2019)

It’s kind of startling how fast they are going.


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

Bearshandler said:


> It’s kind of startling how fast they are going.


You should see our border whippets, those dogs are FAST. They can do the full 102 foot out and back course in as little as 3-1/2 seconds.

Cava is accelerating off the box nicely, I'm pleased about that. She's super ball obsessed and sometimes those dogs race in to get the ball but aren't as fast coming back.


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## Bearshandler (Aug 29, 2019)

Cassidy's Mom said:


> You should see our border whippets, those dogs are FAST. They can do the full 102 foot out and back course in as little as 3-1/2 seconds.
> 
> Cava is accelerating off the box nicely, I'm pleased about that. She's super ball obsessed and sometimes those dogs race in to get the ball but aren't as fast coming back.


I think I’m going to look them up. I could see a ball happy dog loosing interest when the ball isn’t there anymore.


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

This is our fast team - 3 border whippets and a border collie mix height dog. Covet, Psyclone, Antic, and Trix. 




__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=925875700909742


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## David Winners (Apr 30, 2012)

Cassidy's Mom said:


> We're on lockdown again so I haven't been to practice in a couple of weeks, this is from December 7th. Cava's box training is going well, so we added a jump. We backchain to full runs, continuing to add additional jumps as she progresses. We're looking for her to maintain her box turn high and horizontal, with good rotation, as we increase speed.


So you put a barricade in front of the block to keep them high in the turn and then drive them back with a toy?

Looks like a lot of fun


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

Yep, we use props to regulate striding and shape the turn. The base of the one in front of the box is 8" high, we have slats to raise it to 9" or 10". The gutter on the ground (referred to as a bump) is to force the dog to take a certain number of steps between the jump and the box. If they launch from too far away they'll hit the box too low, affecting the turn. Pressure on the turning side can improve rotation. We can't use props in a race but we always use them at practice. Even with dogs who have been racing for years we're always working to maintain a good box turn.

Some dogs run for food rewards, but we prefer to use a tug if possible, whatever is most motivating to the dog. Dogs that are not that ball motivated can be trained to catch the ball from the box and bring it back but if they're too into the tug they may drop the ball early and have to be rerun.


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## Steve Strom (Oct 26, 2013)

Bearshandler said:


> It’s kind of startling how fast they are going.


You should see them in person.


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## Fodder (Oct 21, 2007)

Cassidy's Mom said:


> Some dogs run for food rewards, but we prefer to use a tug if possible, whatever is most motivating to the dog. Dogs that are not that ball motivated can be trained to catch the ball from the box and bring it back but if they're too into the tug they may drop the ball early and have to be rerun.


i would NOT want to catch a food motivated dog at the end of one of those runs. ouch!


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

Fodder said:


> i would NOT want to catch a food motivated dog at the end of one of those runs. ouch!


🤣 Dogs who run for food tend to slow down as they get to their handler, they're often lower drive. It's the speedy dogs running for a tug that can be dangerous because they do NOT slow down. Some people just hold out the tug and release it as the dog runs by, the dog circles back and then they tug. Some people even toss it on the ground behind before they line up and the dog runs to the tug when they come back and brings it to the handler to play.

I learned the hard way with a larger dog to not hold the tug too close to my side when I'm running away. I still have a knot on the outside back of my knee from some bony part of Halo crashing into my leg YEARS ago. It was exactly at Keefer's head height so he'd be walking with me around the house and occasionally bump into it. Yep, still hurts.

When you've got this coming at you, you want to get out of the way, lol.


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

More progress at practice yesterday - we did an exercise called a U-turn. A teammate releases her at about where the jump closest to the box would be, she runs to the box and gets the ball, then drives back towards me over jumps. The first two clips are with 2 jumps, the third clip is with 3 jumps. I'm waiting all the way back at the start line which is 51 feet from the box, I call her when she hits the box, turn, and run away. Her box turn isn't always the prettiest but I love her focus, drive, and enthusiasm. 






The last clip is Cava passing into Kaos. Here's a screenshot from video last weekend where she took a tight pass from Radar, a dog she hasn't done passing drills with before. Neither of them even blinked! The uprights are the start/finish line, which is 6 feet from the jump.


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## NadDog24 (May 14, 2020)

Looks like a lot of fun!


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## David Winners (Apr 30, 2012)

All of that is awesome. Thanks for sharing videos!

I can just imagine the multitude of challenges involved in getting high drive dogs to operate in this environment, and then taking it to an event.


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

David Winners said:


> I can just imagine the multitude of challenges involved in getting high drive dogs to operate in this environment, and then taking it to an event.


Absolutely, we train and train and train every aspect before we’ll debut a dog at a tournament. Dog safety is paramount, that’s always considered when designing exercises and deciding which dogs to use with green dogs in training like Cava. Even with dogs that have been racing for years, we’re constantly working on maintaining and improving their skills.


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## Fodder (Oct 21, 2007)

do you guys ever see accidental collisions?


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

I haven't seen that, no. There was a weeknight practice a couple of months ago that I wasn't at where one of our dogs crossed in front of another as he was running back and they collided. There were no serious injuries but it sounds like it was pretty scary, and that kind of thing can have a big effect on a dog's confidence. The dog that crossed tends to get really spun up so since then we've been working on not releasing her until she's calm. 

Dogs always go into the lane from the right and exit on the left, so regardless of whether a dog is passing into a dog or taking a pass from another dog, they're always left shoulder to left shoulder. It's a predicable picture for the dogs. They also learn to yield space to each other. Super confident, experienced dogs may run by each other so close that you can see their fur brush, but others may veer out a bit as they run by, and that's fine. Whatever they need to do to feel safe.

I can't speak for other clubs and how they train, but by the time a dog is doing passes like Cava in the video above, there's been a ton of work with solid dogs that can be relied on to do their job. We sometimes put up a gate or two lengthwise in the runback, so the green dog is released on one side of the gates and the other dog goes by on the other side, and vice versa. And the green dog always starts with the other dog running completely past them before being released and then that stagger is gradually decreased as the dog becomes more confident. If the green dog is starting at the box end, the other dog is held until the green dog runs completely past.


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

Continuing to add challenges, Saturday's practice was the first time we've had another dog on the field while we worked Cava on the box. We had Molley doing a recall in the other lane, and she did not care at all. She maintained her box turn with speed and distraction, and carried the ball across the finish line.


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## Steve Strom (Oct 26, 2013)

Holey,,,,,, people would die for a pick up and return like that on their retrieves.


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

Steve Strom said:


> Holey,,,,,, people would die for a pick up and return like that on their retrieves.


She accelerates back to me quite nicely. 😄 I was at 20 feet from the start line when she was released, so 70 feet from the box.


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

Here's a clip from her earlier set, before we added another dog. Somehow it ended up being in slo mo, that was not intended, lol. It's cool to see the power as she runs though. She doesn't get a clean grab of the ball and you can see her regrip it a couple of times but she does not drop it early. She also clips the middle jump, so striding still needs some work.


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## Steve Strom (Oct 26, 2013)

HA ,even in slow motion its only 14 seconds.


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## Fodder (Oct 21, 2007)

since starting her much younger than Halo, are you at a point yet where you can start to see the differences of an earlier foundation and/or compare the girls aptitude for the sport?


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

It’s difficult to say since our foundation training is so much more extensive now than it was back then. Even though Cava started going to practice younger, I didn’t begin any box training until she was 15 months old. Halo started her first class in May 2011 when she was 2-1/2, we began training with the club in December, and she did a few heats in her first tournament the following April. So from the beginning of training to racing on a team was less than a year. But Halo was already doing full runs with a dog in the other lane before we did any wall work with her because there wasn’t a good place to do it. She may have even been racing before she was on the wall, I can’t remember, and it was only a couple of times.

With Cava, as with all our green dogs, we now start on the wall first, and she was there for months. I think downsizing her to the pushboard helped her understand what we wanted since it’s smaller and there’s less room to NOT be horizontal. I wish we had transitioned to that sooner. From there we go to an unloaded box (no ball), then a ball velcroed over the hole so the dog just needs to pluck it off, then they trigger and catch the ball. So there are all these additional steps to work through now, which takes time.

Cava is going to be older when she finally debuts, but loss of training time for most of a year has a lot to do with that. Anyway, I’d say their aptitude for the sport is pretty comparable. Halo loved it and I think it’s apparent that Cava does too. Because we’re taking our time and holding out for specific criteria before progressing, I think Cava’s box turn will be better than Halo’s was. She’s already snapping off faster, with better rotation. Consequently, Cava’s times should be faster since Halo lost several 1/10ths of a second in her turn. That may not seem significant, but in a sport electronically timed to 1/1000 of a second, it is. Halo’s best line to line (102 feet total) time was 4.319 seconds.


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## David Winners (Apr 30, 2012)

Thank you for sharing, particularly in such detail!

Love it ❤


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

There are a lot of details, lol. More than are probably apparent to people who haven’t trained for the sport. In this one exercise alone there’s the placement of props to shape her turn and adjust her approach to the box that are adjusted as necessary, and where I’m standing and when I call her are also factors.

Generally you’d call your dog as they’re taking off towards the box or when they hit, if not earlier, closer to the release. When I called her too soon she got excited and crashed the props. So then I called her as she hit the box but that was still too soon, so we ended with me calling her as she hit the ground off the box. She doesn’t need revving up like some dogs, she’s plenty excited on her own and if I call her after she’s off the box her turn is much better.

We also discovered that like many dogs, she’ll drop the ball for the tug as she gets close to me. So we went from me standing at the start line when she’s released and running from there as she turns towards me to moving me 10 feet further back. Then they told me to run faster, lol. Um, I’m running as fast as I can! So I moved back to 20 feet and I also held up the the tug, dropping it as she got close. That was the ticket! It’s a lot of trial and error to see what works best for each individual dog.


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

We really pushed Cava at practice last night, she did full runs with a dog in the other lane. She's very aware of the other dog, she's quite competitive and you can tell that she knows she's racing that dog, lol. This short video is three separate clips, first she's paired with a BC mix, Trix, who's doing snap offs - someone is restraining Trix in the runback next to Cava, and her handler is catching her on a tug as she comes off the box. This exercise encourages rotation. In the second two clips Cava is paired with a BC/Whippet mix, Psyclone. Psy is faster than Trix, and at first we stagger the start, so Cava is in front as she goes to the box. We finished with both dogs being released at the same time, in the 3rd clip, so they're going down the lane and back side by side. She keeps up with the BW! That extra bit of excitement is why she drops the ball early, so we'll be working on that, but I'm very pleased with how well she did with such a big challenge.


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## dogma13 (Mar 8, 2014)

I love these clips! I never realized how involved training for this sport is. It's really interesting to see Cava coming along and learning.


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## Bearshandler (Aug 29, 2019)

She always looks amazing working.


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

I didn't realize how involved it was until I started taking classes with Halo back in 2011. So much of it is desensitizing dogs to running next to another dog, and passing into and being passed by a dog. And the box turn, of course. Flyball dogs need to be totally focused on their job in order to maintain in the distracting environment of a tournament.


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

Bearshandler said:


> She always looks amazing working.


Thanks! She is SO into it, no matter what we do. I love her energy and enthusiasm. She has great drives and engagement but she's also always clearly having a lot of fun too.


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## Bearshandler (Aug 29, 2019)

Cassidy's Mom said:


> Thanks! She is SO into it, no matter what we do. I love her energy and enthusiasm. She has great drives and engagement but she's also always clearly having a lot of fun too.


Not only can you see the energy and enthusiasm, but she also makes it look so effortless.


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

Our flyball club is hosting a tournament this weekend so Cava's training got a big shove forward. The first two clips in this video are with her in the left lane (facing the box end of the field), her easy side since she turns left, away from the other lane. Two weeks ago she'd never done a full run with dogs in her lane, here she's running last on a team of 3 dogs, racing a dog in the other lane. The next two clips she's in the right lane, turning towards the other lane and she's noticeably more excited. There are a pair of dogs racing in each lane with an extra dog on each side. After 7 weeks off in a row, we had just 3 practices to prepare her for all the scenarios she'll see in the ring next weekend. And then we hope for the best!


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## Fodder (Oct 21, 2007)

^ Makes me so happy…. too bad i’ll be heading north this weekend. Would have grabbed some ear plugs and been there in a jiffy 😅


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## dogma13 (Mar 8, 2014)

She's looking really good! Really enjoying herself. Best of luck this weekend


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

Thanks, Terri!


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## David Winners (Apr 30, 2012)

Good luck and have fun! Cava is obviously having a great time


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## NadDog24 (May 14, 2020)

Good luck! Fly ball is such an interesting sport


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

David Winners said:


> Good luck and have fun! Cava is obviously having a great time


She is VERY enthusiastic, lol. 

NadDog, it is an interesting sport. Also - loud, chaotic, lol. But the dogs just love it.


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