On the box
Actually looking at the ball and not the dog in the other lane!!(you can see how tense I was in the background! lol)
(photos courtesy of doggieportraits.co.uk)We were at our show, Milletts Farm, this weekend and Sam put Fox into the starters team as fifth dog. I wasn't going to run him as I had been focusing him on the box but he was still very easily distracted. I put him in the practice of the first leg and then put him away. I only tend to run him if there are not enough dogs as I always feel I'm letting the team down. He generally just runs up and down the lane, chasing the dog in the other lane and ignoring the ball. The team had four dogs that were pretty reliable so I didn't bother. On the first run Bronwyn, Sam's JRT, decided she didn't want to play so Tasha persuaded me to put him in. I put him in and ran him when I thought the other team had finished on the first two legs but they hadn't finished and were trying to catch their dog that went wrong to run it again so we won the race (it was best of three) We were running all three legs so as we had already won, Fiona and Tasha persuaded me to try and run him when the other team was still running which, I have to say, scared the life out of me as he has a tendency to run across. I let him go and the other team let their dog go. Fox stopped in the lane, the dog in the other lane stopped and they just stared at each other. My heart was in my mouth as the last thing Fox needs is another fight but I shouted 'GO GET YOUR BALLIE!!!' and to my and my teams utter astonishment he turned away from the dog, got his ball out of the box and ran back toward me!! I was so shocked that I forgot to run and then when I finally did I shouted 'FLY!!' LOL! We were in the blue lane first which makes it easier to focus the dog as you have your back to the other team. In the red lane it was a little more tricky as he could see the dogs in the other lane more easily and he turns that way on the box. I had to chase him up the lane the first two times as he was threatening to run back after the dog but he got his ball and ran back to me. I had to run like hell to get out of the lane before he bowled me over. The third time he looked and slowed but then ran to the box. I was so thrilled!!! The thing that helped was that I had an army of Fox catchers down the middle of the runback area to stop him going across. This gave me the courage to run at full pelt to the back of the lane. This meant that on the way back he didn't look at the other dog at all and his focus was excellent. We ended up with a second so I was rather chuffed!! The only really annoying thing was that I had to admit my sister was right!!! Grrrr! She loved that and I know I'll never live it down!!! LOL!!
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