TREIBBALL TRAINING

I have recently begun to train Kodi in the sport of treibball (pronounced try ball). And so far we are hooked! Here’s why. The sport requires the same amount of teamwork and training as agility, however you don’t need a lot of expensive equipment to get started. All you need is an exercise ball or large jolly ball. The goal is for your dog to eventually be able to ‘herd’ eight exercise balls into a large soccer net using only his nose while following your commands and hand signals. We have only been training for a few weeks and already Kodi is proving to be a quick study. We are working with an exercise ball in the house and he pushes it happily and determinedly up and down the hall at my command. And he is fantastic when it comes to placement behind the ball. Outside we are using basketballs and continuing our work on placement while also adding a bit of distance. Right now he tends to push the balls in all different directions with more excitement than focus. Which can be a bit of a problem since he tends to try and bite the balls when he’s excited, hence the reason why we haven’t moved the exercise ball outdoors yet. For now we’re just taking our training slowly and enjoying every moment this unique and fun new dog sport has to offer. And I couldn’t think of a more rewarding way for us to strengthen our bond and spend our upcoming summer.