A Sort of Flyball
Jamie loves this game.  I call it a sort of flyball because he goes over several jumps to fetch a toy and then jumps back again.  He'd love to do real flyball but I doubt if he'd be capable of running against a dog in another team without wanting to run off and play.  In the agility ring this game would help if I had to call him over jumps.  Of course it also helps to get him going over a line of jumps ahead of me.  This is very useful if you can't run as fast as your dog.

To start with I taught Jamie to go over one jump.  I threw the toy over it and encouraged him to fetch it back.  When he'd got the idea of that I asked him to sit and wait while I placed the toy on the other side of the jump.    Being a retriever cross he's very keen to fetch anything.

It looks easy when you see it like this but it does take time and patience to show a dog how to play this game.  It helps if the dog can learn to wait while while you place the toy.  It's possible that this might help with waits on the start line at a show but I've never had the courage to try that one.  I've made a little video if you'd like to see it.  The husband was busy watching rugby at the time so I set the camcorder up on a tripod.  If you try this at home don't do what I did the first time.  Make sure the camcorder's level or you'll get a lovely skew wiff movie clip. 
Here it is.

Thanks to John from the Hillam Hot Dogs Flyball Team for putting me right on the distance between hurdles.