More Flyball Than You Can Shake A Stick At

Whew! What a weekend! I never would have thought I'd say this, but there is such a thing as too much flyball fun.

Harry's team raced 8 times both days in a 3 out of 3 format. I really don't like 3/3 racing--you barely get going and suddenly it's over. Plus getting the dogs out and into the lane 8 times each day was simply too much. Too much commotion for the other dogs, too much before race peeing and after race cool down walks.

But my little old man Harry is a real trooper. I usually start him around 45 feet at the first light but because he was running so much this weekend, I moved him up to around 14 feet at the third light. That was easier on him but I couldn't control his starts as well. He was never truly up to top speed on the run down to the box. His times suffered a bit but he held on to 5.2 -5.3 seconds all weekend, even on Sunday. His feet held up well too. Not bad for 10 and a half years old!

He picked up some decent title points. We were furiously calculating and we think he might get his next big title at our club's own tournament in November. That is the Onyx title that comes with 20,000 points. Harry of course would not notice this particular milestone and I hope that he continues to run fast and happy for a few more years to come.

Besides running Harry in start position for our B team, I had the honor of running the start dog for our A team. This was the first time Dogz Rule! has put a team into Division 1. That team was seeded at the bottom of the division and we figured we'd just race as tight as we could and try for clean and fast. Well, we took third place on Saturday and second place on Sunday. Sunday included a personal team best of 17.5 seconds (wow!). We certainly attracted attention by fielding such a strong team that has lots of potential.

I was totally rocking the starts with Marz. He's a big black and white border collie. Big, as in 50 lbs big. He's a flyball maniac but this makes him a pretty easy dog to start. He jumped out of my grip a couple of times but I was able to get pretty consistent starts under 0.02 seconds. Best of all, on Saturday, I got a perfect 0.000 start with Marz! That means I let him go back there at 54 feet and 6 inches and he crossed the line just as the countdown timer hit zero. I've been doing flyball for 9 years and this is my first perfect start.

I told Lauren, Marz' owner, that handling Marz was kind of like handling Harry in his prime. Only Marz is bigger. And furrier. And much faster (Marz usually runs under 4.0 seconds). But it was the same handling experience--gripping this barking, bucking dog who is so excited his fur is nearly standing on end, feeling him become still then tense up and position his feet as my start cadence lets him know it's time to ...GO!

I yell a lot at flyball. I get pretty excited (one of the judges told me I was a "handful"!). We've noticed that several of the other dogs on the teams I run on get pretty excited when I yell too. Kim mentioned that her BC Stella was hopping in the air as I released Marz. But hopping sounds too mild for what was happening. Stella was levitating! We just had to film this. So here's a short video of me releasing Marz with Kim (in the yellow shirt) and Stella in the line up to my right. Notice that Stella does a pre-release hop then the full bore levitation once I let Marz go.

I also took a bunch of video of the general scene. The constant noise and activity, the veritable explosion of equipment, dog crates, tugs, food, and all of the other stuff needed to make flyball fun. It will take some work to turn it into something viewable so I'll post it later this week.

Flyball is generally a pretty clean game with very high levels of sportsmanship. Teams often thank each other for "great racing!" as they are leaving the ring. But at the same time, beyond the fact it is a game we play with our dogs, it is a game of skill and strategy and there aren't many people who do flyball who aren't there for the win. The competition is fierce. But to keep it all in perspective, there's always alcohol.

Alcohol is prohibited at all of the places we hold our tournaments so I'm speaking hypothetically here. But let's say on Sunday around 8:30am, you look across your club's set up (resembling a gypsy encampment) to the next club's area to hear them discussing the availability of jello shots to be followed by a "what the heck" and the opening of the jello shot cooler. Yes, that club brought a cooler especially for their jello shots.

Hypothetically, other beverages are also easily managed. Did you know that if you put red wine in a plastic water bottle it looks just like grape juice? And if that plastic bottle happens to have a soda label on it, Dr. Pepper, say, well that red wine looks exactly like Dr. Pepper. Amazing.

Here's to many more great races with my club, Dogz Rule! Cap, you have some big shoes to fill, little buddy.