Flyball! (appendix)

Here are some photos that I wasn't able to muster at the time of the original post.

Kim and Stella with Lauren's back and Duwain's headless body. These photos are out of focus and very dull because we can't use a flash during racing.

Lauren and Ryp and Duwain, generous owner of flyball whore Eris.

Karl Ruetz's back (he is so dedicated to flyball that he went through all of the training to become a judge!), Danielle and Makena, Valeria and Steve (box loader extraordinaire), and Alyssa and Mika.

My coach's notes for the A and B teams, respectively. The circled numbers are the race numbers. The columned numbers are the passes in feet (W is wide, AJ is around jump) and the numbers below the total line are the total race time in seconds with W (win) or L (loss) indicated. The notes are crumpled up from being alternately crammed in my pockets and yanked out to record results.

DR! races for the two-day tournament. This little scrap of paper looks a bit beat on because I carried it in my pocket all weekend, pulling it out frequently to check on what team was coming up.

Flyball!

The heady mixture of dog hair, dog pee, fritos, doughnut sprinkles, half-drunk sodas, dregs of wine from the night before and dregs of coffee from this morning...the cacophany of dogs on the edge of meltdown and people taking a game we play with dogs far too seriously (and themselves too often on the edge of meltdown), the shriek of the judge's whistle, the snap of the box ejecting a tennis ball...it must be flyball!

It was a real stroke of luck that my November leave, timed to take place during the Muslim eid holiday when Aramco is closed, coincided with the flyball tournament hosted by my old club Dogz Rule!, about whom I have written many posts. The lovely Bell County Expo Center in Belton, Texas, located about 60 miles north of Austin, is a perfect venue for running flyball.

This is a good point to clearly state for the record that I flew halfway around the world just to go to a flyball tournament (literally halfway around the world, because I traveled about 12,900 km and the diameter of the earth is 12,750 km!).

When I told DR! that I could come help with the tournament, I expected the club to ask me to help with scoring. That's not a high profile job but a properly run score table is critical to running a flyball tournament; a typical tournament has multiple divisions containing four or five teams each, up to six dogs on each team, and multiple judges, all of which is organized and managed from the score table. I would have been happy to sit at the score table and in between recording scores and printing race results, watch the racing all weekend.

But to my complete amazement, when I showed up I was listed as coach or pass caller for all three DR! teams! I immediately demurred on pass calling. That's a skill that takes regular practice to do well and I've not practiced it for two years. So I ended up as coach. For three teams!

I have to confess that I harbored a secret hope that DR! would ask me to coach their C team. I coached that team for most of the time I was with DR! The C team is a team for green dogs who are testing their tournament readiness, older dogs who may be slowing down a bit, dogs who may not be able to run an entire weekend. Unlike the A or B teams which have relatively fixed line ups, the C team always went in with a second goal (besides winning, of course): to give all six dogs as much mat time as possible (only four run in any given race so there is lots of lineup juggling). The dogs assigned to the C team changed from tournament to tournament making it quite a challenge to coach! But I'm proud to brag that we usually finished first or second in our division. Sure, sure, the dogs and handlers were doing all the work, but I like to think I had a little tiny bit to do with it! The C team may not have set world time records but getting good passes and clean runs were often far more exciting for all involved.

So I was utterly thrilled that I not only had an opportunity to coach them again, but I was also going to be working with the A and B teams as well. I couldn't believe that DR! had that much faith in me.

But wait, there's more! DR! whipped out some club Tshirts--can't do flyball unless one is properly attired in club colors and logo. One of them was even an old shirt that I donated to the club when I left!

Finally, in an act of incredible generosity, Duwain offered to let me run his beautiful red BC Eris (as in goddess of discord). Eris was on the amazing team (the "well oiled machine") that took Harry all the way to his ONYX title at his last flyball tournament in August of 2009. She is lean, barky, and utterly obsessed by flyball, so consumed by the game that she will run for anybody, a charming behavior flaw. I didn't get to run Eris in just one or two races, I ran her all weekend long. I didn't do much coaching for the C team after all!

Rrrreeeeaaaaaadddyyyyy! Loud, barky dogs like Eris (and Harry in his day) are often useful in getting other dogs revved up. We are just inches away from the start dog.

I know for sure that I would probably have ended up in a corner at least once that weekend with tears in my eyes because I was missing my fabulous boy Harry, who lived for flyball. But because I was able to regularly put my hands on a dog, a bucking, leaping, excited, barking dog and work the passes and run up and down the lane with my team, the weekend felt exactly like it was supposed to.

I've written before about the strange sport of flyball, how it draws groups of disparate people together with a common love of dogs and a bit of a competitive streak (and in the case of DR!, a propensity for foul language and starting on the wine a couple of hours after lunch, excepting the Ruetz family, who have stuck with DR! through thick and thin even though they don't engage in ANY of these questionable behaviors), and how the social aspect of the sport has as much appeal for the humans as the tennis ball part of it does for the dogs. That really struck me again as DR! members, both new and old, welcomed me back, well, like I was part of the family. And several other people from other clubs came up to me that weekend and said, hey, I noticed you've been gone. When I explained that I had been gone, that I was just in for a visit, to my surprise they all said, well, it's really good to see you here. Many dog sport communities are like this, and NAFA Region 5 flyball clubs are no exception.


After it was all over, Kim casually mentioned that it was as if I hadn't ever left. It meant a lot to me that she felt that way. It meant a lot that Duwain trusted me with his beautiful but crazy dog. It meant a lot that the club had enough patience to let me stalk up and down the lane yelling at everybody all weekend.

Get it! (No, I have no fingers on my right hand, apparently.)

Dog friends have been my truest friends over the years, and DR! folks are some of the best friends anyone could hope to find.

Bittersweet

My friends in Dogz Rule! emailed me to let me know that the plaque for Harry's ONYX title had arrived. In that NAFA region, handlers usually write a brief story about their dogs who earn those big titles and it gets put up at the next tournament on a big poster board.

If you click on the jpg above, you can read Harry's ONYX story.

When I emailed it to Lauren today, I told her that I hoped it wasn't too mushy because I got a little teary at the end.

Harry Houdini ONYX

We did it! Harry ended what may be his last flyball tournament with 20,021 points, earning his ONYX title in nearly the last race on Sunday with just 21 points to spare.

Harry started flyball in Salt Lake City in 2000. He's run with four different clubs and dozens of different dogs. He's raced in Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and Texas. But these are just details. Harry lives for flyball. For him, there is no other game worth playing.

He needed 611 points for the title. His team, Dogz in da Hood, has been running incredibly well, but that's a lot of points for a two-day tournament. So many things could happen. I kept telling myself the titles are for the people, that Harry didn't care about how many points he had, that he just wanted to run fast and bark loudly. I figured that he probably would not get the title and while that was tremendously disappointing I had already moved past that. I wanted to have a good time with my flyball friends and let Harry play the game that he loves more than anything else.


Perhaps the entire weekend was charmed.

It started when I showed up at the La Quinta in Huntsville to discover that my room had already been paid for. Really? I couldn't recall giving a credit card number for the La Quinta. A bit tired and road buzzed from the long drive, it took me about an hour to figure things out. While I still don't know all of the details, it seems that various sneaky members of Dogz Rule! and Utah Tail Blazers schemed and planned and emailed and got my room paid for. Duwain from DR!, who runs the lovely red BC Eris on Harry's team, got to the hotel around noon to make absolutely sure he would be there before me and get everything taken care of. When I called my friend Gosia from the Tail Blazers, she kept saying, we want you to race and have a good time without having to worry about anything.

It is simply impossible for me to thank all of you for what you did. Any words I can offer are inadequate, I think. Your generosity is amazing and I am blessed to have friends like all of you.

So what else happened during this charmed weekend? There are some highlights on the club blog but this post is all about Harry.


Hoodz' first race was a bit scary. We had an error in the first heat and lost, then broke out not once, but twice, losing the entire race and jeopardizing our team's ability to stay in the tournament. The dogs were on fire, passing was great, and, well, they were simply running too fast.

After some serious strategizing, we pulled it together and Hoodz proceeded to sweep their division, giving up only a handful of heats while winning all of their remaining eight races over the weekend. We stomped the competition early, easily winning on consistency and time again and again.

Of course, it would not do to make it too easy. We had a bit of a flutter in the first race on Sunday when we pulled in a time that was only 0.02 seconds over breakout. Still, it was technically over breakout. Whew!

At the end of racing on Saturday, Harry had earned 305 points, half of what he needed for his title. It was clearly going to a very tough go with only four races on Sunday.

By the fourth race on Sunday, which was nearly the last race of the tournament, Harry only needed 34 points for his title. We needed to run clean twice to achieve this--didn't even have to win, just run clean twice. I was worried. People and dogs were getting tired. It was late in the day and we had a very long day of racing on Saturday. A single early pass or dropped ball would be enough to prevent us from getting those 34 points.

I was trying not to be nervous. I knew the team had been running like a well oiled machine for two days and I trusted my teammates. Harry, Eris, Sisko, and Trixi are dogs that race to win. Duwain, Karl, and Ben are excellent handlers. It is an honor to be in the ring with such a tight team. Since Harry runs in start position, I get to see the entire team lined up to my left, and after I complete my runback with Harry, I turn and watch them complete their runs while I tug with him and tell him how awesome he is.


So we go in the ring for that fourth race, get lined up, and we're off. We won the first heat with a time that got us 25 title points. I started to cry because we were so close. He was so close. Could we do it? Flyball is serious business for Harry so I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, then nodded to the judge that we were ready to run again.

The entire run happened in slow motion for me. I released Harry. He had a good start and his usual solid race time and when he came back to me, I dropped to my knees with his tug at the back of the ring and watched as Eris and Sisko passed and Eris and Duwain came racing back beside us, then Ben released Trixi while Karl and Sisko came running back, then Trixi with her perfect turn and race back to Ben right down the middle of the lane. Then I held my breath because the race isn't over until the judge calls it. It's not very sporting to celebrate even when you know you've won because the other team may still be running. It was only when Lawrence pushed the button and the timer displayed our total time that I could get up, Harry in my arms, for our celebration.

Lots of hugging and tears. Even our boxloader Lauren came running all the way down the ring to join in!


But the race wasn't over! With a 3 out of 5 format, we had to run at least one more heat. Mike Smith from Texas Twisters, the team we were racing, said, you are going to let us win one now, right? And after all that, I looked at him and said, hell no!

Harry and I got into position but I must have looked a bit shellshocked because Kim, our coach, came over and asked me if I was okay. I said, yes, yes, I am okay. I can do this. And I proceeded to release Harry early and get our first and only false start of the entire weekend! It was pretty funny and helped release a lot of tension for me.

We started that third and final heat again. It was going smooth until Trixi had an awkward bobble at the box and ended up going entirely around the box chasing the ball rolling on the ground, but like the professional that she is, she managed to get in the lane and return over the jumps. Even with the bobble, even with a time over 24 seconds, we still beat the other team!

We cut it very close with only 21 points over the 20,000 that Harry needed for his title. But we sure went out with a bang!

Harry Houdini turned 11 years old this month. He ran several 4.8 second runs on Saturday, mostly 4.9 second runs. On Sunday, he slowed to consistent 5.0's with a few 5.1's thrown in. I was able to keep his starts between 0.1-0.2 seconds. Not super tight but perfectly respectable.

While he may be slowing down just a little, his enthusiasm and love of the game have never waned. Harry is so deserving of this title and I am so proud that I could accomplish it with my friends from Dogz Rule!


We could not have done it without you! It was not just a team but a club effort, a multi-club effort. Your support and love and encouragement and yes, even your money, have helped me so much during this particularly crummy time in my life. I wanted this tournament to be a time of celebration, and so it was. Thank you many many times over!

Flyball Fun

Friends don't let friends play flyball without alchohol. Yes, they staged this when I took a nap, but it isn't like I wasn't drinking anyway...(taken in May, 2009)

Dogz Rule! put in a great showing at Reliant again this year.

What is Reliant? It is probably one of the biggest, if not the biggest, dog shows on earth. It has conformation, obedience regular and rally, freestyle, agility (four rings), flyball (two rings), aisles and aisles of vendors, and more dogs and dog people than you can shake a stick at. It takes place in the Reliant Center in south Houston. Houston in August is hot and steamy, the concrete floors are hard on your feet and knees, it's loud and frenetic. It is not a show to be missed if possible.

We had one team on Friday that was put together to allow two green dogs a chance to strut their stuff. Boy, they sure did a great job! We took first place in our division and one of the dogs earned her first two titles. Harry was a backup dog on that team and ran a couple of races with great enthusiasm.

We had three teams running on Saturday and Sunday. As one of my club members said in her wrap-up post, it takes a village to run a Reliant team. We have a white board listing the assigned jobs for every team: box loader, box bitch, shagger (self-shagging is just such a pain), line video, stats taker, pass caller, pass scribe, coach, and of course handlers and dogs! I was coach for our C team, running Harry in start slot for our B team, and handling a big barky BC named Marz in start slot for our A team. I was running around and yelling at someone or some dog all weekend long.

I rotated all six of the C team dogs in and out of the lineup so that they each ran almost the same number of races. I was also able to be somewhat strategic about my choice of dogs to use in each race, and that team, which was seeded fourth in their division, came out strong and led the pack to a first place finish on Sunday. This makes it sound like my line up strategy had something to do with that win. Really, though, we won because all six of those handlers and dogs were consistent and solid. We beat teams that may have been faster than us because we were running clean and they were not.

I got a perfect start of 0.000 seconds with Marz on the A team, my second perfect start with him. The hosting club gives out Tshirts for perfect starts. But the rest of the time, I had a case of nerves, I think, and wasn't able to maintain starts with Marz much better than 0.1 seconds, but at least I was able to keep him in that zone. This team finished a frustrating fourth place because we had to make some dog substitutions on Saturday with some slower dogs and because the core dogs had too many errors scattered amongst them. Marz in particular was having trouble at the box, dropping his ball. We decided he was getting too wound up at the start (causing him to reach the box at such a speed that he was not getting good turns or good grips on the ball) so I had to back way off and release him with a minimum of fuss and fanfare. This also contributed to my not getting better starts with him--I was afraid that my tension and excitement about pushing a very tight start would cause him to get too excited again.


But all of you really want to hear about Harry, right?

On Friday, he ran a couple of 4.8 second runs, to my complete astonishment. Over the weekend, he consistently ran 5.0 seconds, sometimes for five heats in a row. Sure, a 5.1 or a 4.9 run would slip in there now and then, and when he ran a 5.2 second heat, I gave him some K9 Restart which perked him right back up. But for him to race five heats every race, sometimes more if there were false starts, and do it for two solid days, and to maintain such a consistent peformance--wow. I am so proud of my little old man--Harry will be 11 in about 3 weeks! I will surely be corrected by a teammate, but I think he had one flagged error all weekend when he dropped the ball before crossing the line.

Harry at rest, July 2009.

Harry's team totally stomped the competition and took first place in their division. It was a fabulous line up of little dogs--Harry the smooth fox terrier, Tofu the tiny BC/pap/?? mix, Rudy the little staffy bitch, and Sisko the small BC mix. The total weight of the four dogs could not have exceeded 100 lbs. Great handling, great passes, dogs running clean and fast. A perfect combination, and it showed in our racing.

Harry picked up 835 points for the three days. He now has 19,409 points and is within two tournaments of getting his ONYX title (20,000 points), a very big deal in the world of NAFA. Dogz Rule! has four other ONYX dogs, three of whom are still racing.

There is another tournament in August and Dogz Rule! is hosting their annual tournament in November--so it could be possible for Harry to earn this title this year. It would mean a lot for me to do this with Dogz Rule!

I'm not sure I can achieve this goal for him, though. With no job in sight, it is hard for me to justify the cost of going to a tournament, even when I shave those costs down to the bone. For Reliant, a friend paid for my hotel, another friend bought me dinner on Saturday night, and the club gathered donations to pay Harry's tournament fees (I had to go into the parking lot for a little cry when I found this out). I can't ask them to subsidize me indefinitely.

Flyball Is In The Air Again (2)

This photo is from the summer of 2005, taken in my backyard in Austin. Clockwise, that's Iz out front as always, Harry, Jack, my neighbor's annoying dachshund, and Jen on my old pause table. It was a hot summer, but I was so excited to have Jen with us. Everyone was healthy and happy.

The Reliant Cluster of Dog Shows is this weekend. It's a big flyball weekend--three days instead of the usual two. Plus lots of clubs from far-flung places come to this show. In the past, we've seen teams from California, Mexico, even Canada. This year, Spring Loaded is running a team. They are the current world record holders: 15.22 seconds for four dogs to run down to the box and back. That's pretty amazing!

Harry lives for flyball. From the very first day (in 2000) that he saw this game, he knew he had found his calling. Since then, we've been with four different clubs in two states and seen a lot of different dogs and handlers.

Dogz Rule! is without any doubt the best club ever.

I wasn't going to run Harry in Reliant. He is ever so close to his Onyx, could possibly get that title this year, and it's a pretty big deal, but I am so worried about money. Traveling to Houston for flyball seems totally frivolous when I am probably going to lose my house.

But with the support of my friends and teammates, Harry and I (and the other five dogs--I save a lot of money by not boarding them) are heading to Houston on Thursday for three fabulous days of flyball fun.

The car is going to be jammed with crates and bedding and food, and of course, six dogs. I'll have to pack and unpack and exercise dogs and potty dogs constantly for three days. But it will be worth it to see my little old man doing what he loves best.

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.

Time for Flyball!

Four of the dogs and I are off to a flyball tournament north of Houston this weekend.

No, only Harry is actually competing. I'm dragging the others along to try to save some money at the kennel.

Cap is becoming more and more affectionate, asking for belly rubs and attention fairly regularly now. I've noticed him watching me a lot more too. I got spoiled with my obsessive terriers who openly stare at my every move. I hope to have our relationship to the point where I can begin some flat work with Cap next month. It is a method to teach a young dog what the handler's body movements in agility mean without asking him to do repetitive jumping or any obstacles. He needs to be willing to run with me for flat work to be effective. And for that he needs to find me more exciting than anything else going on.

Some of you might find it odd that I would describe such an apparently social little dog in this way. But Cap was in half a dozen foster homes and while he was by no means abused or mistreated, he was left to his own devices for the most part. While it is in his nature to want to be with his person, he has never had the luxury of time with just one person. Remember, I got him when he was only 14 weeks old. And here he is, 8 1/2 months old, just starting to feel comfortable about coming to me for attention and love and play.

So I think I can truly say everyone is happy and healthy.

And my little old man Harry is really looking forward to a weekend of barking and flyball! He's been watching me pack and won't let me out of his sight.

I probably won't get back to the blog until next week.

Flyball Tournament Hijinks

Many thanks to the Texas Twisters and Electric Dawgs for being such good sports.

Harry's Back!

Only a week late, but here's a short video of Harry playing the only game in town: flyball!

He's 10 and a half--doesn't single step on the way back anymore and a bit slow on the start. But he's as feisty and excited as ever.

He had problems with one toenail all weekend. Stubborn thing bled after every run. But Harry's equally stubborn and I let him run, unwrapped feet and all.

Off to Flyball (2)

In six and a half very short hours, we are heading south to Austin for Harry's first flyball tournament since fall of last year.

A couple of his toenails are still iffy but we are going to give it a try. He's certainly excited--he knows what packing for a flyball trip looks like and he's not let me out of his sight since I started pulling gear out.

Dyna and Mimi are at the kennel and the house is very quiet, even with Cap and Gracie running around.

I'm also taking Jack with us on this trip. He's not quite back to his usual self. His mouth still hurts a fair bit, I think, and I want to keep an eye on him over the weekend.

Wish my little old man luck! He'll need it!

Houston, We Have Toenails!

I'm super excited! Harry survived the flyball practice with all of his toenails intact. We were outside running on grass mixed with mulch, which is a pretty tough environment for tender feet.

Just in case, I gave him half a deramax with dinner last night after we got home. He was a tiny bit stiff after the long ride home. This morning, I couldn't see any stiffness and he didn't walk like his toes hurt. In fact, when he heard me playing with Cap, which I usually do right after I let him out to potty as part of our morning routine, Harry got out of bed and came running into the dog room, found a ragged piece of some toy, and shoved it at me ready to play himself.

Harry normally is a big slug-a-bed. He'll sleep in until breakfast if I let him. So when he jumps out of bed ready and rarin' to play, I know he is feeling good.

During practice, Harry was running between 5.0-5.3 seconds. Since he runs slower on grass, I expect him to hit some sub-5.0's at the tournament weekend after next. That means Harry is back in the game!

Harry in 2004 savaging a toy

I intend to stick to my plan and not run him in every race though. I just don't think I can get him fit enough by then and I'm afraid that if I run him when he is tired, he will be more likely to make a mistake and tear one of his tender new nails. And as a bonus, this will guarantee one of our up and coming DITs (dogs in training) some mat time. He and his owner have been working hard to get this slot on the B team.

Flyball Is In The Air Again

I'm heading to Austin tomorrow for my first flyball practice since late December. Our tournament is in two weeks. I'm anxious about both events.

Harry has had to sit out the last two tournaments and it has been really difficult on lots of levels. I miss hanging out with my flyball club. I miss the excitement and drama of tournaments. I miss Harry becoming tight as a violin string, barking and flinging spit in all directions as I line him up for the box. I know Harry misses all of these things too.

Since the dermatologist vet gave me the go-ahead to ramp up his training, I've been increasing the vigor of our tug games, the length of our walks, and started throwing the ball for him.

I have an old flyball box borrowed from my club. Yesterday, I let Harry work on his turns. I had to pick him up so I could get the ball in the box--I could barely hold on to him because he was barking and lunging for the box and in general working himself into a fine frenzy. His first turns were a bit weak so I released him off to the side to help him get his approach angle like you do when training new dogs. He quickly got into the familiar rhythms and was looking pretty good when we finished.

Tomorrow will give us a much better idea of how he will perform when he has a full lane to run in and other dogs to run with.

I'm still a bit concerned about his toenails--he did tear the tip of one yesterday--but they are looking so much better than they did three months ago.

There's one other thing that I've missed about flyball--the club often asks me to coach our C/D team. Our club creates teams based on speed and error rate. Our C/D team usually is made up of a mix of dogs who may not need to run a full tournament, green dogs who are just getting started with the whole competition thing, and dogs who love to play flyball but just aren't quite fast enough to make it onto the B or A teams. (This is something that I love about Dogz Rule!--they believe that flyball shouldn't be reserved for only the fastest dogs. It's a game lots of different types of dogs can play and enjoy. This is also the philosophy that Gosia and I had when we started Utah Tail Blazers.)

It is the most amazing honor for me when the club asks me to coach that team. I think I'm kind of a hard ass when it comes to coaching but I always try to look at each dog and handler on that team and try to figure out what is going to make them and the team successful. Even the tiniest things can be cause for celebration.

Harry runs on the B team for now. This is a nicely competitive team that almost always places well in its division. I love to win and I love to win with Harry. Believe me, I get emotionally consumed about doing our best as a team when I run with Harry.

But often when I leave a tournament, it is the successes of our C/D team that make the most vivid memories for me.

I'm hoping the club asks me to coach that team again in March because I have really missed being out there in the ring helping my friends run their dogs.

Out and About With The Boys

It won't come as a surprise when I tell you it is pretty hard for me to be objective about my dogs' health. Iz and I struggled for months but we still lost the race.

Harry lost his last two toenails last weekend and was in extreme pain for about three days. Also, in retrospect, it was a mistake to board him at the kennel when I went out of town on business. I should have put him with the vet along with Mimi. He could hardly walk when I picked him up that Friday night. I called the dermatologist on Monday and insisted on a follow up visit, which we scheduled for the next morning.

I examine his toes several times every day looking for...anything. Magically grown new toenails, I guess. So when he lost those last two nails, I began to feel defeated. It was an emotion that was too familiar and too scary.

To my surprise, the dermatologist was pleased that the deterioration of his nails was not progressing. In other words, it was a sort of null result. Losing his last two nails was going to happen anyway and didn't represent a worsening of his condition. The visit was on Tuesday morning, and Harry was in fine form doing all sorts of tricks for biscuits, entertaining the vet and his tech. The vet examined all of Harry's toes. It was subtle, but there might be some new nail growth on a couple of them.

The vet said Harry was to continue the cyclosporine. The only remnant of his initial intestinal distress is some nasty flatulence but I'll take stinky dog farts over dry heaves and diarrhea.

Then we got down to the big question: when can Harry start doing flyball again? Not just flyball, actually, but training and conditioning work, too. I have been reluctant to even take him for a walk since December and playing fetch has been out of the question. Harry needs a lot of work to get him back into competition form, plus he really needs to practice with his flyball team.

It has been hugely frustrating to me that I had to pull Harry from the January and February tournaments. The next one is in four weeks. That doesn't leave a lot of time to get him ready.

The vet told me to start slow, but that I should start working Harry again in all of the things he is used to doing, including flyball practice. He told me that the diseased nail remnants will split and break and may bleed and that Harry may not be as fast as he used to be, at least for a few more weeks. He also told me NOT to wrap Harry's feet during flyball. This last part amazed me. But then, I usually wrap his feet to prevent his nails from breaking...so if we are truly addressing his condition, that may no longer be needed.

Since the vet visit, Harry has become a different dog. He brings me toys constantly and I've been increasing the ferocity of our tug games, which we now play three or four times a day. I'm able to play with Harry and Cap together because they both focus on their own tug and ignore the other dog. I could do this with Harry and Iz but never with any other pairing of my terriers. It's a different thing to have a dog that isn't a terrier.

I started taking Harry for walks this week (we do just under 3 miles ), which I'll ramp up to short periods of running in a day or so. And this morning I plan to take him outside and throw the ball a few times to see what happens.

Postscript: Harry chased the tennis ball in the backyard for about 20 minutes this morning. I checked all of his toes every five throws or so, and I didn't throw the ball too far, but he was ecstatic to play one of his favorite games. And the best part? Not a single torn or bloody nail. Woohoo!

In two weeks, I'll head to Austin for flyball practice.

I can only handle three dogs at a time so if Harry always goes on a walk, that only leaves two more slots. I took Cap along this week to start teaching him leash manners and of course the joys of taking a walk with the pack. Last night, Jack got the prized third slot. It was a walk with all of the boys.

Harry, Cap, and Jack.

Cap is now 19 weeks old. He weighs 14.4 lbs (checked on the vet's scale yesterday) and is just over 13.5" at the shoulder. He has not yet lost any of his baby canines, consistent with his tender age, but his front teeth have all been replaced. You can see in the photos how long-backed he is and also how much shorter he is than Harry.


Since I find the clump of dogs that gathers on the large dog bed for a nap as cute as anything I've seen, here's another picture.

Mimi, Dyna, Cap, and Jack.

He Followed Me Home, Mom. Can We Keep Him?

A couple of months ago, I arranged a home evaluation visit from Border Collie Rescue of Texas. Since then, I've looked at perhaps seven dogs, none of whom had the drive I was looking for or more importantly, got along with my terriers.

Why did I do this? It's become pretty clear that neither of the sisters have any interest in flyball. They do it only because I ask but not with drive or enthusiasm. Instead, I see that drive and enthusiasm on the agility field. That is their forte, and what an amazing pair they will make in the competition ring!

I need a flyball dog. Harry is getting old. He still loves the game and I'll let him play as long as he wants to and as long as it is safe for him to do so, but eventually, we are going to have to think about retirement.

I love flyball. Because it is a team sport, it has a social and cooperative aspect that agility doesn't have. I love the speed and fury and frenzy of flyball. I love the sportsmanship. And Dogz Rule! is such a great club.

I need a flyball dog.

Last Sunday, I was in Austin for flyball and one of the foster moms for BCRT, who does flyball with another club in Austin, brought this little guy to my friend's house.


He is about 15 weeks old as of this post, 10.5 lbs, 12.75 inches at the shoulders (the last is approximate as you can imagine he wasn't too interested in standing still under the wicket until I could make sure he was standing correctly and find his shoulders under the fuzz). Male, of course, still intact for now. Even in a strange, but dog-neutral location, he played tug and fetch with different types of toys. He is drivey, feisty, pushy, but not overtly dominant. So I decided to take him home to see how it would go.


I've gradually introduced him to the pack, letting him spend more and more time loose with them. He's been appropriately disciplined by all three bitches, and last night Harry got his two cents in, telling that terribly annoying little pest to leave him the hell alone. It has so far been one-trial learning with puppy and Harry.

In the past week, puppy has learned sit on hand command (no verbal consistency yet but he'll sit in different places on different surfaces including my mini agility table), down (luring required but he did give me about 10 puppy pushups), leave it (he sits on the verbal command), waiting at the door coming and going, nose touches to hand and target, the potty command, not to mess with the cats (I wasn't involved in any of those lessons!), to enter his crate on command and to wait for the release word before he leaves it (Crate Games, of course). We are working on come, bite inhibition (part of this is because he's teething), walking on a leash, not barking in the crate (he has this super high-pitched yip that drives me crazy), and not jumping on humans.


All this training is good for the other dogs because while I'm in training mode, I drag at least one if not two of them out to learn some new games (like sitting, or attempting to sit, in a bowl!).

He and the sisters get along better than I thought they would. Each of them likes to play chase with him, especially in the backyard. Gracie gets a bit too rough but so far Mimi has been a good playmate.


He is as busy as any terrier. He shoots out of his crate and picks up the first toy he sees, dropping it only to replace it with another one. In the evenings, he will completely empty the toy boxes, playing with one toy after another, although it's clear that he does have some favorites. He never stops moving until I crate him out of sheer exhaustion--mine!

He sleeps in a crate at night and is crated during the day. So far not a single accident, but I do come home for lunch every day to let the dogs out.

He has this endearing behavior when I play fetch with him. He'll grab the thrown toy and run full speed back to me, jumping in my lap and shoving the toy into my stomach.

He's not much of a cuddler but that's fine by me. I've got five of those already.

I was told he was a border collie but it was apparent from the get go that at a minimum he was a BC-aussie cross. He has no tail and appears to have been born without one. He's got that aussie rabbit butt, and his butt is nearly as high as his head! After being chided by my friend Denise in Virginia, I finally tossed out that "he's part BC" preconception and it's pretty clear this little guy is a small aussie pup. Mini aussie? That's not clear.

I have no idea what the growth progression is for this breed but he is smaller than my cats, smaller than Dyna, smaller than Harry was at 16 weeks. I don't think he's a mini because he doesn't have the thin, elongated leg bones that the dwarfism produces in them but his eyes are just slightly poppy; the minis I see out here have bug eyes, also due to the dwarfism. He's got great bone in his legs. His paws don't have that dinner plate effect that lots of large breed pups have at this age.


I may have to start a pool to predict his height and weight at 24 weeks, but I think he's going to be small. And a genetic test would clarify what he is. I may start a pool for that too!

After a week of calling him "puppy" I'm tentatively going with Cap (Quicksilver Monkey Man). I'm still not 100% sure I'll keep him but he needs a name of some sort while he's here.

Okay, you crazy dog people. Comment away!!

Flyball with Dogz Rule!

Dogz Rule! hosted our annual tournament a couple of weeks ago. Our folks manned the score table for most of weekend (thanks to Sena and Cameron and Philip) and we also fielded three teams, all in Regular divisions. Three of our newbie dogs got titles (kudos to Duncan, Sisko, and Ryp). We gave out these super cool flyball-themed calendars as awards (big pat on the back to Sandra for designing and printing them). All in all, it was a fun weekend and a well run tournament.

I had helpers shoot a lot of video over the weekend (Ben did a lot of it)--so much video that the raw video files fill six CD's. Here's a little taste with clips from each of the three teams, plus some miscellaneous people shots at the end (flyball takes a LOT of people if you want to do it right). I also included a gratuitous clip of my sending Harry to a false start. Hey, it's my blog so I can include extra bits on my own dog if I want to.

Off to Flyball

I'm packing up to head to Austin for a flyball tournament. My club, Dogz Rule!, is hosting it so I'm heading out early to help set up everything tomorrow.

I've been thinking about Iz this week. I'm posting pictures of her running in her next-to-last flyball tournament in July 2007. She collapsed in November 2007 with auto-immune hemolytic anemia. This was the first of a series of horrible auto-immune diseases and syndromes and complexes that she developed in the subsequent months. She fought as hard as she could but by the end of July, her own body betrayed her.


These pictures are from a much happier time. This is how I want to remember my wonderful Iz.

Let's Play Flyball!

Do not, I repeat, do not get between Harry and the flyball box!

I'm getting ready to head to Austin this weekend. My flyball club is hosting their annual tournament in two weeks and this is our last planning meeting, and for me, the last practice, before show time.

We've got raffle baskets to wrap, judging schedules to finalize, prizes to organize. The entire club plus their spouses, siblings, and children are mobilized. It's a lot of work to host a tournament.

And per usual Dogz Rule! tradition, there will be adult beverages, silly games, tables groaning with food for us and the judges, and lots of fun.

Flyball tournaments, for those of you who have not participated, are as much social events as they are sports competitions. I've been feeling a bit lonely these past few weeks and it will be good to be surrounded by friends and dogs again.

I'd say that easily half of my flyball club has no idea what I do for a living...because it isn't important. What is important is my commitment to the club and to playing flyball with my dogs.

These pics of Harry and Iz were taken in 2005.


(In case you missed them in the comments, be sure to check out the cool posts [here's one and here's another] at Utah Tail Blazers' site.)

Just A Game We Play With Our Dogs

My thoughts turn to this particular topic often. When my flyball club was going through some growing pains last year, as all sports clubs will do, I kept telling them, remember, flyball is just a game we play with dogs. Meaning, we can strive for perfection and a win every time, and indeed we should have those goals, but we are out there in the ring with dogs. I'm not even suggesting the dogs are the weak link in the chain, but dogs are dogs. We can't expect them to understand division placements and interpersonal squabbling and title points.

It's so easy to lose sight of this. I did agility and flyball with Iz for years and accumulated many ribbons and points and letters after her name. But in the end, it was my pup's joy at being with me, no matter what crazy thing I was asking her to do, that matters. The joy of the moment was simply in being together.

Never lose sight of that. Give all of your furry ones a big hug tonight.

The Fox Terriers Return to Flyball

This is a picture of Harry on the flyball box taken back when we were running with the Utah Tail Blazers. His box turn is greatly improved these days--but he still basically pivots around that left rear foot, almost snapping himself off the box from a single point. And yes, that is a string of spit between Harry's mouth and the box. Aren't dogs great?

It has been two months since we were last at flyball practice with Dogz Rule! I still wasn't sure that I was ready to go back. But with our own club's tournament coming up the first weekend of October, and with Harry's continuing funk, I thought the time had come for us to head to Austin.

The drive up was a bit difficult--Iz's crate was empty. I didn't have any of her tugs in my training bag. Her harness was still hanging up at home. Too many things missing. But Mimi is never going to learn how to do flyball by sitting at home. And Harry was bouncing off the walls once I told him this morning when I got up at 4:45am that we were going to do flyball today.

The trek to Austin can't be done without some planning. It's a 12-hour commitment--3 1/2 to 4 hours for the drive each way plus 3 hours for practice plus time for loading and unloading. It's a long day for me and the dogs.

Since it is a holiday weekend, some club members had plans with family and couldn't come to practice, but I was very glad to see that SIX of our dogs in training were present. We gave them all a great workout. In fact, because we couldn't run any team lineups we practiced all sorts of fun drills for the green dogs using the more experienced dogs that were present. All of the dogs and handlers got lots of mat time--very little down time for any of us since it takes a "village" to train green dogs.


And now I have two very tired flyball dogs. I'm pleased to tell you that instead of eating dinner then plopping in his usual place by himself on the back of the couch, Harry stretched out right next to me. And Mimi decided that she had to be right next to him--resting her head on his side, in fact. In the past he only tolerated Iz being that close to him.

Perhaps we are starting to find new routines.