Another Flyball Weekend

We just got home from another great flyball weekend.

My little girly

There really is so much to tell I don't know where to start.

Starting. She is intense

Apupalyptic took first place in our division for the first time on Sunday, after missing first on Saturday by a single tournament point. The second place placement on Saturday was the best we had ever done, and it literally came down to the last race of the day it was so close. We were ecstatic. To follow that up with a first place the next day, a super solid first place where it was decided even before our last two races, was amazing. I've never been super hung up on tournament placements, but when we realized that it was possible that we could place so well on Saturday, it was a great feeling.

I have to say, though, regardless of placement, this was just a great weekend. It really felt like everything was coming together. We have an awesome person dedicated to boxloading for the team while his wife runs their dogs, and the consistency of having one person reliably do that job is awesome. The dogs are all really getting in the rhythm of flyball. They are running consistently, they are getting great at passing each other reliably, and we are able to just assume that they will go out there and do their job, and they do it. With so many new dogs and new handlers over the past year and a half, it is great to see the team coming together into something solid, and something successful. Winning our division was at least partly random chance, by being seeded as the fastest team in that division, rather than the slowest team in the next one. But I feel that even had we come in dead last in a faster division, we would have ended the weekend feeling just as thrilled because of the sense of teamwork and things coming together properly. We had a few titles earned this weekend too- Angus is brand new, and earned his FD and FDX (he just started flyball at the very end of January this year), Addie earned her FDCh-G, and Stella got her FDCh-S. We're well on our way to having all of our dogs titled and working towards the big ones- FM and beyond.

She almost looks brindle here- but really she is just sunbleached from laying in the yard

Ptera ran like a rock star, earning something like a thousand points for the weekend. Koira ran okay- she was slower than at past tournaments by about half a second, and she bobbled her ball a few times. Once, her ball split in half when she squished it right out of the box, and she dropped it there without bringing it back. A few times she bobbled- I always prefer if she comes back to me rather than chase those stupid racquetballs all over the place, as it is safer and less chance of collision that way. Unfortunately her entire team was doing much the same thing- running a bit slower than normal and having more silly mistakes than any of them normally did. We didn't get many points for the weekend. But, Koira had a great time, as did Ptera. As did I.

This is my favorite way to spend a summer weekend. Or really, a weekend any time of the year. I wish there was a way to make this my job, and make this my life.