Holi Flyball!

We've been busy, and have been doing a lot since our last post. The most exciting thing is probably Flight debuting in flyball, and earning his Flyball Dog title. He still has a ways to go, but I think he'll get there eventually.

One of the most fun things we've done was a photoshoot with our flyball team. Photos with Holi powder and dogs have been getting popular lately, especially for disc and agility photoshoots, and I had been wanting to do some Holi powder flyball shots- and finally talked my flyball team into getting together to have some fun with it.



The results ended up better than I hoped! For most of these photos, the result was completely captured live through the use of powder, though the shots of Flight and Angus were composited by a flyball teammate who happens to be a graphic designer. All photos were taken by me, with the exception of the one of Flight, taken by aforementioned flyball teammate.



This actually ended up being pulled off by just three of us, with five dogs between us, as our boxloader had other plans that day, one of our teammates was on a cruise, and one is still trying to survive the first year with a baby, and isn't quite back into the flyball swing of things yet.



The dogs did fabulous, even Flight. The box was actually shooting powder out (only in the thruster behind the dogs, of course, not into their faces where the ball is loaded), which could rightfully have scared any of the dogs. Especially Flight, who is weirded out by fans and heaters. But while they were all a little confused about the set up, for the most part, they were fantastic- and Flight did better than I thought possible.



I really am thrilled with how these photos all turned out. Our team may be small, but we are fierce, and this project really brings that to light, I feel.



I did have a little fun with some photos of Flight and Ptera, and composited the two of them together into one, which turned out great.



Koira is still enjoying retirement from flyball, and while she was there this day while we put the shoot together, she stayed in the house while we worked with the young dogs, so no photos of her with Holi powder doing flyball.

Flyball Tournament Food

The biggest difference between flyball and other dog sports is that flyball is a team sport. You certainly have friends and people who you train with in other sports. You have people you look forward to seeing at trials. But in flyball, you practice with your team every week, you crate with your team, you run with your team. And, if you are on my team anyway, you eat with your team!

I'm not in the least bit ashamed to admit that in our region, my team is known for the most impressive lunch buffets in our crating area. To a lot of us, the food spread is just another part of the tournament. It isn't a requirement for a team to bring food, of course. Some teams just let each individual bring something or plan on purchasing something for lunch when they are hungry, in an every-man-for-themselves sort of way. Not on our team!

Of course, putting together elaborate food spreads isn't exactly effortless. It is also a lot easier than you would think, though.

A week or two before the tournament, an email is sent out. The email looks something like this:

Breakfast stuff:
Coffee/Tea:
Sweet snacks:
Salty snacks:
Veggies and/or Fruit:
Lunch Saturday:
Lunch Sunday:
Bottled Water:
Plates, napkins, plastic ware:
Table:
Cooler w/Ice:

If we have people running with our team on Open, we often include them in the email as well as all of the team members who are traveling to the tournament. What happens then is that everyone signs up for what they are willing and able to bring. You end up with an email inbox that looks like this:

Actual screen shot of my email inbox when planning for the Stumptown tournament potluck

The most important part is to remember to hit "Reply All" rather than just "Reply" so that everyone gets to see all of the latest updates. Sometimes, someone needs to compile multiple lists together as some contributions mysteriously disappear in the email chain. For the most part, though, it works well. Since most venues have electricity available in the crating area, we often have at least the lunch dishes as hot items warmed up in crock pots. For those tournaments that don't have electricity, all of the dishes are things that can be served cold or room temperature.

The final potluck email for the Stumptown tournament

The final potluck email from the X-Fidos tournament

As you can see from the screen shots of the final potluck emails from the past two tournaments, the food can vary a lot. As the weather gets colder, chili and soups in crock pots tend to get more popular than things like sandwiches. 

You may not know it based on these emails, we do have a couple of people with dietary restrictions. Two of our team members are vegan. For the most part, we count on them reading packaging to know if they can eat the food that is brought along. A lot of us will make sure to bring something that works for them (such as hummus as an alternative sandwich spread) or simply choose the vegan friendly version of a food when out shopping. With the meal plans laid out like this, it makes it easy for people with any dietary restrictions (vegan, gluten free, etc) to plan what they can eat with the group and what they should bring for themselves.

Of course, this email list also ensures that we have enough tables to put the food on, coolers to keep it edible in, plates/napkins/forks/spoons/knives to not have to eat like heathens, etc. And water. Always make sure there is plenty of water at the tournament, and drink a ton of it. I also highly recommend bottles of tea (especially sweetened with honey), as they seem to help the sore throat that comes with flyball tournaments.

I think this method works great. It keeps anyone from having to put too much effort into planning the potluck. People can sign up to bring what they can afford to bring (short on cash that month? sign up to bring bottled water and a cooler with ice!). Our group is generally really good about rotating who brings what so that the same people aren't always providing lunch (though the tables and coolers are often brought by the same people over and over). A good group of people is essential to making this work. But a successful potluck spread makes a flyball tournament so much more fun!

A dog named Mellie

Something I often say about flyball is how awesome the team aspect is. Having people by your side during training and at tournaments, to share in your defeats as well as the wins, and to really share every aspect of the experience, is something pretty amazing. I don't think I've ever really mentioned before, though, how much this goes beyond your immediate team.



In the flyball world, we often become close to members of other teams by interacting at tournaments, running in Open together, talking training details, or just seeing each other at every flyball event, be it a tournament or a local fun match. Flyball becomes a community that is much larger than just the individual or even the individual teams.

Recently, my local flyball community took a blow when a border collie named Mellie was injured playing disc at a local park. Mellie belongs to Greta Kaplan, who leads and trains the Portland Tailblazer's flyball team. Greta also does training work with reactive dogs or those with behavioral issues.

Mellie is a six year old border collie who is active not only in flyball and disc, but also in herding, obedience, rally, nosework, and other dog sports. Mellie always gives 110% in everything she does. She is a handful on the starting line in flyball, but she knows her job and gives every single heat everything she has, even at the end of the day on Sunday when even the most reliable dogs are getting tired and making mistakes.

Mellie helps her mom out around the house by picking up dropped objects (and greatly enjoys doing her work!), and also helps out the reactive dogs Greta works with on a daily basis by being the decoy dog, distraction dog, and meet and greet dog. Mellie loves going to work with her mom, and happily jumps into the car every time.

Mellie is Greta's heart dog- Greta, who gives her heart to every dog she puts so much time and effort into training and rehabilitating. Mellie always gets along with everyone, and is always there. She loves to rest her chin on Greta's shoulder in bed, and will give a little hop to help her mom pick her up.

But now, Mellie has a full cruciate ligament rupture as well as an unstable knee joint. She had surgery to repair both of these problems, including an older surgical method used to stabilize the knee joint with, basically, fishing line strung through. Mellie is doing good post surgery, doing regular rehab exercises including twice-a-week under water treadmill (thanks to the very generous support of a sports rehab vet who is also a part of our flyball community).

Greta has set up a Chip-In, which you may have noticed displayed on the side bar of my blog for the past couple of weeks. Many very generous people have donated to help pay for Mellie's surgery, but the full amount has not yet been raised. If you don't have the ability to donate, I hope you have been able to just read this post about an incredible dog, and that it helps you appreciate not only those incredible dogs in your own household, but those owned by your community as well, be they family, friends, or dog sports competitors that you see most every weekend.

Mellie in action on the big screen at a Portland Trailblazer's half time show 

 If you do have the means and desire to donate, you can do so either on the sidebar or using the link below. And know that you are not only helping out Mellie and her mom Greta, but an entire community of dog lovers who would have been much worse off without this amazing team in action.