Judy Hagan at doublejj@netins.net. To all of you that are already competing, good luck in 1996. To all of those that aren't competing yet, you don't know what your missing!
Front and Finish Article October of 1996.
Well here I am writing my second article and my first article hasn't been published yet in the Front and Finish. February through May are busy tournament months for our team. Tournaments during that time seem to fit in well with our team as long as the weather is fit for traveling.
This year we didn't run into any bad weather on our way to a tournament in February sponsored by the Twin City Obedience Training Club, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In March we went to Solid Gold & Pearson's Candy Flyball Tournament held in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. April saw us traveling to Omaha, Nebraska to participate in the River City Flyball Tournament put on by the Omaha 4 Play team which is associated with the Companion Dog Club. Other tournaments being held during this time are in Houston, Texas; Las Vegas, Nevada; Otisville, Michigan; Saanichton, British Columbia; and Calgary, Alberta, to mention a few.
In May I attended the UKC Premier in Berrien Springs, Michigan and wasn't sure if I would catch my death of cold or be washed away first. I was fortunate enough at the Premier to get the final leg on my Border Collie, Glorine Tessa to get her U-CD and her AGII. The next weekend we attended a FLYBALL tournament in Peoria, Illinois, put on by the River City Flyers out of the Peoria Obedience Training Center and thought we would die from the heat and humidity. At that tournament one of our youngest members, Michelle Bolton, and her Aussie, Hasty earned their FM (5,000 point) title. Michelle is 11 years old and took over running Hasty this year from her mother who is now running their Border Collie, Jazz. Michelle also competes in herding and is looking at trying for Hasty's ATCH title.
Did any of you late nighters that watch David Letterman see the FLYBALL demonstration on May 15th? The Instant Replay Team from Caledonia, Ontario, Canada had the privilege of showing to a national television audience what FLYBALL competition is really like. They closed off E. 53rd in front of the studio and ran two FLYBALL lanes down it. They originally scheduled them to do this on May 14th but bumped it back to the 15th because of rain.
Instant Replay Gold holds the record for the fastest time at 16.96 seconds and also were the NORTH AMERICAN FLYBALL ASSOCIATION, Inc. Regular Class Champions in 1995. The team consists of Border Collies, Indee-FDCh ran by Bob Lewis, Cedar-CDX, FMCh ran by Henry Lewis, Tyler-FMCh ran by Tammy Frank, Kat-FM ran by Joanne Hikida and Capp-FMCh ran by Peter Cocking. In the runoff on 53rd they ran against their Multi-breed team called the Instant Replay White. Their fastest time on record is 17.97 and they are the Multi-breed Class Champions for 1995. The team consists of Aussie-Jobie-FMX ran by Ed English, Sheltie-Oreo-FM ran by Carolyn Lewis, Mix-Gambler-FM ran by Peter Lamble, and Border Collie-Genny-FM ran by Christine Kassay.
FLYBALL competition, NAFA style and rules, is currently expanding at a fast rate to other parts of the world. Currently there are tournaments being held in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Belgium, and Australia. Teams are being formed also in Japan where some informal competition has been taking place. In the United States there are teams in 17 states with more new teams being formed in other states. As of the end of April there were 128 breeds of dogs with a total of 4, 073 dogs registered with NAFA
A NAFA top pointed dog is a Doberman Pinscher named Onyx , owned by Clyde Moore of Clio, Michigan. Onyx also has the recognition of being the first dog to reach 20,000 points which gave him the distinction of having the 20,000 point plaque named after him. Some of the other top breeds having dogs participating are as follows: Border Collie, Labrador Retriever, American Staffordshire Terrier, Australian Cattle Dog, Mix, Shetland Sheepdog, Staffordshire Bull Terrier. All of these breeds have dogs with over 20,000 points.
Anyone interested in learning more about FLYBALL competition (the fastest growing dog activity) needs to write to: North American FLYBALL Association, Inc., P.O. Box 8 Mt. Hope, ON L0R 1W0.
Before I close for the month I'd like to share the following with you. Thanks goes out to Mike Ross of Touch N Go Flyball Team from Las Vegas for putting this out.
Direct from our Corporate Headquarters in What Cheer, Iowa:
Tonight's
TOP 10 LIST
The top ten ways you can tell if your dog really likes Flyball:
10. Your dog spends ten times more energy barking before the race than he does running it.
9. Your dog will chase a loose ball into Montana and still make the first jump.
8. Your dog goes berserk when you put on a team shirt.
7. You cannot watch Flyball videos with your dog in the house.
6. Your dog escapes her kennel during a tournament, runs into the ring and lays down on the starting line.
5. Your dog can run Flyball without a handler, and do it right!
4. You can't mention the F word (Flyball) in front of your dog.
3. Your dog is trying to learn to box load.
2. Your dog will load the car for practice.
And the #1 way you know your dog loves Flyball:
You can throw a tennis ball to save a cat's life!
Until next month for all of you FLYBALL competitors good luck in 1996. And to all of you non-competitors that would like to know more about FLYBALL activities in your area just e-mail me, write me, or write to NAFA, P.O. Box 8, Mt. Hope, Ontario, L0R 1W0.
Anyone interested in sharing some of their FLYBALL experiences, titles, and upcoming tournaments please write to me at P.O. Box 171 Olin, Iowa 52320-0171 or e-mail Judy Hagan at doublejj@netins.net. To all of you that are already competing, good luck in 1996. To all of those that aren't competing yet, you don't know what your missing!
Thank You for Visiting!
Jim Sova Web author, member of the H.W.G.!
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