Dawn and Diana arrived in Truckee on Thursday; Diana making the trip speedily in the RV in just over 7 hours and Dawn had a nice flight in from Washington. I arrived at 3:30 and was greeted with temperatures around the 100 degree mark. Abby was not able to walk across the parking lot so my expectations of running the next day were not high. However I met Dawn and Diana at the tournament site and the temperatures quickly dropped as the afternoon breeze kicked in. Being the first team to arrive we were able to secure a great ringside team area with our EZUps, we actually had a total of 6 for this tournament and were still a little crowded because everyone stayed undercover for most of the time.
Dawn was totally involved in helping Silver Streaks set up the tournament field and took numerous notes to be referenced for our own tournament. After completion of the field setup we met with Greta and Liz who had recently arrived, for dinner. The rest of the team had not been able to make an early Bay area breakaways so they had to deal with the weekend traffic. We saw them the next morning.
Saturday morning was much cooler and the Bay Racers were well prepared for the heat. The EZUps were placed to maximize the shade and we had quite a few misters to attach to the crates. Staying in the shade was the absolute priority. We kept the dogs and ourselves under cover until the last minute before races. The swimming pools were used to cool the pups down before and after racing and they in turn managed to drench their owners in gratitude, after one cooling session it looked like Nique had joined Rory in the pool.
We missed having Karen and Sherrae with us, but we were able to cover every job with a team person. Of course since there were 3 teams and everyone had a job for every race, that meant that there was very few time periods where there was nothing to do. Both Nique and Makoto made their debuts as boxloaders and turned in outstanding performances. Greta did a beautiful job of writing up the racing schedule for quick reference. She added some cross indexed details that made it quick to note. When complemented on what a great job she did she replied that she thought she had bought herself a permanent job. Hopes she gets it done early for those tournaments she is going to miss.
RumRunners was actually our newest team. Cedi with some help from Greta, assumed the position of start dog to get an early lead. Due to our outside practice facilities this was actually the first opportunity Greta had for learning to release with the lights. With her total focus on Diana's handler reliability %, Greta ran the whole weekend in the new spot without a single double false start. We are looking forward to those figures Diana. Cedi really loved being the first dog on the course and flew to the ball every race.
Cooper was the height dog for the team and it was amazing that this was only his second tournament. It was obvious that he was really having fun and he ran very solid. He earned his FDCh in record time. We are already figuring out when he will reach his next level.
Oliver had fun running on the team with Cooper. Jeanine had the double duties of running on the RumRunners and Co-Captaining WaveRunners. When Dawn had to leave early on Sunday and Diana took over running Griff, Jeanine took over running WaveRunners.
Pepper was totally in her element at this tournament. She not only ran extremely well, she was also flexible enough to be able to run in several different positions in the line up. Makoto had the difficult job of timing the passes, but for Pepper it seemed easy because all she focused on was getting the ball and coming back to her most favorite person in the world. This dog has really left behind her initial shyness. Right now she is enjoying all the excitement and noise that goes with a Flyball Tournament.
Joey ran a nice anchor on the team and pulled out a lot of races. However, the most exciting aspect of his tournament was his visit to the pet psychic. Steve asked the psychic if Joey enjoyed Flyball and she said that Joey told her he loves to run in the right lane, but when he runs in the left lane the turn bothers him because he had a bad incident with a dog there and he thinks about it a lot. Steve was totally blown away because the psychic had no prior knowledge of Joey's problems. Steve asked the psychic to tell Joey that he was a big strong dog now and the team was there to protect him so he could run just as well in the left lane as the right lane. Joey replied, (via the psychic) ÒI'll try.Ó It was evident that Joey did try.
Rumrunners turned in some pretty stable runs. Dawn did a great job of rotating the dogs to make sure everyone got to run a fair amount of heats and the dogs who became tired or distracted were able to get a break. At the end of the weekend Rumrunners finished 3rd on Saturday and 2nd on Sunday, nice accomplishment for our newest team.
Waverunners was comprised of Rory as start dog, Tipper, Griff and Tessie, with Abby as a back up. Nique and Diana set aside their start time competition on the grounds that pushing for the perfect start would cause too many false starts with extra runs for the start dog in the heat. However I did hear rumors of some .00 reaction times so I believe we will see this contest in future, cooler tournaments. Rory was solid in his start position. Nique has really gotten comfortable in her new start position and Rory is much happier after he told the pet psychic he wasn't happy with Nique holding him underneath, would she please just hold onto his harness instead (which she did).
Tipper ran flawlessly the whole weekend and didn't seem to wilt in the heat even with that nice thick black border collie coat.
Griff has made some amazing strides in catching his micro balls cleanly. Of course Dawn was totally vigilant about giving him a good warm up on catching skills before each race with only a few reminders and Griff is showing that his practice times with the Vultures at the box are having an impact. His times are much faster but the most exciting part is he can grab the fleece without giving up the ball. Talk about having it all.
Tessie ran like a happy dog. Of course we all knew that even before the pet psychic told Liz that Tessie was just a very happy dog. The other task that the pet psychic gave Liz was that Tessie wants to learn more words. I was surprised that Tessie didn't give the psychic a list of all the new toys that she really needs and that would make her run much faster.
Waverunners ran the tournament like the veterans they now are, with hardly a mistake. They finished a solid 2nd on both days in their division.
Salty Dogs was the multi-breed team in division 1. This was a big tournament for the team because after a long recovery period Summer rejoined her team. The premise had been to just let her run some warm ups and a little racing to get her back in shape but she ended up resuming her position as the team star.
The team was made up of: Kami (start dog), Taz (run by Steve), Katy, Abby and Summer. Again Dawn did a juggling, balancing act to get all of the dogs a fair amount of running time. When Dawn had to leave early on Sunday, Lauren stepped in and seamlessly took over the captain position, she seemed totally in control and clear in how she wanted the team run. If Plan A didn't work well Lauren had Plan B. Everyone sat out some races except for Kami in her height dog role. The biggest challenge of the team was to try to get some decent passes in because there had not been a lot of time to fine tune our passing sequences. Fortunately the team was so fast they were easily winning races even with 10 foot passes. Think what the times will be when they get it down to a consistent foot.
Shelley did a great job of running Summer and really enjoyed the opportunity of being out in the heat (literally) of the competition. Shelley has covered every position from boxloader to team captain but I think this is the first time she was actually running her own dog. I think each new job you complete on this team gives you a slightly different perspective of what is really behind the Bay Racers Flyball Club. The only perspective that Shelley is not getting, is the nurturing, support and endless efforts that she has heaped on every member of this team.
Taz was a real trooper for Steve but I know she will be totally ecstatic to have Karen back in charge and Steve will never let another dog replace his total commitment to Joey.
Katie reached the milestone of Flyball Dog Master. When you think about 5,000 points you have to look at it differently when you realize how many of those points were earned 1 or 5 points per heat because in Katy's early career she did not have the luxury of running on a team that effortlessly scored each heat under 24 seconds. The future that Katy is leading the team into is well balanced teams that allow all dogs to compete at high levels. Katy told the pet psychic that her number one job is to make Amy laugh so Amy may need to replace her recall with a booming laugh. Katy also questioned the psychic about our new team baby, Kohei, and wanted to know if Amy wanted one of her own. Amy was more in favor of a golden retriever puppy, but Katy wasn't as enthusiastic so Amy is on the search for another psychic who will be able to convince Katy of the benefits of an expanded dog family.
Abby was honored to get to run with the fast dogs. She is still showing less than astounding speed on her return leg of the race, but there is improvement and now her tug has become the grand finale of each race so the improvement is continuing. We also worked with the psychic to explain that the game isn't over until she comes back fast, but she kind of brushed me off by saying well that's just a training issue because Abby thinks getting the ball is the main part of the game, maybe she needs another ball at the other end, anyway she really likes agility better. I don't think this psychic totally understood Flyball.
Of course we totally depended on Kami to keep up with the big dogs throughout the tournament and she did her part. When Abby was glorifying over beating the height dog on the other team Kami was showing off her speed by dusting opponents four times her size. We all pick our goals and Kami has high expectations.
The team was very pleased with their BIG prizes for 1st on Saturday (Kami can use hers as a bed), and the respectable place of 2nd on Sunday. Next tournament the team will run in the regular division under the name of Spinnakers, the traditional team featuring Summer as their anchor.
Sunday at the conclusion of the tournament we cleaned up and went our separate ways. Tired and hot but pleased with the outcome. Bay Racers completed another chapter of their ongoing story.
