Last weekend was our first flyball tournament of the season and the very first tournament ever for Overdrive Dog sports. We drove to Edmonton AB with Sadie, Cali, Riley, and Kiwi listed on a team with Utah and Sarge from Wild. It was a bit of a hail marry team as it was Kiwi's first tournament, Cali was being handled by my friend Tiffany (she has never been handled by anyone but me), and Riley has never been asked to run full time but we figured whatever happened we would have a great time. The girls from Wild have always been very fun to run with and we were meeting our friends from Good 2 Go there as well so it had the makings of a very good weekend yet I was nervous and excited at the same time. The debut of my new dogs combined with the debut of my flyball team was a lot of excitement.
As Saturday got underway and the dogs were running near flawlessly I was able to relax a little more and just enjoy the game we all love. Kiwi debuted like she had been doing this her whole life. Her turn needs a little work still but she LOVES the game and that enthusiasm is infectious. Cali ran super for Tiffany and Riley never missed a beat. Even Sadie, a year to the day from her accident, was pumped about the racing. Utah from Wild earned his ONYX on Saturday and Sarge debuted and earned his FD and FDX like a pro. The whole teamed gelled amazingly well and the full time dogs earned over 500 points apiece. What more could a girl ask for? The only down side of Saturday was a friend's dog got injured, thankfully only a minor injury, but it would preclude her from racing for the rest of the weekend. They had traveled a very long way to attend this tournament and had not brought any extra dogs which meant they were going to be a dog down for Sunday. After talking it over with the rest of the team we decided to lend them Tov. It would be her first tournament run but they had another very green dog she could share the spot with in case one of them had trouble.
A little power shopping at West Edmonton Mall with Tiffany Saturday night and a good night sleep, facilitated by now tired dogs, had us up early and recharged for Sunday. Once again I was thrilled with my crew, they ran their hearts out and had very few unclean runs. Tov was the real star though. She had very little time to warm up on Sunday before being asked to run her first race but she never missed a beat. She earned her FD and FDX handily and put up some pretty good times. As I sat on the floor, eating my lunch that day, surrounded by my dogs and friends I couldn't help but think I am truly blessed to be able to do this. What a fantastic weekend, I cant wait for the rest of the season!
