Moose Jaw Mania

We spent last weekend in Moose Jaw helping to host our "home" tournament. Even though we live 2hrs away we love our teammates and can not imagine playing with anyone else. The tournament was held in the same building as we practice and Friday night set up went smoothly and most of it was done by the time we got there from Saskatoon. We arrived in time to set up our crates and help with a few last minute details before heading off to a teammates house for the night.

Saturday morning came all too early, as it always does, but the excitement of the racing erases the fog quickly. Kiwi's team got off to a bang running in the 17s right off the bat. This is our fastest team, our Div 1 contenders, and Kiwi filled the big shoes left by her sister Cali with ease. Every time I race this little dog I am amazed. Cali works hard to do the 4.6s and 4.7s she posts but Kiwi easily ticks off 4.6s and a few in the 4.5 range. By the last race on Sunday, a little worn from the weekend, she still managed to post a new personal best of 4.5 flat meaning 4.4s and better are not too far off! Sadie was a trooper all weekend and earned her FMX (10,000 pts) which is half way to her ONYX title, a major honor in flyball. Tov was, as always now, super consistent and ran a number of 4.9s with a pass. That little girl runs her heart out every time and gives you everything she's got, I could not ask for a more honest little dogs! By the end of the weekend Kiwi had her FDCh-G, Sadie her FMX, Riley his FM (not bad for a dog who was never supposed to run!), and Tov was only 100pts off her FDCH-G too. Kiwi's team also set a new club record mid Sunday of 17.095 - 16s are just around the corner for that group! It was a great weekend, but I have to say I missed my little Cali. Flyball is her thing and it was a little weird to be playing without her. Oh well, soon enough I will have her back in the lanes with me and hopefully a new little daughter who can watch and learn from mommy.

Warmen Flyball

As I have been a little negligent in my blogging I have 2 posts, from 2 different weekends, that each deserve separate billing. Here is the first. Mother's Day weekend, May 7th and 8th, saw us close to home in Warmen SK for the annual River Runner's flyball tournament. This year was a little extra special as it also marked our 1 year anniversary with Furry Flash. All our teams ran very well all weekend but there were a few special highlight moments that certainly stand out. Tov came back from a month break (due to a spay surgery) to run full time as the sole height dog on her team. She was solid all weekend and earned enough points to achiever her FDCh-S title. Kiwi ran part time with KAOS, a team from Regina, and never posted a time over 5 seconds. Her box turn seems to be coming along better and I am hopeful she will be ready to run in a more regular position soon. Sadie was great running full time once again and she even helped one of the younger handler in our club earn her Junior Handler pin for running her an entire race. Cali was once again my star of the weekend as she posted a new personal best of 4.65s on Sunday morning and then went on the achieve her FMX (10, 000 pts) title that afternoon. Considering she has only been running flyball for not quite a year and a half I am beyond proud of her. I will very much miss running her this summer once she has been bred as her enthusiasm and love of the game is infectious and always brings a smile to my face.

Flyball Season Opener

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!

Another Year Comes to a Close

This weekend marked the end of the fiscal flyball year for 2010. It was a year of ups and downs but on the whole I have to say a pretty good one. Cali debuted in Souris, MB in October of 2009 when Sadie came into heat a little early. Despite having absolutely no practice passing, or running with dogs in the other lane, she was wonderful and earned her first two titles, FD and FDX. The next tournament was in February and after a winter of working on her box turn Cali came out and ran in the sub 5s right off the bat. She has been solid ever since. This tournament was also Sadie's first back after having her puppies and she ran well until a border collie from her team went AWOL and went after her. This was the beginning of a grueling 5 months recovery process that, while frustrating at times, taught me a lot about bringing a dog back from being attacked and rebuilding confidence. Topher (Inseguire Christopher C) also debuted for the Lloydminster Hotdoggers this weekend and earned his FD and FDX title. By years end he and his handler Donna would earn 3700 points and set a PB of 5.2!

Shortly after that tournament came the decision to switch flyball clubs. This has always been about the dogs for us, and while we do it for them we need to consider our enjoyment as well. Flyball is our hobby,we do it to kick back, relax, and enjoy some time with our dogs and teammates a few weekends a year. We are highly competitive when we line our dogs up to race but once we walk them off the mats we leave all that behind. Finding a club that shared our outlook was not too hard and we will be forever grateful to Furry Flash for allowing us to join in their fun!

This last year with them has been awesome. Cali has held a full-time height dog position all year and earned a whopping 6200 points and a PB of 4.7. Sadie recovered to enough to run a few races and earn her FM (5000pts), and while she is not yet back up to full speed I am confident that in time she will get there. Riley even made his debut after 3 years and has been solid as a start dog posting times in the 4.2-4.5 range. None of this though could have been done with out the guidance nd support of Ken, Christine, and the entire Furry Flash club. It is going to be hard to top this year but with both Kiwi and Tovy to look forward to running in the future we just might!

Home Games

We had two major accomplishments at our "home" tournament in Moose Jaw SK June 12th and 13th. Sadie earned her FM and Riley finally earned his FD! Sadie, while running with PDQ, earned her 5000 point title and the right to call herself a veteran of flyball. Riley though stole the show. After 3 years of unsuccessful training we finally had the opportunity to take over the reins on his training and with the help of Furry Flash he made his debut that weekend! He was a wonderful boy and when he ran he did everything right in the lanes. We are still keeping him in a very part-time spot so as not to overwhelm him but he was a star all weekend and made no mistakes. A HUGE thank you to Furry Flash for helping us get him over the final hump and giving him the chance to prove himself! Hopefully this is the start of many more wonderful thing to come for this sweet gentle boy!

Winds of Change

Donna and Topher

Since the last post Inseguire has attended two flyball tournaments, the first one in Warmen SK and most recently in Coaldale AB. In the interim of posts we have moved all our dogs over to Furry Flash from Moose Jaw, the team Cali was on loan to. Flyball is something we do for our dogs, not the other way around, and the politics of a big club can sometimes be overwhelming. That being said we were overdue for a change and Furry Flash was gracious enough to "adopt" all of us.

Warmen marked our first tournament with our new team and proved to be a lot of fun. The lower keyed environment allowed both dogs and people to relax and just enjoy the fun of racing. Sadie finally ran cleanly, and while she is no where near her former self she has given me hope that she will one day get there again. The whole reason we got into flyball was to give Sadie something to do after the move from Ontario and to have her sidelined due to fear was just heartbreaking for me. There is still a lot we need to work on, like her current defensiveness when running, but with perseverance I think we will get there. Cali, as always, was rock solid and eked out some pretty impressive races as the anchor dog. She is a competitive little dog and never ceases to amaze me how hard she will push to stick her nose in front at the wire.

The real star of the weekend though was "Topher" (Inseguire Christopher C) who earned a whopping 1552 points in a single weekend! He was listed full time with his home club, the Lloydminister Hotdoggers, and as a back up/relief dog for an open team but when the open team pulled their other height dog early on Saturday he ended up running double time. This is a lot for any dog, but especially for the little guys. Thankfully on Sunday the open team found a dog to split the height dog position with him and despite all the extra work he held up both teams to a first place finish in thier respective divisions. All the racing barely seemed to phase him and he ran a new PB of 5.477 late Sunday afternoon. We are so proud Topher and his handler Donna has done an amazing job training and conditioning this little man - way to go Donna and Topher!!

Two weeks later saw us in Coaldale AB for the Redline tournament. Only Cali was running in this one as we thought it best not to overwhelm Sadie now that we were finally on the road to recovery. We did however get to take the puppies into the lanes after racing on Saturday and play recall games. Kiwi was impressive, having only ever seen the jumps once before she did full recalls over all four of them completely ignoring the dogs playing in the other lane. Her focus is outstanding and I am excited for her to grow up so we can teach her more of the game. Tov was the big surprise though. She is amazingly driven and has a fierce tug drive which enabled her to do her very first recalls like a champ. Patton was a hit with everyone, and while he still does recalls for food he charmed the heck out of everyone he met and was a little Casanova all weekend.

The racing itself was great. "Bug", the world's most adorable border collie, made her debut and performed like she had been running her whole life. Bug, Tripp, Dusty, and Cali set a new Furry Flash club record of 18.9, with room to improve and shave time off that the next tournament. Most importantly we had a lot of fun and Cali earned her FDCh-G on the weekend - catching back up to her brother Topher after his amazing weekend in Warmen.

Does anyone have a pug I can borrow??

We spent this last weekend in Brandon MB running in the CARS flyball tournament. Sadie, Cali, Kiwi, and I headed down to Regina on Friday and then carpooled the remainder of the way with the ladies of Good 2 Go. It was a long day but we made it to Brandon in one piece and after a few minor adjustments with the hotel room we were able to settle in and go to sleep. Saturday morning, as always, came way too early but we all managed to get up in time to make the captains meeting. Rhianna and I were running with the girls from Wild for the weekend and I would have to say that their name describes them well. These girls are an absolute hoot and have a great sense of humor, by the end of the weekend we had more laughs then I can ever remember having at a flyball tournament. Cali was absolutely solid, taking the ball even when it was loaded on the wrong side of the box and fumbling it once but recovering and completing all her jumps properly. I could not have been prouder of her, but it was the pugs and the bully mix who stole the show in the end. New and green, Billo had his job down pat - bring mom the ball - which he did over, and over, and over again, in rapid succession, and to the exclusion of his other teammates. We thought we has this problem solved by running him last until low and behold someone had to rerun. This required his handler to make a mad dash after him and a mid air tackle which was gracefully landed - one foot over the start line. The judge was laughing so hard that she almost forgot to raise her flag and disqualify us. The pugs on the other hand were our lucky charm and every time it was their turn to sit things would fall apart. At one point, in a must win situation, we resorted to asking the other team we were racing (who are friends of ours) if they had a pug we could borrow - after a moment of confusion they replied they were fresh out. The subsequent laughter by both teams delayed the race start by almost a minute. Sadie even had a chance to run on Sunday and after a shaky start ended the day making some very good catches and runs.

Kiwi, as always, stole the show. Everyone she met loved her and asked where she came from. She is a great ambassador for our kennel. She spent a good part of both days playing tug and introducing herself to the puppies of "Wild". She had her most fun though back at the hotel room with Rhianna's dogs Burst, Taboo, and Relay. They played like mad things for HOURS, Kiwi would hide under the bed and pop out like a little blanket monster an they would chase and paw and dig at her - she had the time of her life. All in all this was a great time, which was only made even better by getting to run Good 2 Go's start dog 'Limit' who is so consistent we were able to push our start to near perfection and win some very tight races. Such a great weekend, we are looking forward to repeating the fun in Warmen in early May.

Flyball - KAOS Style

Cali and I traveled to Regina this weekend to attend the KAOS flyball tournament. This was my first time at this tournament and I have to say that despite the fact that their building was a little smaller than your typical flyball tournament it made for a great venue. The smaller size made for a more "intimate" atmosphere as so often we just stick to our own teams at tournaments and don't interact with the other groups as much as we could. With a venue like this one it is virtually impossible not to make some new friends as everyone is shoulder to shoulder, and with most of the dogs crated outside or in other rooms we could actually hear each other speak. It was a great place to spend more time with people I have not seen since last racing season and get to know Cali's new teammates a little better.

Cali will be running with Furry Flash Dogsports from Moose Jaw SK this year. We got to know this team a little better during the 2009 racing season and I watched them struggle to run the 10 or so big dogs that belong to their club with only one height dog.

For anyone who is not familiar with flyball the height of the jumps on the way to and from the box are set by the smallest dog on the team, also known as the height dog. Without a small dog on the team members must jump 14 inches (typical teams jump 7-9) which can slow each dog down by as much as a full second and is very physically taxing.

After watching this club try to coordinate running all their big dogs equally in only 5 available spots I spoke to their captain Ken about using one of my girls for the 2010 racing season. Our own club seems to have a large amount of height dogs this year, to the extent that 2 or even 3 will be running on a team at the same time. After discussing the logistics of the move with the club owner and president we transferred Cali over to Furry Flash.

This was our first tournament running with Furry Flash and all my worries about how Cali would handle the new box, new dogs, and new routine, was put to rest after the first race where she handled everything like a seasoned veteran. Cali lives for flyball and her enthusiasm is infectious on the line and some good, not to mention tight, racing added to that excitement and made for a fun day. I knew form watching furry Flash last season that they were a club that thoroughly enjoyed racing their dogs but I never expected to feel so welcome and comfortable in our very first outing with them. I want to thank everyone we ran with on Saturday for making us feel so at home and also say a special thank you to Ignited who allowed me the privilege of running their start dog Moxie in one race and giving me the opportunity to do something I almost never get to do, race the lights to the line. Cali and I had a great time overall and we are really looking forward to what the rest of the racing season will bring.

Edmonton Flyball

Donna and Topher

Inseguire Christopher C "Topher"

Well the first flyball tournament of the year is over and done with and as always there were a few kinks to be worked out but on the whole I have to say it was a success. Donna brought Topher (Christopher C) up on Saturday to do some warm ups with her team, the Lloydminster Hotdoggers. I always love getting the chance to see "my" puppies all grown up and how happy they are in their new homes and Topher was no exception. It is quite obvious he loves his family as he watched Donna intently from the sidelines even though I was snuggling him. He was such a good boy and did so well in warmups that he ran the last few races of the day earning his FD and FDX! Congratulations Donna, you have done such a good job with "our" little man!

Sadie had a good start to Saturday but an incident during a pass later in the day left her a little shaky. Fatigue was setting on top of everything else and she was just not a happy camper so I pulled her from the last race and let her relax. Thankfully we had a backup as this was her first tournament back since having the puppies and I knew she was not going to be fit enough to run full time anyway. Sunday morning started off with a fresher dog but she was still obviously hesitant from the incident on Saturday. After some work and some line-up modification we got her running almost like her old self by the end of Sunday and I am hopeful that a few good practices will have her back to form.

Cali was the real star of the weekend, improving vastly on her performance in Souris. Her box turn is almost solidified now and that helped her improve her personal best time to 4.903 even with a 3ft pass! She impresses me more and more each time I put her in the lanes and she may one day be just as fast (or faster) than her mother. She is a solid little dog who even when she makes a mistake will go back and correct it and with a little more experience will be quite a reliable little height dog.

To add to the fun (or chaos if you prefer) I brought along the puppies for some much needed socialization. They, as always, stole the show both days showing everyone how they fetch a ball and trade it for the tuggie at only 11 wks old. I adore the stage that they are in now where they just love everyone and everything and I am hopeful that with enough proper socialization they will be able to keep it up into adulthood. I have to give them a lot of credit they were amazing travelers for the whole 6 hour journey, only stopping once to potty and sleeping most of the way there. They were even good about sleeping in their crate, despite much chaos during the first night, and did not complain about much during the entire adventure. Did I mention I want to keep them all?

Catching Up

As things get more and more interesting around here I thought a blog would be a great place to keep everyone apprised of the more personal and in depth happenings at Inseguire than our website does. 2009 has been a pretty exciting year for us, we attended our fist JRTCA shows in 5 years and did quite well. In a very limited number of outings Sadie was Best Open Bitch 1x, Reserve Best Open Terrier 1x, Best Brood Bitch and Produce 3x, and Reserve Family Champion 2x. King did not disappoint winning his puppy class every time in the ring and was Dog Puppy Champion 1x, and Reserve Dog Puppy Champion 1x. Cali was the big hit of the summer though, Reserve Bitch Puppy Champion 3x, Reserve Puppy Champion 1x, and always in the top 3 bitch puppies every time in the ring.

This year also saw both Sadie and Cali make thier flyball debuts. Sadie earned her FDCh-G in only four tournaments, and by the end of the season was running 4.8s. She was pulled from the lanes early in October though as she came into heat and was sent to see Gaye Redpath and Conquest Jock in Ontario. These things usually happen at the most inopportune times and this was no different. We had entered a team of 4, the bear minimum you can run in flyball, including Sadie and were now coming up short to a tournament. After much debate we decided to put Cali in her mother's spot even though she was not quite ready to run. Never having passed before, and no box turn to speak of, this young lady was rock solid and earned both her FD and FDX and running 5.3s. Hopefully a winter of work on that all important box turn will have her shaving a fair bit of time off this posting.

Although our conformation and performance seasons have come to an end 2009 is far from over for us. As I mention before Sadie is expected to be whelping a litter, some time around the 6th of December, and JRT puppies are always a lot of fun at every stage. We will keep everyone apprised of the happenings and keep you fingers crossed that they ultrasound booked for November 7th shows a nice litter of healthy puppies!