Another great weekend of Flyball! Despite the fact that I am once again sick. :( Woke up Saturday morning with a sore throat, and I'm surprised I have any voice right now.
My dogs did great, however. Trophy once again was running with my friend and future housemate, Megan, handling him. Not only did she get her first Perfect Start with Trophy this weekend (and at her second tournament, first one running in start position!) but Trophy ran his new personal best time with her of 4.653!!
I really don't know how he's pulling off more speed, since the video I have his turn is abysmal :( yet he keeps shaving off tenths.
Pan was spectacular, my starts with her less so. I think I like the NAFA lights and timing better. the extra .2 seconds totally threw me for a loop. I either false started or had huge split times. If I had anything consistently under .09 it was a fluke. BUT Pan is a mere 145 points behind the top pointed English Setter in UFLI! With at least 2 more UFLI tournaments scheduled this year we are aiming for #1!
Demo is coming into his own, and I'm super proud of him. He racked up 945 points and earned his first 3 U-FLI titles. He would have made the 1,000 mark if he hadn't taken two bad bobbles and crossed over during one race. I pulled him from the next 3 heats that race. He was fine the rest of the weekend, except for one more BAD bobble that flew up behind the barrier and he refused to come back down the lane without his ball. Luckily he chose to come back down the correct lane, but I was so pissed the judge didn't whistle the heat dead sooner so the boxloaders could have prevented my dog trying to kill himself over a ball. >_< His turn improved all weekend. He was running average 4.6's. I know we can go faster as soon as he gains confidence (if Trophy can shave off 1.8 seconds off his time since starting flyball, I'm sure Demo can hit that magic sub 4!).
All three dogs' teams took second place in their respective divisions.
Videos are uploading to youtube, I will share them ASAP! For now, I'm going to potty the dogs and then pour my sore, sick body into bed. Another long work week starts tomorrow... and I still have a Flyball Hangover!
I'm worried about trying the U-Fli lights for the first time running Koira in singles next month. We don't have U-Fli in my area, so I pretty much go to California once a year and play it there. It doesn't give us much of a chance to get points or titles, but it is a fun difference. But, I'll have to start a dog, and on strange lights.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on Trophy's new PB!
Have you started her on NAFA lights before? The hardest part is figuring out how much farther your dog can run in the extra .2 seconds, then figuring out the cadence (If you run on a 3-beat cadence you're screwed in UFLI). I start Pan at 46.6 in NAFA and moved her back to 53.6 in UFLI. I use a 2-beat cadence (ready, go!) so the lights weren't bad, but i just couldn't adjust for the extra time in my brain and as a result I false started my dogs soooo much this weekend. :(
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