Tesse’s first Tournament

Tesse, a pretty tri-colored Border collie brought tears to the eyes of Mom after a year of intense training. Mom rescued Tesse at the Spokane Humane Society after she and Tesse met while she and Carolyn were temperament testing. It was immediate mutual love.

Tesse was introverted when she came home to meet me. I could not believe that a Border collie could be so boring. All she did was quietly follow mom everywhere and lay her head on mom’s foot every time she sat down. Tesse didn’t chase balls, bark, bounce off the walls – just stood and stared. She appeared to be in a catatonic state. Boooooring

Things have changed. Mom refused to give up and after about 7 months Tesse sniffed a ball. That was the break through leading to some mild mannered activities. At Argus she finally acted and looked like a Border collie. The Hauling Hot Dogs, with Tesse running several heats, had two great tournaments. On the way home Sunday night she whispered in my ear and asked me to help her thank Annie, Lacey, Rani, Holly and Dexter for a great weekend. She was afraid that if she tried to thank them, she would start crying

It’s a Miracle continues to win

Its a Miracle has established a winning attitude. They are running well, having fun and gaining NAFA points and titles. Saturday they ran in Division 4 and struggled with faster teams. The goal for Saturday was to get points and titles and save the gusto for Sunday when they would run with Division 5 teams. It worked. Sunday they place first.

Co-Captain Casper was happy with his team and drooled as he complimented Acorn for two perfect starts and CJ for one perfect start. “Coupled with Parker’s consistency, Slim Ruby’s constant drive, CJ’s growing confidence, Puma’s backup and Jeffey’s new found speed, we are becoming a team to recon with.” Parker wanted it noted that Casper is a great forth position clean up dog.”

Hauling Hot Dogs do it again!!!!!!!!

At the post tournament briefing I caught up with Co-Captain Rani for her comments. Rani said, “What can I say?”

Holly jumped up and said, “tell it like it is. We are the Hog Dogs. If you line up beside us you better be very reliable and go like hell. That’s my story and I am sticking to it.”

Saturday the Hot Dogs were seeded for their first time in division 3. They seemed a little overwhelmed and ended up in 3^rd place. That was unacceptable so they traded divisions with the Flyers on Sunday and strived to do better than 3^rd. Sure enough, like Holly promised, they ran like hell and placed 1^st in division 3.

Flyers continue to rebuild

The Flyers continue to work on varied lineups trying to recover the lost precision they once enjoyed. Captain Eddi said “there were heats when we ran very smooth and some that were below our expectations.”

The lineups with were hampered by the fact that Scrappy is the only height dog currently running with the Flyers. Buster is still nursing a sore shoulder. To give Scrappy a rest they tried a tall dog race with 14” jumps. Fran,

Pandy and I showed displeasure with the high jumps. Hopefully, the Flyers will begin to jell and become a strong tournament competitor very soon. We are proud that Fran got her Flyball Champion title this weekend.

Annie -- queen of the perfect starts

It must be noted that Annie contributed 7 perfect starts this weekend. Two Saturday and five more Sunday. Unfortunately the perfect start competition was only Saturday.

I had to report this or Dad would have placed me in time out. You know, it’s the Grandson/Papa thing.

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Season Ends in Seattle

November 18 and 19, 2006

For the Spok-9’s, our season ended when we traveled to Seattle and participated in the first tournament hosted by the Jet City Jumpers. Magnason Park was a very nice place to house a Flyball tournament. The indoor arena was bright, clean, adequately sized and of course noisy (the most important factor of a tournament). Outdoors provided lots of lawn and the parking was just outside the doors. And best of all, the Jet City Jumper team had obviously done their homework evidenced by the fact that the tournament was well attended, fun and competently managed. We hope they do it one or more times each year in the future.

Each team placed 1^st

The Hauling Hot Dogs continued with their winning season. On Saturday they placed first with the same K-9’s that have worked hard all season honing their skills to precision. Annie, Dexter, Lacey, Rani, Tesse and Holly demonstrated fast running, tight passing and stamina necessary to end the day on top of a closely match division. Co-captain Rani said that after a short winter break, The Hot Dogs would begin early spring training with the goal “to have as much fun next year and we have this year.”

It’s a Miracle again places 1^st. The story is becoming routine. This year has been fun and rewarding. They ran reliable and the times continued to improve. With a 1^st place on every trip, they are showing the results of hard work and tenacity. Co-captain Casper said, “that while the handlers focus on having fun we focus on placing and establishing our team footprint in this sport.” Casper, CJ, Acorn, Parker, Ruby, Puma and Jeffy are all proud of their team’s rookie history. Parker warned the competition that “next year we well be seasoned and tougher.”

The Flyers also came home with a 1^st place. After a season filled with few top placements they ended up placing 1^st at the last tournament of the season. Captain Eddi said, “we lost Buster to a shoulder injury and then lost Maggie to an unplanned retirement - we were struggling. Sunday, Bill and Fran stepped up with fine tournament times, and Dexter moved to the Flyers to help Scrappy with height dog duties. And finally we enjoyed some Flyer type runs.” She thanked the Hot Dogs for loaning Dexter whom contributed greatly to our season ending win. Eddi said that winter training would be a great chance to rebuild and that she had some secret strategies and new members that would be introduced in the spring.

All K-9’s are Flyball Dog Champs

By Sunday afternoon CJ and Tesse had earned their Flyball Dog Champion titles. The Spok-9’s are proud to end the season with all rookie dogs achieving that status. Our hats are tipped to all of you!

Thanks to all and to all a good winter

The K-9’s met Sunday evening and unanimously voted to thank the team handlers for all their dedicated training assistance and TLC they provided this season. They also warned trainers not to sit around and get fat then try to conduct spring training. “ We won’t tolerate another lethargic spring while they dump the winter/holiday fat. We do have a reputation to promote and advance,” stated veteran Lacey.

Thank you – Thank you - Thank you

Dad told me on Saturday that you all dedicated the weekend tournaments to my retirement. I am very proud to think that you all did that for me and then to hear the presenter at the awards ceremony announce “Spok-9 Flyers 1^st Place” was overwhelming.

Thanks to all of you!!!