Well, we’ve returned from York, PA after another exhausting weekend of flyball! I’m always happy and sad when it’s over. On Sunday afternoon when everyone is dragging and you think you can’t possibly stand for another minute without collapsing, run another second, or scream for another dog you want it to be over. But then you go to sleep and on Monday morning there’s a little place in the back of your heart that just wants to go out and start all over again.
Magnolia’s fantastic. We were so proud of her this weekend. She works against all her handicaps and surprises us every time. Poor little pooch is half deaf and epileptic so we’ve got some stuff to work through. She’s hard to get her attention when it’s loud and obnoxious so we’re going to have to start training her at home as if she really were a deaf dog. That way, she’ll be used to all the hand signals and not rely so much on vocal commands. And the epilepsy. Well that’s another story. She was chunky in the beginning (a result of being a die-hard kibble addict, too many fillers, not enough of the good stuff) and so her medication dose is really correlated to her old weight — 56 lbs! Well, she’s now 40 lbs (and we’d like to put a little bit back on her, maybe up to 43 or 45 lbs). But you can really tell a difference after she’s been medded for the day.
Saturday morning we fed her after her first race. 2nd race? She fell apart. And I mean… FELL apart. She couldn’t focus, couldn’t concentrate, and when we pulled her after it was apparent that there was no way she’d be running she returned to her crate and fell fast asleep. Poor thing. But after a good long rest and after the meds evened out, she pulled it back together and had some awesome runs in the afternoon. So Sunday, we didn’t even bother having her run in her 2nd race. The theory worked. But we’re still going to be talking to our collection of vets to see about lowering her dosing.
The club did awesome. Our regular team placed 1st in their division, our open team placed 3rd in their division, and we had 6 dogs earn new titles!
We were also lucky enough to see an awesome Jack Russell Terrier achieve their Flyball Grand Champion 70K title! The entire hall erupted with applause when the last dog of the relay crossed the finish line. It’s so great to see such fantastic camaraderie in a sport.
So… I’m glad it’s over because I probably couldn’t have stood for another minute, but I’m sad too. Until next time.
I’ve never done flyball with my dog, but it seems like a great sport. I just had to comment on the name Magnolia. My little rescue beagle’s name is Maggie. She came to me with that name and since she already knew it I didn’t have the heart to change it. I decided that I didn’t want Maggie to be short for Margaret because that’s too common. Instead I decided that it would be short for Magnolia Blossom which seems to suit her very well. Congratulations on the fantastic weekend.
We have a beagle on our team. Everyone roots for her just as much as they do for the lone Dalmatian. Beagles aren’t typically the best flyball dogs because they’d much rather be doing something with their nose than bothering terribly with things as menial as tennis balls. So when Remi (our resident beagle) succeeds the crowd is uproarious! It’s pretty awesome to watch. And she’s a fast little beagle.
Glad to hear you have a Magnolia too. There should be more of them in the world… but I know that not every dog is a fantastic Magnolia.