Barkin' in Bonham (Canton edition)

Wow! Such an awesome weekend at Zio's first flyball tournament hosted by a great group of people from Hyper Flight Flyball Club in Dallas. Flyball really is a fun, tight knit group of people. I never anticipated how much is going on in your head during runs. It was all I could do to get Zio to the right starting point, watch the timing lights, release him at the right time, run up to the start, and then call and encourage him to chase me! I could never remember to see his start times or even his finish times for that matter. I usually had to ask someone else to watch for me. LOL

Here is a quick recap of Zio's races...

Saturday Feb 20
Match 1
Races 1 - 4 were all "no finish" (NF) because he saw the other dog when he turned and missed all the jumps coming back.

Match 2
Races 1 and 4 - NF because when I ran up to the finish line to encourage him to come back over the gates, the tug swung through the timing lights and faulted him. Rookie handler!!

Races 2 and 3 - I think about a 5.3 and a 5.126, if I remember right. He's turning the wrong way now to see the dog in the right lane, but manages to get back over all four jumps!


Sunday Feb 21
Match 1
The second race he dropped the ball and came back wide of the jumps, but the other three races were good! His best time in this match was a 4.8... I think.

Match 2
All four races were good and he posted a couple of 4.7 times! He's still turning wrong, but completing the runs!

I thought he was done for the day, but one of our teammates was late coming back from lunch and Zio prepped to substitute in on our "Step on It" team's next match. Susan made it back near the end of warm-ups though and Zio was on the sideline again.

Connie did a wonderful thing and offered to let Zio run for her dog on the last race of their match, so he got to run in his very first team match. He did fantastic!!! When he ran, the ball accidently fell out of the box (which is a fault) before he got there and he picked it up off the floor and come back perfectly. Both teams were faulted though, so I was able to send him back again and he beat the other team's re-run to win the race. The best part is that he completely ignored the other dogs and the other lane!!!

Connie did one better and said that Zio could run the second and third races in the next match and all three in the last match! I have no idea what times we ran or who won, but my little man did an awesome job and I am so proud of him.

I can hardly wait until the next tournament in March! Here is some video from the last singles match.