Starlight Border Collies
This page was last updated: August 22, 2009
Flyball
We started flyball in July '06 and have been having fun ever since! We are on the Unorthodogs flyball team. Check out the team's awesome website!
UFLI tournament - Stanwood, WA 9/23/06
Zark's first tournament - UFLI. He ran a few heats but had trouble crossing into the other lane.
NAFA tournament - Seattle, WA 11/19/06
Zark ran in his first NAFA tournament and earned his FD and FDX titles! His times were between 6 and 7 seconds.
12/5/06 - Jet City Jumpers performed the half time show at the Seattle Sonic's NBA game!!!
Update: 3/14/07
We now belong to the Unorthodogs flyball team!
I took Zark out of competition and have been working on perfecting a box turn and increasing his tug drive. He is already so much more focused and I can't wait till he is ready to race! He will be so much faster!
Ella has started training in flyball as well. She has amazing tug drive and is super fast!
Update 6/4/07
Unorthodogs flyball team!!!!
05-27-07 - Debut Tournament - 1st Place Division 3
Abbotsford, BC (Raja, Ruby, Zark, Zoe, Kess) - best time 21.07
Zark did amazing!! He took a whole second off of his time, since switching clubs to Unorthodogs. He ran a 5.06 and I see him getting faster and faster!! He was much more focused and we both were a lot more confident! His box turn is coming along great as well!
Update 7/16/07
Unorthodogs takes 1st place on 7/14 and 2nd place on 7/15 at the tournaments in Salem Oregon!!! Zark really did fantastic, setting a new fastest time of 4.70! He is driving back to the tug better than ever and his box turn is holding strong :) I also did a lot better with passing because of the help I received from my teamates and from Robbie and Sonya from Sure Shots Flyball Team. Zark earned his FDCh Title as well.
Update 10/30/07
NAFA Tournament in Auburn, WA
10/27 and 10/28
We had a lot of fun playing flyball this weekend! We took 3rd place on Saturday. On Sunday we ran two performance teams in order to get new dogs experience. Two of our new dogs, Dice and TImber, were able to make successful runs! Zoey and Mercy did some great recalls in warmups!
Zark received a new fastest time again of 4.62 seconds! This was even with running in dirt. I am excited for the next tournament on mats, I am thinking Zark may be able to break into the 4.5's. I am also very proud of his drive back to the tug this weekend. I was able to give him a call when he was coming of the box, then turn and run. He flew right back to me and faster at that! He also earned his FDCH-S title!
It was too dark for any action shots!
Update 12/26/07
Ella is improving greatly in driving back to the tug with distractions. She can now run alongside another dog. Her box turn is so quick and her speed over the jumps is fantastic. Ella's issue is that she just doesn't like the tennis ball that much! So I am currently working on getting her to bring the ball back with her over all the jumps. Since I am away at college, we are not able to practice with the team. This is making for slow progress. My goal for the next few months is to work with Ella on loving the tennis ball! We will be back the fisrt weekend of May to practice with the team! Ella will do warmups at the NAFA tournament at the end of June and possibly run then.
Anthony has been working with Xena. She is doing excellent with recalls! She will start jump and box work when she is 8 months.
Zark's box turn is holding strong and he has excellent tug drive. He still is unable to have dogs pass into him, so he remains in the number four spot. I think this may be one trait we will be unable to train out of him - another reason to start them as puppies!
Update 4/4/08
Zark is doing well with passing practice. I don't have another trained dog to practice with, so I have my roomate run her dog on a leash over the jump towards the box while Zark is returning from the box. It is working pretty well, he now completely ignores her and returns to his tug. I am hoping this will translate to the real thing when we go back to team practice next month.
Ella has a quicker box turn and doesn't bobble the ball very much anymore. We are still working on getting her to not spit the ball.
Update 5/12/08
Outside Practice
Update 6/15/08
Ella has come a long way this last month! She is doing full runs without dropping her ball! I have been working with her a few times a week, starting with two jumps and working my way up to four. I am very pleased to announce that she will be making her flyball debut in a couple of weeks!
Zark is in great shape and ready for another tournament! My goal for him is to get to 4.5 seconds. He has been working on running third with a small dog running fourth with some success.
6/28-6/29
Zark did amazing! He got his fastest time of 4.54, which was our goal :) We had some excellent passes. Best of all, Zark decided it was OK to have a dog pass into him! He ran all day as #3 dog taking a pass like a pro! What a super guy! He earned his FDCh-G title.
Ella warmed up with some success, but she is going to need some side by side box work before we try another tournament.
10/25-26/08
Unorthodogs wins second in Divison 2 both days! Yeah!
Zark was handled by Paul and Leslie as I wasn't able to make it to the tournament. Thanks guys! Zark ran well for them and has turned into a very versatile dog :)
6/6/09
Zark - NAFA Flyball - 1st place division 4 and a new best team time of 19.73!
