I took my boys to the Slammers Spring Fling flyball tournament in Monroe, MI this past weekend. Both boys did fantastic! Pan has now beaten the previous GSD record ELEVEN times in his first two tournaments. He beat the record on his first day of racing in his first ever tournament last month and beat it three times that weekend. Then this past weekend he beat it eight more times including a 4.009 with a .002 start. That’s basically a perfect start! Everyone believes he is a sub-4 second dog and we are so close! A breed like a GSD going under 4 is almost unheard of, in fact ANY breed under 4 seconds is spectacular. Nikon got to run in Pre-Flight on Saturday since there was a no-show. We had a judge time him and he consistently ran a respectable 5.2. His box turns are gorgeous. On Sunday he got a 10 minute dog massage and then did Pre-Flight with his friend Mushu where he pulled out a 4.9. We’re back at training tomorrow and I have a few ideas on getting more speed.
Nikon liked having his very own queen bed all weekend
Pan normally sleeps in a large crate so he took advantage of the chance to sleep with me
This is a video I made two days before the tournament. Pan is now wearing skid boots. Since we were transporting one of the team boxes we took the opportunity to work some slower turns and break in his boots the day they arrived. Nikon doesn’t have to wear boots because he doesn’t have Pan’s bad habits! (Boots are for naughty dogs that slide and burn their hocks and stop pads)
We’ll see if Jason got some clips from the tournament. I believe he was busy box loading for at least one of Nikon’s races.
That’s great! Congratulations Pan!
I love that first shot of Nikon!
I agree Nikon looks very kissable in the first picture!
I love watching flyball – it is so exciting to see them racing at full tilt with such control and dexterity! They’ve earned those big, comfy beds. I haven’t seen a video of Pan actually competing, but I remember watching NIkon’s amazing runs. If Pan is 4.009 now, nothing can stop him from breaking that sub-4 time. He’s so close it’s inevitable. Keep up the great work! We are all so proud of you, and your beautiful boys.
Thanks Beverly. I have some clips from last tournament I’ve just been so busy I haven’t finished them yet. I think Jason also got some yesterday, though not the 4.009 because he wasn’t there on Sat. I wish I had a clip of Nikon’s sub-5 run, he looked so good!
This was his 4.23 run that originally set the new GSD record. As you can see, he’s not all that fast to the box (well, he is fast but not significantly faster than other fast dogs). His speed comes with his turn and then return down the lane.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yQphpciCy4
OMG, he is FAST! He makes his lightning-fast turn then races to the finish like a speeding bullet! My husband and I just watched it several times. If he picks up even a little speed to the box you know he’s going to shatter records. We look forward to the news, updates, and more videos!
Lies you can tell Pan is FAST, he looks fast even in the photo, wonderful job with your beautiful boys!
That’s the plan Beverly. I’ll probably race him in Singles a few more times this year. I know it’s all about having fun but getting under that 4.0 is always on all of our minds! We do U-Fli and only the Singles races count toward official individual times and breed records. He doesn’t have passes yet anyway so he doesn’t run on a relay team unless he’s the alternate in which case they usually give him one heat where he leads or anchors with NO pass, lol. Do you do flyball? We are so new to it, I’m trying to find more people that do it to talk to. I wasn’t sold at first but both the boys love it and now that we’ve started tournaments I’m enjoying it more since I have something to work on (my starts and passes). Nikon is doing so well too, he deserves a lot of credit. He’s not slow by any means and has such a pretty turn for a dog of his size. I’m proud of both the boys, especially since they are my first flyball dogs and obviously not a traditional flyball breed. We took the initiative to build some simple equipment at home and I think it has made all the difference. Both of them get tons of compliments on their turns.
Scott and I are very interested in Flyball because it looks like you only need a few pieces of equipment, as opposed to all the agility equipment required for that competition. You say that you were able to build it at home. Do you have any suggestions for resources? We are also interested in Dock Diving because our family owns a lake cottage with a dock that he’d probably love diving off. All the kids love it, and he’s just a 4-legged kid, anyway. My main concern is all the cautions we’ve been reading about regarding limiting his running, let alone racing, during his first year of growth. How old were they when they started Flyball? Perhaps he could just run the course, with low hurdles, to at least get some experience before we encourage any speed.
Beverly, I use a cheap push board I made myself to train the swimmer’s turn at home. I’m also working on a video showing clips of Pan from 4 months to present day that shows the progression of the training. I’ll make a new post in a bit and share some resources for those interested in getting started….
If you want a real box, those are going to be like $500-$800 used and $800-$1500 new, but you certainly don’t need a real box at home. Otherwise, flyball is VERY cheap at least for me. My push board cost me $35 in materials. The only other props I use at home are an agility jump I already had, part of a regular flyball jump I loaned from my club, and the wooden pallet I took from a dumpster. Our club dues are $30 quarterly plus $5 to train once a week. That’s CHEAP considering I can train all three of my dogs every time. Pan’s tournaments were $30 each for the whole weekend! By contrast it’s $50-$75 for a Schutzhund trial entry and over $100 to do UKC conformation shows for a weekend. Since most of our tournaments are on the east side there is some travel but those costs would be the same for traveling to agility or anything else. It cost $10 to register each dog with U-Fli but no other paperwork or registrations are needed (whereas by the time I breed survey Nikon I will have spent about $300 for all the paperwork/certificates).
What dog is Pan racing against, Lies? Is that a BC?! Pan is a SPEED DEMON!
After seeing Nikon so comfy, I am ready for a nap!
Awesome job, Lies. Can you believe how far you, Nikon and Pan have come since you started flyball?! Didn’t you try it just for fun? And now look at them, excelling amongst Border Collies and Aussies! And Pan is at the verge of breaking records, while Nikon demos textbook box turns! Very, very cool.