We had soooooo Much fun

And sorry we forgot pictures. Had to get that out of the way. I know my bad. But we had a huge surprise right off the bat. I will explain later.

Anyway I knew Sheena would be crazy the minute we got her into the car without her Service dog gear. Why? Beacause we had practiced flyball that day. She saw the crates in the car, she saw the kongs in the car. She knew exactly where we were going and her excitement was getting Ajax the clown excited. I always beleive Service dogs need down time to be crazy dogs too. While this is her crazy time and she knows it. But how will she do with all the new dogs and running in a horse arena?

So after a 45 minute drive we get there. Sheena barking right away. No one else is there yet so we let the dogs out on leash to wander around to get a sniff of the place. The property dogs came over and met Sheena and Ajax and the greetings went fine. When the old gray(who was taller then Ajax) lifted a lip at Ajax without even making a sound Ajax politely walked away. Ajax wanted to play with all the dogs while he was on leash.

Anyway when everyone arrived we set up the lanes and then found out the huge surprise. Jake(Rianbow collar pup from Sheena' s litter last summer) trainer was in our group. WOW. She couldn't believe it either. She let me know Jake did well his first session. She got to see Sheena and Ajax and she had also brought a beautiful pure black German Shepherd with her. So we all discussed how it would be interesting in having a pure black and a white on the same team in a tournament. lol

Anyway. They wanted to see what Sheena could do. So they first had her at the box a couple of times and had me do warm ups with her. Which was fine. After a couple of those then they had her do the routine. She did it. No problem. She remembered it all.

After a few of those they brought in another dog to run in the lane next to her just to see what she would do. I was nervous. I knew she was feeding off of that too because I had no idea what she would do. I knew she would want to go and play with the other dog and check it out. She was paying alot of attention to it. But when I started the Ready Set Go she was all business and she flew down the lanes, got her ball and came back. Now granted. She came back to me and as she was running back she did glance over at the other dog. But she still did it. We then did it agian. And agian. Till she was ignoring the other dog just for the game and also ready for a break.

So back to a bucket of water and her crate. Ajax all the while moaning and groaning like he was dieing, throwing in many a bark of indignation at not being allowed out to try it all. Then we got to talk with the other women (hubby was the only man there) and watch their dogs run and train. These women really know what they are doing and their dogs show it and are so fast. I think Sheena was the slowest of the bunch. Though after having 7 puppies I think she has a right to slow down a bit. lol We just have to get her back up to racing form. One dog they had clocked at 4.0. WOW. Sheena's fastest time ever when she had raced 2 years ago was 5.4 seconds. And I thought that was fast. lol. I couldn't help but get excited as I watched the other dogs working and the speed they were going and when they would make mistakes and then finnally get it right. Everyone would get excited. It was so fun.

After that they took all the dogs out and took Ajax out for call backs. Now normally this dog has a great come command. but one, he had just watched all this exciting stuff confined in a crate, two it is a horse area so a lot of new interesting smells and 3 tons of new dogs. So when the lady held him at one end of the arena and Derek was at the other calling him, he would get all excited, and run to Derek, and run right on by Derek. lol Lots of times it was me sitting in my chair just saying Ajax come baby and he would come racing to me. So they could try agian. Ajax is too strong for me to run so Derek needs to run him in fly ball. THis continued almost each time. Finally his turn was up and we took him to the car o cool down.

Then they worked all the dogs agian. But this time when Sheena's turn came up they surprised me. I didn't realize they would put her in a line up so fast with another team so fast. 2 person teams each just to see how she would do passing. Late passing. They had me in the lead for teh first couple. The first time I messed up by having her come off to the wrong side but they did pass ok and both ran ok next to the other team. So they when I went agian I brought her off to the right side but not far enough so I messed up the pass with the dog behind me. Did that a couple of times so they put me and Sheena in back. Did great then. Sheena was getting tired by then so was starting to drop the ball at the box. but the passing was going well. Peronally I think Sheena needs little work, I am the one that needs a complete workover.

Later I was told Sheena would, with some work and practice, be able to compete in the near future. So we will be able to get back to earning points. Maybe that means by the fall. That would be nice.

Ajax had another round of recalls. but this time Hubby had a secret weapon for garbage gut. Instead of a kong like Sheena(which he ignores) he had small bits of cookies. So first he gave him a couple and then ran down to the middle of the arena. THe lady held him and Hubby called him and hubby took off in he other dirrection and Ajax followed. FAST. And stayed with him. And got his cookie. They did this several times with the same result. So much better.

So we heard back from the group this morning and we have been accepted. We are very excited about that. And we also phoned Jakes owners to see if they want to join up too since we are in the group with Sheena and Ajax and so is their trainer. THey realy liked the idea.

All in all it was a great day.
Nicole