​The Flyball MAINEiacs had a fun time racing away in Barkaritaville this past weekend! The whole region came together to help put on the tournament that almost didn't happen in North Smithfield, Rhode Island. The weather was definitely on the warm side but luckily the AC was on in the building to keep us mostly cool.

Our teams did very well this weekend overall. Our Regular 2 team "Funk You Up" consisted of Taboo, Eliot and Picnic holding down the core flawlessly all weekend. For greener dogs, Eliot and Picnic really did a great job with their passing. The anchor position on this team was shared among Gemma, Tilt and Cody who all had some excellent runs. The team came in 2nd place in their division, and the point totals were:

Taboo 571
Eliot 571
Picnic 571
Gemma 295
Tilt 100
Cody 176

Our Open 2 team also came in 2nd in their division. "Shut the Front Door" was made up of Roxie, Kessie, Murphy and Abbey as the core dogs. Roxie held down the start position all weekend but the rest of the lineup changed from time to time. Peanut was able to run a couple of heats for Kessie, and Levi owned race 91! Abbey and Murphy played very nicely with each other on the same team. Both were passing into other dogs and Abbey held her ball! The point totals for this team were:

Roxie 622
Kessie 532
Murphy 622
Abbey 522
Peanut 90
Levi 100

Our Multibreed team was "What the Fuzz?!" They placed third in their division. This team included Arrow, Curly, Rita and Pivot as the core dogs. Saoirse and Shamu also got to run a little for Pivot throughout the weekend. Once again, there was some nice passing on this team and they had a good number of clean runs. Curly became a "treat dog" this weekend, Arrow seemed to really enjoy running for both Sarah and Deb, and Rita did not have ANY butterflies all weekend! This team ended up with a huge number of points:

Arrow 801
Curly 801
Rita 801
Pivot 625
Saoirse 101
Shamu 75

Our Vets team "Fine Whine" had a lot of fun this weekend. Sorry, we somehow missed the point totals for this team. They did get some points- not a lot- but they got some. Sassy ran on this team, along with her housemate Bullet. Luna ran on this team too and earned her FMX! Shilo got in a few heats and sometimes remembered both parts of the game (fly-BALL). Leap had some very respectable times for a little one and our visitor Poppy ran really really consistently.

ARFF had some pretty "New Title" ribbons for us. Other titles earned this weekend were:

Cody - FDX
Shamu - FDCH
Eliot - FDCH-G
Luna - FMX
Roxie - FMX

And the Mat dogs! Almost forgot about mat time. With set up happening Saturdaymorning, there was no single dog racing, just mat time Saturday evening after racing. We had three dogs in- Jester, Thistle and Quincy. All three got some good work in a challenging environment.

All in all, it was a really fun and mostly successful weekend. It's always different for the dogs to run on the turf and the heat was definitely a factor for a lot of the dogs. In addition to some great racing, we found a delicious new restaurant called "Chop Kabob" and I have a feeling we will be returning there the next time we are in the area.

Huge thanks to our team photographers for taking some great photos all weekend. We are so lucky to have so many talented people with fancy cameras!

I think that's it. Sorry if we forgot anyone. Next up- a small group of MAINEiacs are traveling to PEI in early July!

Travis and Sarah L

​Photos courtesy of Dave Strauss and Martha Miller

​On a rainy Friday, a small group of MAINEiacs drove just about 8 hours to Batavia, New York for Team Tenacity's "Make It Memorial Day" Tournament. This was a new tournament for most in our group, and for several dogs, it was a chance to go "home" and see their breeders.

The tournament site was kind of like Greenfield... there was camping... and rain... and the racing lanes were in a large, very open building. It was a very loud tournament with many dogs crating inside. It was fun seeing some teams from Region 13 West who we don't often race against. There were lots of very fast sport mixes at this tournament which were very exciting to watch.

We brought two teams- our Open team "What the Fuzz?!" was seeded in the first division of open against some very fast teams. We weren't expecting to fair all that well in the division standings, but our clean racing helped us win lots of heats against many teams who didn't finish. Fuzz ended up finishing second in the Open-1 division. Arrow, Roxie, Picnic and Abbey ran on this team. Roxie ran smoothly between the Power Tripp Crazy Train of Arrow and Picnic all weekend. Arrow had some great starts with Sarah and hit 3.9xx several times over the weekend. The muppet kept Bex on her toes with all her excitement at the start line. Abbey held her ball all weekend in anchor! Abbey was also kind enough to let her housemate Cody run a few heats for him to earn his first flyball points and his FD in front of his breeder, mother and brother.

This tournament was a little loosey-goosey compared to how we are used to things running in Region 13 East. We think the point totals for this team looked like this, but again, we're not entirely sure:
Arrow: 607
Roxie: 607
Picnic: 607
Abbey: 582
Cody: 25

Our Regular 2 team "Shut the Front Door" consisted of Eliot, Murphy, Rita, Saoirse, Shamu, and Kessie. Eliot, Murphy and Rita were a solid core all weekend. Rita had only one "butterfly moment" where she bobbled her ball and forget she was playing flyball. But, she stayed in the building all weekend! Eliot was a steady-eddy start dog, and Murphy ran solidly, full-time in the pack like he'd been running there forever. Saoirse, Shamu and Kessie all got a chance to run a few heats in the very challenging venue.

This team earned a very respectable amount of points too (again not totally sure this is correct, but this is what was posted):
Eliot: 435
Murphy: 435
Rita: 435
Saoirse: 230
Shamu: 75
Kessie: 130

Shilo ran on a team that ended up short on dogs in Open 3. This team was actually pretty fast and broke out multiple times over the weekend. The MAINEiacs team members also helped out numerous other clubs over the weekend. Travis box loaded for one of our teams plus two others (Ruffin' It and FNF) . We were also very grateful to have some help in return from Ruffin' It who gave us a very experienced box loader. Rebeccah and Sarah got to handle Taboo (Picnic's grandfather) and Shayde (Arrow's mom) for a few races which  was also extra special this weekend.

There was some extra excitement Saturday evening after racing when we learned there would be speedway racing in the track right near our camping area. Luckily, it was over by midnight, so we were able to get some sleep before racing again Sunday morning :-) 

There were some new titles this weekend too:
Cody-FD
Picnic FDCH-S
Abbey- FM
Rita- FM

It was a great weekend showing Region 13 West what the MAINEiacs are all about! Sorry for the late update and thanks for reading!

Sarah and Travis

The Flyball MAINEiacs traveled West this weekend to Mass Chaos’ Greenfield Derby.
 
The weather wasn’t expected to be great, but it actually managed to clear up quite a bit. We had a really enjoyable, sunny, but windy weekend.
 
This is another one of our favorite tournaments, so it brings a big crowd of Flyball MAINEiacs. We brought 3 of our own teams, had a dog on a team with BARK and had lots of green dogs with us.
 
Our multi team “What the Fuzz” came in 1st!!!
 
Taboo – 675 (our “newest” MAINEiac)
Eliot – 675
Murphy – 675 (new title FDCh)
Saoirse – 500
Shamu – 175
Levi
 
It was so nice to have Taboo and Dave in the lanes with us this weekend. I think Dave’s competitive nature may be rubbing off on us. This was a really nice little team! I’m super proud of these dogs for running so well together. Murphy ran full time like he's been doing it forever. Shamu and Annaka had a few great races too!!
 
Our regular team “Shut the Front Door” came in 2nd!!!
 
Arrow -750 (new title FM)
Reese -750
Picnic – 750 (new title FDCh)
Abbey – 700
Peanut -50 (new title FDX)
Pivot
 
This team was on fire!! We had a last minute change in dogs which resulted in Picnic running a full time spot. This was her first full time spot and she rocked it!!!  With this change, it made our team a little bit faster and we were really close to breaking out. We kept saying we need to hold our passes, we don’t want to break out! Well then there was a change of plans and we decided that we did want to break out!!! Our dogs were passing so well and running so clean that we took a chance and our first break out race we ran a 19.945. Then we decided in our last race of the day, in our last heat of the day that we’d try it one more time to see what our fastest team time could be. We ended up with a 19.831!!! I know a team shouldn’t be as excited for a break out as we were, but this was one of our fastest team times that we have run in about 5 years with a team made up of all our own dogs!

We hope the Pivot is feeling better soon!  We missed that little spitfire in the lanes!!
 
Our open team “It's Brittany B!tch” came in 3rd!!!
 
Roxie – 571
Sassy- 571
Rita – 571
Bullet – 471
Kessie – 100 (honorary Brittany)
Thistle
 
We’ve been waiting a long time to run this team! With 6 Brittany’s on our team, and the new open rules, we were finally able to do it. I have to say for a team made up of 4 dogs from 2 households, they all handled themselves really well. Kessie was able to help them out for a few races too, since she’s the same colors as Brittany’s!.
 
BARK Vets “Just Keep Barking” came in 2nd!!!
 
Sammie – 80
 
Sammie, Anna and I had a really fun time running with BARK! What a great group of old dogs and great people!!
 
Levi and Thistle both did warm ups and are getting so close!! Peanut did lots of warm ups and earned himself a few heats. I wasn’t there in time for SDR, but I hear it was a really great success for all of the dogs that were practicing.
We got to do some mat time on Saturday night. Cody, Shilo, Banner, Tilt, Quincy, Roo, Jester, Odin, and Laikynn all got to have some fun in the lanes.
 
A big huge thank you to Mass Chaos for hosting another fabulous tournament!!!
 
Up Next:
Batavia and Rhode Island
 
Thanks
~Staci~

​Well the Flyball MAINEiacs were finally back in the lanes to start the 2017 season. We went to Dover NH for the MCR & BARK Spring Fling. We love this tournament!!!
 
I'll start off by saying I don't know exactly where our teams placed. There was so much going on and I couldn't hear the placements. However I do know that our teams ran really well and you can tell we have been practicing a lot!!!
 
We brought 4 teams and got a little help from Ember and Taboo on 2 of our teams.
 
Vets
Shilo 285, Sammie 405, Luna 320, Bullet 55, Kessie 145 (and Ember)
 
For a bunch of older dogs they all ran really well! It's nice to see them be pretty competitve in this division.
 
My memory is not serving me very well for each of our other line ups. We were pretty busy!
 
Abbey 533
Arrow 761
Curly 723
Eliot 565 – new title FDCh-Silver
Gemma 556 – new title FDCh-Gold
Leap 125
Murphy 301 – new title FDX
Peanut 80 – new title FD (way to go Nut!!)
Picnic 175 – new title FD & FDX
Pivot 623
Reese 761
Rita 723
Roxie 761
Saoirse 300 – new title FMX
Sassy 386
Shamu 115
Tilt 176
 
This was such a great tournament for FM! So many accomplishments for our green dogs and then our core dogs are really pulling things together and being super reliable. SDR went really well for Levi, Banner, Thistle, Quincy, Jester, and Pistol. Everyone is making progress and will hopefully have warm up spots in the near future. Rebeccah even learned how to use a new passing program and it is awesome! We are going to be able to really start working on those passes even more now!
 
We can't wait to see everyone again in a few weeks in Greenfield! It's Derby weekend! Mint Julep's all around!!!
 
Photos courtesy of team member Chris Baby

​What a busy weekend the MAINEiacs had in Greenfield MA! Mass Chaos hosted a really great tournament.
 
Staci, Martha and Annaka made the trip this time. You would think this would be a short review with such a small group, but I'll warn you that it is not! We had a busy weekend!
 
We went with 8 dogs and ran on 4 teams.
 
Shilo ran on Vets with WW and was handled by Natalie Landry. Shi still ran so many 4.4’s this weekend. It's kinda crazy he's almost 12yrs old! His team came in 1st and he earned 656 points.
 
Sammie ran on Vets with ARFF. She was really steady and only had a few bobbles each day. She did chase after her ball that popped out of her mouth in the run back and took out Barb at the knees. Sorry Barb!!!! Luckily no major injuries. This team came in 2nd and Sammie earned 710 points.
 
Abbey ran with NasDog in Open 2. She was pretty distracted but stayed in her own lane all weekend!!! Abbey is proving she can do the job! A lil ball holding work and she’ll have it!!! This team didn't place in the top 3. Abbey earned 385 points.
 
Arrow and Reese ran on an Open 1 team with Land Sharks from Ontario. We didn't think it would be a problem and we put Arrow in start for the first race. Well he decided any tug will do and he came back to me while I was sending Reese instead of to Martha. My shin and his big head make a lovely bruise! Lol! We figured it out and ended up running him in anchor and he did awesome. He pulled out a 4.2 and some 4.3’s. We played with the line up a few times and Reese was passing the other dogs and running really solid. He did get to start the last few races on Sunday. First heat, early. Move back 6 inches and end up with a 0.002 and 0.001! This team had a best time of 18.58 today against CxM. It was really fun to be racing their height dog team! We came in 3rd and both boys earned 565 points.
 
Annaka was Jr handler extraordinaire! If we couldn't find her she was in the lanes racing a dog. I'm pretty sure she handled 5 dogs this weekend. Penny, Capri, Wager, Sammie and another border collie. She was passing and starting dogs with minimal help! Talk about good starts! Annaka had her first ever perfect 0.000 start this weekend. It was awesome, everyone in the venue was cheering her on!
 
Rufus and Shamu did SDR on Friday. We worked through Rufus not wanting to be held and got a few good recalls over 1 jump. Shamu did mostly recallson Friday and did a good job.
 
We did mat time on Saturday with Banner, Shamu and Picnic. Banner looked great on the box and got in lots of runs. Shamu got to do full runs next to a fluffy white dog doing recalls in the other lane. He looked over once and then decided to get his job done! Rebeccah and Picnic joined us for the night so Picnic could get in some flyball time. She did some really good work and was really happy in the lanes.
 
There was a wonderful raffle of 3 baskets that were made up of donations from the competitors. The raffle was to raise money for the Pascarelli family. Around $2000 was raised!!!!
 
We camped on-site and ate well as usual. Pancakes with bacon and mimosas, burgers and take out Chinese food!
 
This is always one of my favorite tournaments and even with such a small crew it still is a favorite! We had tons of fun!! We missed the rest of FM too though!
 
Next up: Flyball MAINEia!!!
 
~Staci

​A large group of Flyball MAINEiacs made the trip just over the Maine border to Florenceville-Bristol Canada for the 1st annual Carleton County Pawtatoes tournament! Our gracious hosts were amazing! We tented on Carole-Anne’s lawn, had campfires with lots of the other clubs, a corn boil and we were walking distance to the site! What a great little town with one of the biggest turnout of spectators. Our corgi mixes were feeling the love from the crowd with special requests to see Shamu warm up and visitors coming over to meet Odin.
 
The site was great too! We enjoyed some great home cooked breakfasts and lunches, including poutine!
 
We ran 3 teams this weekend. All of them ran so well together! I didn't get our placements for Sunday since we needed to get our tents packed up and on the road home. Running great and having fun was all that mattered and we definitely did both.
 
Funk You Up! (Regular 2)
4th place on Saturday
 
Roxie – 980
Reese – 980
Curly – 980
Abbey – 875
Eliot – 85
Levi
Picnic
 
Roxie is loving being start dog! She has gained so much confidence and really seems to trust her team. She trusts her team so much that Reese going nuts just 6 inches away from her is no big deal! Reese was so solid in the #2 spot. I'm pretty proud of my boy! Curly was a rock star this weekend. He held his turn really well and was nice and speedy. Abbey was spectating in the other lane this weekend but she proved to everyone that she can spectate and get her job done without crossing! She was really starting to pass and got a personal best time of 5.2! Eliot did a few heats this weekend and is looking so good! He had a few baby moments where he forgot he needed to do a turn and get his ball, but he recovered and stayed really confident. Levi had some really nice warm ups in Sat. This boy is looking so good and making such good decisions. Levi talked Picnic into taking his spot on Sun so she could get some time in the lanes. Picnic’s recalls were so focused and fast!!! She did get to doing some box work by the end of the day and is really advancing to the next level.
 
Shut The Front Door (Open 1)
2nd place on Saturday
 
Rita – 822
Capri (CC)
Henna (WW)
Remi (WW)
Banner
Murphy
Shamu
 
This was an awesome little open team! None of these dogs have ever run together but you would have never known it! This team also had a tied heat in the first race of the day on Sat. That was pretty cool!! Rita did a really good job in start. It's a hard job and she stayed strong all weekend. All of the open dogs that ran with us were rock solid and a pleasure to run with. Banner warmed up on Sat and was a little distracted but did get in some head to head racing and held himself together. He's making progress. Murphy warmed up on Sun and is doing great with his focus on getting his ball and staying in his lane. A rolling ball did get the best of him once but we have plans to work on that. Shamu warmed up both days and had a bit of a fan club! He and Anna are doing really well working together and should be running some real heats soon.
 
Fine Whine (Vets)
2nd place on Saturday
 
Shilo – 235
Sammie – 485
Sassy – 400
Luna – 485
Bullet – 85
Kessie – 250
 
This vets team has been running together for most of the 2016 season. They are running really well together. Shilo and Kessie split their spot this weekend. Both of them were really happy to be at a tournament and running with Rebeccah! Sammie had some help in the lanes from our Jr. Handler. Anna is getting pretty good at letting Sammie go at just the right time. Sassy and Bullet shared a spot too. Sassy was a trooper and got the job done. Bullet seems to like the #2 spot and was speedy and confident! Luna was really solid this weekend. She seems to really enjoy running with this group of dogs. Sammie apologizes for knocking the top slat off and scaring Luna!
 
We did some mat time on Sat night. Odin got to come and play and did some box work and recalls. He hasn't seen much of the flyball experience and he handled it all very well! Picnic and Thistle did mat time together. We were all prepared for Picnic to go visiting that we weren't paying attention to Thistle. So Thistle saw her opportunity to go visit. They both figured things out and go their jobs done. Quincy did some nice recalls and box work too. Rufus came out for the first time. He wasn't a big fan of being held by a stranger, but his recalls were great!
 
New titles
Abbey – FDCh-G
Eliot – FDX
Reese – FMX
Rita – FDCh-G
 
We missed all of the MAINEiacs that couldn't make this trip, but don't worry it's on our calendars for next year so you'll be able to join us the next time!
 
Up Next:
Sammie and Reese will be running on Vets and Open in Greenfield.
 
Then MAINEia for the team in November!!!!
​
Submitted by Staci Yates

​Photos courtesy of the always awesome Dave Strauss!!

Lots and lots of MAINEiacs made the trip to North Smithfield RI for BARKaritaville hosted by ARFF. 
 
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..... No, really! It was a great time!!!
 
We brought 3 teams this past weekend:
 
WTF? Multi (Performance team)
 
Curly - 561
Reese - 531
Koko (playing the role of Rita, lol)
Saoirse - 536
Banner - 55
Levi
 
WTF? ran as a performance team this weekend. What that means is, we get to play and earn points but we cannot place. Rita was unable to play, so instead of pulling the team all together and since it was too late to change the team to an open team we had the pleasure of having Judy and Koko join us. This team ran really well together! 
 
Curly is doing so well in start and his left hand turn looks fabulous in a full time spot! Reese was very consistent and even had to run a race being handled by Sarah C and going past Banner and I waiting at the line to be anchor. He had no concerns about us. Saoirse and Sarah H had lots of fun in the lanes together. She wasn't so sure about the few heats Banner ran and coming by her like a freight train. We made some adjustments and everything worked out. Banner and Levi each ran in 1 race. Levi did his job really well and made good choices when he heard his entire village calling for him! Banner held up pretty well and will hopefully keep getting a few more heats each tournament. 
 
Shut the front door! Reg 2 - 2nd place!
 
Roxie - 630
Pivot - 630
Arrow - 730 (Arrow ran a race w/ AFU to help Dakota get her Iron Dog. Congrats Dakota!)
Kessie - 600
Eliot - 30
Tilt 
 
This team had a bumpy start but managed to work things out over the course of the weekend. We had a little issue of a dog from another team crossing over. Pivot did the stop drop and roll, so she literally just rolled with it! Lisa, did not! Lisa was taken out and ended up injuring her foot and later made a trip to quick care for an xray. The good news is that it was just a contusion and with some ice, rest and meds she is on the mend. Rebeccah jumped in an ran Pivot for the remainder of the weekend and they did really well together. Roxie was start dog again this weekend. She seems to really like that spot and she can get in and get out quick! Arrow and Deb were getting really consistent together and having some nice passes. Chris ran Kessie and is becoming a pro! However Kessie keeps him in check whenever she thinks he isn't paying enough attention. Eliot did a few heats this weekend and had his own cheering squad! He is really such a nice boy! Tilt didn't get to run after Lisa got hurt, he didn't seem bothered by it though. 
 
Fine Whine - Vets - 1st place!
 
Shilo - 655
Sammie - 655
Sassy - 555
Luna - 655
Bullet - 100
Leap 
 
This Vets team is kicking butt!!! A few dropped balls and a few bobbles, but really running so well together. It's hard to pick out anything to say about them individually because they all really know their jobs and do it so well! This team had lots of times in the 20 - 22 second range. Bullet got to run a full race for Sassy. He held his turn really well and seemed to be having fun out there. Leap didn't get to play this weekend, but I think she was just happy to visit with her peeps. 
 
Picnic and Peanut warmed up with CXM. Picnic did get to full recalls and was super happy and focused on Rebeccah. Peanut also got to full recalls and did lots of box work with lots of distractions. He made huge progress in a new venue this weekend. 
 
New Titles:
 
Eliot FD
Arrow FDCh-G
Curly FMX
 
After all the craziness in the lanes, lots of us took some paradise pictures of the dogs and we headed to dinner. It was a long 2 days of racing and we were all definitely tired when we made it back home. Great team work MAINEiacs!!!!
 
Up next:
Prince Edward Island 
 
~Staci Yates

​The MAINEiacs finally got to play flyball again at our 1st tournament of the year in Dover NH at the Maine Coast Runners Spring Fling. This is one of our favorite tournaments and the largest turn-out for our team other than our own tournament. I have a lot to say, so get readddddyyyyy!
 
First off we had a surprise visit from Wayne and Cynthia and Janice!!!! It was great to see you guys and catch up for a little bit!
 
A big MAINEiacs welcome to our newest member Chris and Peanut, along with the rest of the family (Linda, Oliver and Roo) who came along to help out and support the Chris/P'Nut and the team. 
 
We brought 4 teams this year:
 
Shut the Front Door! - Reg 2 - 3rd place finish
Roxie - 657
Pivot - 657
Arrow - 657
Abbey - 632
Banner - 25
Peanut
 
What the Fuzz? - Multi 1 - 4th place finish
Reese - 606
Sassy - 606
Luna - 601
Saoirse - 606
Levi - 5
Shamu
 
Fine Whine - Vets/Open 3 - 2nd place finish
Shilo - 281
Sammie - 291
Leap - 170
Ember (Mystic Storm Chasers), Mulligan (WMM) and Stella (Mass Chaos)
 
Funk You Up! - Open 2 - 5th place finish
Curly - 556
Kessie - 551
Rita - 556
Gemma - 485
Tilt - 76
Bullet
 
You can tell that the MAINEiacs have been practicing a lot this past year. We came out and got the job done and worked really well together! There were a few bumps in the road with a few early passes, a couple false starts, a few missed jumps and dropped balls. But honestly that was so minor that I can't even tell you who did what, other than I know I passed Sammie into Shilo at the 1st jump. Ooops!!!! Sorry Shi!
 
Roxie was an awesome little start dog! She was rearing and ready to go for each race. She did get crossed over on and we all held our breath as it happened. She recovered so quickly! She knows her MAINEiacs have her back!
 
Pivot was height dog extraordinaire! She runs her little heart out each race and has become such a solid little racer!
 
Arrow has a need for speed! He ran flawlessly for Deb this weekend and is really starting to get some great passes.
 
Abbey ran a full time spot this weekend!! She did so good and worked so hard to stay in her lane! She loves to race and watches the other team the entire way down the lane to make sure she is beating that other dog! She has made so much progress over the winter.
 
Banner warmed up this weekend showing off his left hand "go bump" turn! He did really well and earned himself 2 heats! He held his strides and did a very nice turn while staying up on his feet. The work in progress continues, but this is all headed in the right direction.
 
Peanut debuted in a warm up spot this weekend. This was a huge deal for him as there were many more people around that are not "his peeps". He got more confident with each warm up and was able to do full run backs by the end of the weekend, was wagging his tail and hanging out in the back of the lanes while his team ran. 
 
Reese loves being the start dog! This dog cracks me up! He is a MAINEiac through and through. He had some nice starts in the 0.015 range and was consistently running with lots of times in the 4.40 -  4.70 range. 
 
Sassy loves running with the border collies, but this weekend she found out what it was like to run with a "nugget"! Sassy passed Reese with no problems and was super excited for each heat!
 
Luna ran really well in the 3rd spot. She was very speedy and passed like a pro and let out a few barks at Sassy at the start line to make sure she didn't eat her treats!
 
Saoirse ran her little butt off! She was sassy and barking all weekend and had a lot of fun playing her favorite game! Her turn looks great and the proof is in the pictures! 
 
Levi did lots of warm ups this weekend and earned himself a heat at the end of the day on Sunday. He is showing such focus on Deb and is making huge progress at every practice and tournament!
 
Shamu and Anna warmed up together. They are becoming a nice pair and working well together. Shamu was a little distracted but worked really well through all of it.
 
Shilo got to run on a vets team this weekend. I may be wrong, but I think this was his first time on vets at 11yrs old. He is such a great start dog. Rebeccah even ran him this weekend. It's nice to see them in the lanes together again.
 
Sammie ran really well this weekend. She only bobbled the ball once or twice which is really good for the old lady! She's still running pretty fast too!
Leap also ran on the vets team this weekend. She did great passing into some dogs she doesn't know and was a speedy little anchor dog!
 
Curly ran in start for the 1st time this weekend. He and Amy figured out the lights pretty quick and were getting some nice start times. Curly is really loving the sport with his left hand "go bump" turn.
 
Kessie was teaching Chris the game of flyball in a tournament setting this weekend! He ran her really well and figured out the sequence of thumping the chicken on the floor to the key to getting it away from her quickly. She was a rock star this weekend!
Rita ran a full time spot this weekend too! She had no problems passing Kessie. She is turning out to be a nice core dog!
 
Gemma was happy to work in another new environment. The ice arena is a little chilly for her so she bundled up in between races. She got a little tired near late morning on Sunday from all of the excitement. She took a little nap in the car and then came back in and finished the weekend strong.
 
Tilt was saying "put me in coach/captain" all weekend! He was warming up and doing really well. He stepped up and did some nice heats on Sunday. He caught the ball off of the box really well and stayed right in his lane and focused on Lisa the entire way back!
 
Bullet warmed up and is still working on coming back from when he was chased a while back. He was distracted and lost some confidence, but was definitely building it back up and wanting to play the game with his mom!
 
Murphy warmed up with CXM and really handled the busy environment really well and was doing some great recalls and box work.
 
Eliot warmed up with NasDog and did some full recalls and some box work and handled the tournament noise really well too.
 
We did some mat time on Sat night with Quincy, Picnic, Jester and Thistle. All of them did a good job and made some progress in the lanes from recalls to box work.
 
New titles:
Tilt - FD
Gemma - FDCh - S
Arrow - FDCh - S
 
Final thoughts:
I hope I captured a little bit of what went on for everyone over the weekend! We ate well as usual, we had lots of laughs and some good racing! A big thank you to our captain, Rebeccah! She gave up her weekend pet massage class to be there with us. We are very fortunate to have such a great leader/trainer/friend!
 
Up next:
Greenfield!
 
Submitted by Staci Yates