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About Us
The members of Patriot Flyball have been participating in
NAFA® flyball tournaments since the year 2000, when
Lorraine Messier joined Canine Mastery Jumpmasters and Cindy
Henderson formed the Weston Whirlwinds. Over the years Lorraine
and Cindy were both competitors and friends, so when
Lorraine formed her own club in 2019 it seemed natural that
the two clubs should join forces.
The mission of the club is, above all, to have
fun with our canine companions while training to be the best
we can be and exhibiting good sportsmanship.
The Weston Whirlwinds Hurricanes (Gehrig, Henna, Remi, and Zak)
were the 2018 CanAm Multibreed Division 4 Champions.
Regular Team Best Time (Patriot Flyball):
16.420 seconds, November 2021
(Winchester, Henry, Maris, and GG, jumping 8 inches).
Multibreed Team Best Time (Weston Whirlwinds):
18.479 seconds, November 2012
(Mattingly, Eika, Addie, and Zak, jumping 9 inches).
Open Team Best Time (Patriot Flyball):
16.434 seconds, September 2019
(Cedar, Gehrig, GG, and Thor, jumping 7 inches).
About Flyball
Flyball is a relay race for teams of dogs in which each of the four dogs on a team must run down a 51 foot course, jump four hurdles, trigger a "box" which releases a tennis ball, and return back over the hurdles with the ball. Each dog must run in turn and may not cross the start line before the previous dog has returned.
Races occur between pairs of teams running on parallel courses and are electronically timed; sometimes races are decided by as little as one thousandth of a second.
A fast-paced sport open to dogs of all sizes and breeds, Flyball is unique among dog sports in that it is truly a team sport - all the dogs on the team as well as their handlers must work together in order for the team to be successful.
Latest News
Greenfield Derby 2023
Patriot Flyball Offense placed 3rd in Regular 1,
while Defense place 1st in Regular 2, Special Teams
placed 4th in Open 1, and Rookies broke out and did not
place in Open 2 at the umpteenth running of the Greenfield
Derby, April 29-30 at the Franklin County Fairgrounds in
Greenfield, MA.
Posting a best time of 16.973, Offense (Cedar, Maris,
Henry, Quinn, with backup by Rocky) started the tournament
strong, winning their first three races but then fading in
the standings as their (faster) opponents pulled things
together. They fought the good fight, though, forcing three
races to five heats and winning the last one of those
five-heat races to snatch the 3rd place finish.
Defense (Revel, Gehrig, Violet, and Nixx) started out
ragged, splitting the first two races with their opponents
and having problems with early passes and early starts. But
they soon settled down, winning 18 of the next 20 heats
and easily outpacing the rest of the division. They had
some problems in their second-to-last race, posting three
no-finishes in a row, but pulled it together once again
to put together a perfect 4-win last race.
Special Teams (Winchester, Stori, Rocky, and Kep,
with emergency backup by Henna) also had some problems at
the beginning of the tournament, but also managed to settle
down and put in a respectable showing. They were, however,
totally outclassed by their competition, posting a best time
of 18.148 seconds against teams running in the 15 second
range. They were neck and neck fighting for last place with
Roughin' It Happy Campers until the last race, when
they were only able to take one of the four heats and ended
up in 4th place.
Rookies (Victor, Snitch, Thor, Dezie, Phantom, with
backup by Quinn) were the surprise of the tournament, posting
a best time of 16.889 seconds and breaking out 11 times. As a
result they didn't place, but they had a good time and it
was a good experience for the rookies Victor, Snitch, and Dezie.
Of special note: Junior Handler Marissa did a great job
running Kep in the NAFA debut for both of them, working
through some ball dropping issues and by the end of
the tournament giving Kep some really tight passes. Also,
Junior Handler Eija ran Nixx (almost) all by herself. Great
job!
Achievements:
- Dezie: NAFA debut, FD, FDX, FDCh, FDCh-S
- Kep: NAFA debut, FD, FDX, FDCh, FDCh-S
- Snitch: FDCh-S
- Victor: FDCh-S
- Maris: Onyx
- Revel: Onyx
Pictures of the tournament can be seen here.
Spring Fling 2023
Patriot Flyball fielded 3 teams at the 2023 Spring Fling tournament,
April 15-16 at the Dover Ice Arena in Dover, NH. The tournament
was organized as two one-day events, so there were two sets of
results.
On Saturday, Patriot Flyball Offense placed 1st in
Regular 1, while Special Teams placed 1st in Open
2 and Defense placed 2nd in Open 3. On Sunday, Offense
place 2nd in Regular 1, while Special Teams placed 1st in
Open 2 and Defense placed 2nd in Open 3.
Offense (Cedar, Maris, Henry, Stori, and Rocky) ran
very well on Saturday, posting a best time of 17.082 (Cedar,
Maris, Henry, Stori) and winning the first 11 of their 16
heats on the day. Stori was brought in for one heat at the
beginning of the second race, and then did so well that she
was brought back full time for the last two races. On
Sunday Quinn took Stori's place; the team once again ran
well but came up against some stiff competition in the form
of Mass Chaos Big Bang and ended up in second place.
Special Teams (Thor, Quinn, Victor, Snitch, and Rocky
on Saturday; Thor, Victor, Snitch, Phantom, and Rocky on Sunday)
featured the NAFA debuts of Victor and Snitch who did extremely
well both days. The team won 11 of their 16 heats on Saturday
and 12 of 16 heats on Sunday, easily taking first place both
days.
Defense (Revel, Gehrig, Violet, and Nixx) was the only
team that had the same lineup all weekend. They had some
really tight, fun races against BARK Off, ultimately
ending up just slightly slower and two heats short on each
day.
Achievements:
- Snitch: NAFA debut, FD, FDX, FDCh
- Victor: NAFA debut, FD, FDX, FDCh
- Stori: FDCh-G
- Cedar: Onyx
Pictures of the tournament can be seen here.
2nd Annual Shamrock Shenanigans
Patriot Flyball Rookie Edge placed 2nd in Standard 3 while
Draft Pick placed 1st in Standard 4 at the 2nd Annual
Shamrock Shenanigans tournament, March 18-19 at Gemini Dogs
in Littleton, MA.
In a tournament that featured green dogs, green handlers,
and green box loaders, both Rookie Edge (Stori,
Quinn, Dezie, and Snitch) and Draft Pick (Thor,
Phantom, Victor, Nixx, and Winchester) rose to the challenge
in impressive fashion. Rookie Edge posted a best
time of 17.345 on their second day of racing, while
Draft Pick broke out at 19.164 (with Winchester
running in start) but held on to capture the first place
finish.
Notable achievements included:
- Dezie: Flyball debut and best time of 3.999
- Victor: Flyball debut and best time of 4.090
- Snitch: Flyball debut and best time of 4.799
- Kristy and Snitch were named to the Dream Team
- Stacey and Chantay (in her Flyball debut) were named to the Dream Team as boxloaders.
1st Annual Storm Warning Tournament
Patriot Flyball Offense placed 1st in Regular 1 while Special Teams placed 1st in Open 3 at the First Annual Storm Warning Tournament, March 11-12 at the Syrcacuse Obedience Training Club in Syracuse, NY. This being Syracuse in March, weather-related issues are always a distinct possiblity, and this year was no exception - snow (thankfully light) started falling Friday evening and lasted through the day Saturday, with temperatures falling into the teens by Sunday morning. So the team had to deal with slippery roads and frozen car doors - just enough to keep things interesting and remind us that it was, indeed, still winter. Both teams were trying out the new flat-faced Flyball box, and the first few races were a bit of a struggle for both the boxloaders and the dogs. Offense (Cedar, Maris, Henry, and Stori with cameo appearances by Rocky) started out with two no-finishes and a fault rerun, while Special Teams (Revel, Gehrig, Violet, Nixx, and Rocky) started with a no-finish and a fault rerun. But both teams settled down and the mechanical issues with the box were eventually straightened out; after that it was just a matter of making sure the teams finished strong. Offense ran a best time of 17.046 seconds and had some very exciting races, especially against FBI Law, with two of the three best-of-five races between the two teams going to five heats. The fight for first place in the division was not decided until their third meeting in the final race of the tournament, which Offense won 3 heats to 1 in a very decisive fashion. Special Teams pretty much dominated their opponents once they got the box figured out. They only had one race where they lost more heats than they won, and in that race they broke out, posting a time of 19.880 seconds in the third heat of the race (breakout was 19.9). Many thanks to our boxloaders Dave, Eleanor, and Tom for putting up with and dealing with the new box. Thanks also to Junior Handler Linnea for running Nixx and Stori. Congratulations to Rocky for earning his FMCh title and to Revel for a new personal best time of 3.925 in start. Pictures of the tournament can be seen here.
Flyball MAINEia 2022
Patriot Flyball Offense placed 1st in Regular
1, Defense placed 3rd in Regular
1, Special Teams placed 6th in Open 1, and
the Gridiron Gang placed 1st in Open 2 at the
15th running of Flyball MAINEia, November 5-6 at the
Boothbay Region YMCA, Boothbay Harbor, ME.
With the club down one dog due to a last
minute scratch, Maris and Revel were called upon to
run time and a half to plug the gap, with Dillon
filling in the remaining slots. Even though the
club was spread thin for the second tournament in
a row, everyone once again performed admirably.
Offense (Ceday, Maris, Henry, Revel, and
Dillon) found themselves running against
Defense (Winchester, Gehrig, Quinn, Nixx, and
Poison) in Regular 1. With Maris and Revel
switching out with Dillon so they could fill in on
the Gridiron Gang, and with Poison attempting
to get her first NAFA points, both teams faced
challenges in terms of maintaining consistency, and
both teams rose to the challenge. In a division
that featured lots of fast close racing including a
thrilling final race against Ruff Enuff that ended
up 2 all, Offense took first place with a
total of 21 heats won overall to Ruff Enuff's 19
heats and Defense's 18 heats. In the
process Offense ran a best time of 16.820
and Defense helped Poison earn her FD title.
Special Teams (Thor, Rocky, Violet, and Zak)
was the most consistent team, posting an 82.5%
clean-heat rate across a grueling 10 race schedule.
Unfortunately because of the team reshuffling they
ended up being totally outclassed by the other teams
in their division, ultimately falling to 6th place.
But they all had a good time running and in the process
helped Zak earn his 40K title and a well-deserved
retirement.
The Gridiron Gang (Arizona and Scarlet from
ROC flight, Wicked with backup from Henna, and Maris
and Revel rotating in from Offense) had the
roughest time of all the teams but also were
surprisingly successful, taking first place in their
division, helping Scarlet earn her FGDCh-50 title,
and giving Wicked more valuable time in the lanes.
One intesting note is that Scarlet along with
Arizona and Henna were part of the team that helped
Addie reach 50k points at the 2019 Shark Rush Fully
Loaded tournament.
Many thanks to Junior Handler Linnea for running Nixx
and Gehrig and for taking a shot at boxloaing, to Eija
for ball shagging, to April for being an excellent baby
sitter, and to the V-bros Valentino and Vincenzo for being
so cute.
Highlights:
- Poison earned her FD
- Nixx earned his FMCh
- Maris earned her FMCh
- Zak earned his FGDCh-40k in his retirement tournament
- Scarlet (from ROC Flight) earned her FGDCh-50k
- Quinn had a new personal best of 4.246 seconds
- Violet had new personal best of 5.199 seconds
Pictures of the tournament can be found here. A video of the tournament can be seen here. Video shorts can be seen here and here and here.
CanAm 2022
In an exciting finish to a very busy weekend of racing,
Patriot Flyball Defense made it to the Regular Division
7 finals of the 2022 CanAm Classic Flyball tournament, October
7-8-9 at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis, Indiana.
In a first for the club, three teams were running on
Saturday and Sunday - Offense in
Regular, Defense also in Regular, and Special
Teams in Open 6. This promised to make for a very tight
schedule with almost no down time between races. In
addition, two dogs (and two handlers) had to be scratched
from the lineup just one month before the tournament.
Luckily we were able to recruit two dogs for Special
Teams and shuffle things around a little bit, but we
were definitely not running according to the original plan.
Offense (Cedar, Maris, Henry, and Revel, with Stori
filling in part time on Saturday) was the only team not
affected by the changes. Running in the Regular 6 division
on Saturday, this was the same team that ran at the AKC
Invitational in May. The dogs quickly dropped into a rhythm,
running very cleanly all day Saturday and punching out a
best time of 17.462. This unfortunately pushed them into
the bottom of the Regular 2 division for Sunday, and
although on Sunday they ran very well all day they were
simply outclassed by the competition.
Special Teams had two different incarnations. The Friday
version running in Open 8 (Arrow, Cedar, Revel, Maris, Stori, and
Dillon) lived up to its billing as "Special", featuring an all Power
Tripp lineup in one race (Arrow, Revel, Maris, and Stori) that
broke out 3 times. The Saturday and Sunday version running in
Open 6 (Arrow, Quinn, Rocky, Henna, Stori, and Dream) ended up
in the middle of their division on Saturday and in a three-way
tie for first place on Sunday, ultimately taking first place
in the division on the second tiebreaker. In the process the
team helped Henna earn her Iron Dog title and also gave Stori
valuable tournament experience.
Defense (Winchester, Gehrig, Violet, and Nixx) was
the story of the tournament. With a team best time of
20.530 on Saturday, they ended up seeded at the top of the
Regular 7 division on Sunday. During the round robin
portion they handily defeated all of their competition and
made it to the finals, where they ultimately fell to BC
Boomerangs and ended up in second place.
All in all this was a very satisfying, if tiring, CanAm. The
dogs who were just beginning to race one year ago are settling
into being solid tournament performers, and all of the hard
work everyone has been putting in during the pandemic is
bearing fruit. The green dogs got their chance to show what
they can do in the chaos and confusion of such a large tournament,
and the older dogs once more got a chance to do the thing they
love to do.
Many thanks to Sarah from Flyball MAINEiacs for flying down
to Indianapolis to run Arrow with us, and for Dawn from
Celtic Mayhem for loaning us Dream for the weekend. Many
thanks also to Junior Handlers Linnea, Eija, and April for running
Quinn and Nixx and for ball shagging, and for the V Bros for
just being there and for Carlos for being such a great dad and
April for being such a great sister.
Kudos to Tom for being a CanAm head judge, for being an APES
judge in the CanAm and Classic finals races, and for all the
work measuring dogs Friday, Saturday, and Sunday mornings.
Titles earned:
- Henna - Iron Dog
- Gehrig - FDGCh-30
- Cedar - FMCh
- Revel - FMCh
- Stori - FDCh-S
Pictures of the tournament can be seen here (Day 1), here (Day 2), and here (Day 3).
A video of the tournament can be seen here.
The official photographers for the tournament were:
- Adam Short (Ambient Exposure Photography)
https://www.ambient-exposure-photography.com - Irene Cotter (Fur Fetched Photography)
https://www.furfetched.com - Dana Nichols (Altitude Dog Photos)
https://www.altitudedogphotos.com/"
Endless Summer 2022
Patriot Flyball Offense placed first in Regular
1, Defense placed second in Regular 1, Special Teams
placed fourth in Open 1, and the Gridiron Gang placed
fifth in Open 1 at our own Endless Summer tournament, September
10-11 at Canine New England in Walpole, MA.
In another small 10 team tournament, with Patriot Flyball
supplying 4 of those teams and with the club down one dog
because of an injury, things were a bit hectic at times.
But with Henna and Dillon both reactivated from semi-retirement,
and with Thor and Revel doing some double running, the tournament
ran very smoothly and all the teams managed to run respectably.
Offense (Cedar, Maris, Henry, and Revel)
and Defense (Thor, Gehrig, Quinn, and Nixx with a
cameo by Phantom) fought it out for first place in the
division. Offense was the faster team
but Defense held their own, ending up Saturday down
by only one heat on the day. But on Sunday Offense
settled down and pulled away, ultimately taking first place
with 30 heats won over to Defense's 23 heats.
Offense ended up with a best time of 16.973 while
Defense posted a best time of 18.998.
Special Teams (Arrow, Rocky, Violet, and Dillon, with
Thor and Revel filling in for Arrow on Saturday and for
Dillon on Sunday) had some rough going at times but also
had some exciting racing, particularly on Sunday when
they squeaked out a 19.540 to 19.569 victory against Ready, Set,
Ruckus Scorcher in the fourth heat of their race.
The Gridiron Gang (Winchester, Phantom, Zak, Wicked,
Stori, and Henna) was the team-building team. With the core
of Winchester, Phantom, and Zak as an anchor and Henna
filling in as needed, Wicked was able to get some more solid
runs, while Stori ran solid warmups and made her Flyball
debut with some very impressive runs.
Items of note:
- Cedar and Judy had a 0.001 start
- Phantom earned her FM
- Violet earned her FMX
- Thor earned his FMCh
- Stori made her debut and earned her FD and FDX
- Quinn had a personal best of 4.3 seconds.
Thanks to everyone who brought food for the pot luck lunches, and especially to Nancy for the egg rolls and the broccoli slaw.
Many thanks to Arrow (and Sarah) from Flyball MAINEiacs for running with us on Sunday. We're sorry you couldn't be there both days but we'll take what we can get.
Many thanks also to Nancy for once again running the table, always with a smile on your face. You're the best!
Pictures of the tournament can be seen here.
Carleton County 2022
Patriot Flyball sent a small contingent across the border
to New Brunswick to run with the Flyball MAINEiacs at
the 2022 Carleton County Pawtatoes tournament, August 27-28
at the Northern Carleton Civic Center in Bristol-Florenceville, NB.
With Revel running in Open 1 on Shut the Front Door and
Rocky running in Open 2 on What the Fuzz in a grueling
6-races-each-day schedule, both dogs comported themselves well,
earning their FMX titles and in general being a credit to the club.
It was nice to see some of our New Brunswick
friends after such a long absence, and especially nice to
watch Taz finally reach 100,000 points. Many thanks to
Rebeccah and the MAINEiacs for letting us run with you!
Pictures of the tournament can be seen
here and
here.
Welcome to Zoomland 2022
In their first international foray since 2019, Patriot Flyball
Offense placed first in Regular division 2 at the
2022 Welcome to Zoomland tournament, July 16-17 at the
Caledonia Fairgrounds in Caledonia, ON.
The trip to Caledonia began inauspiciously when one of the
dogs (Quinn) got injured, and then when 2 adults, 3 teens,
and a 5 year old hopped into a camper with 5 dogs and
started to drive to the tournament they got about 30 feet
before getting totally stuck in the driveway. Luckily they
were able to empty the camper, push it up the driveway, turn
it around, and head out for their great adventure.
Once in Caledonia they met up with the New York contingent
and ended up having an awesome weekend racing, playing
frisbee, shooting glow-in-the-dark arrows, making s'mores,
eating ice cream, and playing lots of Kubb.
Offense (Henry, Gehrig, Maris, and Nixx) ran well and
posted a best time of 18.758, taking first place in the
division and, in the process, earning Nixx his FMX title
We owe a big thank you to Amanda of Mass Chaos for helping
us set up the camper and for taking the teenagers food
shopping. Also thank you to Steve of Mass Chaos for running
Henry in a couple of races and to Fire & Ice for letting
Violet run on their Open team. Thank you and
congratulations to Junior Handlers Peyton (running Gehrig on
Offense and Arizona on ROC
Flight's Saison), Linnea (running Nixx), and
Keely (boxloader), and of course many thanks to our
ace ball shagging team of Eija and Ginny.
Fun In The Sun 2022
Patriot Flyball Defense placed first in Regular
1, Offense placed second in Regular 1, Special Teams
placed second in Open 1, and the Gridiron Gang placed
first in Open 2 at our own Fun In The Sun tournament, June 18-19
at Gemini Dogs in Littleton, MA.
Offense (Cedar, Gehrig, Henry, and Zak)
and Defense (Thor, GG, Quinn, and Nixx) basically
duked it out for first place the entire tournament.
Offense was slightly faster, posting a best time of
18.193 vs. 18.490 for Defense, but Defense
was slightly more consistent, winning 29 heats against
Offense's 24 heats. It was definitely all hands on
deck when both teams raced each other, but it also definitely
made for some exciting racing.
Special Teams (Revel, Winchester, Maris, and Violet)
were up against some tough competition in Mass
Chaos' Onion Rings, who were faster than the Patriot
Flyball team (16.076 seconds overall best time) and just
consistent enough to end up on top of the division. Revel
ran in start because she had been having problems passing
Maris in practice, so Winchester (ably handled by Carlos, on
loan from Vanessa) moved to the second slot. Revel
apparently liked running in start as she posted a new
personal best of 3.906; the team overall just barely missed
hitting 17 seconds, posting an overall best time of 18.038 seconds.
The Gridiron Gang (Rhys, Axl, Rocky, and Wicked with
backup by Arizona) also ran very well. Wicked got in some
solid runs, earning her FDCh-S, while Arizona (handled by
Junior Handler Peyton) did admirably in her backup role for
Wicked. The team was faster than its competition (posting
an overall best time of 19.109 seconds) and managed to win
just one more heat than the second place finisher - a little
bit anxiety-generating at the end but enough to do the job.
The weather overall was good - just some rain overnight Saturday
night into Sunday morning and cool, with temperatures in the
60s both Saturday and Sunday. The air conditioning at Gemini
Dogs was definitely appreciated during setup on Friday, when
temperatures were in the 80s.
The tournament itself ran fairly smoothly, except for some
hiccups at the start. First, the jumps - the team had ordered
a new set of 30" jumps for the tournament, and the manufacturer
sent the wrong order - only enough bases and slats for one
lane instead of two. Luckily Fire & Ice had a set of 30" jumps
on site and graciously offered to loan them to us for the tournament.
Second, the lights kept acting up, failing to flag early passes
and generally acting flakey. Ultimately we discovered that
some of the batteries in one of the poles were melting; once
these were replaced the lights started working properly again.
A lot of effort went into making the tournament a success,
and we owe a lot of thanks to a lot of people, including
Nancy, who along with Keely and Ciara did a great job of
running the table; Junior Handlers Keely, Peyton, Alex, Seb,
and Linnea, who did great jobs running Gehrig, Nixx, and
Arizona; Lisa and Courtney, who loaned us Rhys, Axl, and
Arizona; and everyone else who helped us during setup and
cleanup and during the tournament itself. Thanks also to
Mass Chaos for supplying the mats and for helping us with
getting them back into the trailer. It was truly a group
effort and we appreciate everyone's help.
Pictures of the tournament can be seen
here. A video of the tournament can be seen
here.
2022 AKC Flyball Dog Challenge Invitational
Patriot Flyball placed 4th in the AKC Flyball Dog
Challenge, May 21-22 at the Cabarrus Arena & Events Center
in Concord, NC. This invitational event, the first of its
kind, was broadcast on ESPN2 on June 25 and featured teams
from High Velocity, Celtic Mayhem, Fur Fun,
DogGoneFast, Mass Chaos, Spring Loaded,
Some Ruff Competition, and Patriot Flyball.
For Saturday, the teams were divided into two pools of 4
teams each, and each pool competed in a single round robin
tournament (3 races for each team in a 5 of 5 format). The
placements in these tournaments were used to set the seeding
for Sunday's single elimination tournament. Patriot
Flyball (Cedar, Maris/Gehrig, Henry, and Revel) raced
against DogGoneFast, Some Ruff Competition,
and High Velocity; their races included an exciting
come-from-behind victory that gave them enough tournament
points to put them in third place for the day and giving
them the 6th seed overall.
The Sunday single elimination tournament was set up in a
more traditional 3 of 5 format, and the racing day began
very auspiciously for the team. Running against 3rd
seed DogGoneFast, Patriot Flyball managed a
5-heat upset win by being just a little more consistent, and
by being able to rerun their dogs more quickly, than their
opponents.
This put them in the semifinal round against High
Velocity, who they had raced on Saturday. High
Velocity had been having problems with dropped balls,
but they had swapped out for an older, slower, but more
reliable dog and ended up taking the race 3 heats to 0.
This dropped Patriot Flyball to the consolation round
for third place against Fur Fun. After pair of dropped
balls by Fur Fun in the 2nd heat, Patriot Flyball
knotted the race at one all but Fur Fun settled down and
ultimately took the race, and third place, by 3 heats to 1.
Patriot Flyball ran a perfect race with no errors but
were just not fast enough to move up in the standings.
Overall this tournament was an interesting experience.
There was all the work that went into the TV production,
plus there was lots that didn't make it into the final
broadcast - including fairly long delays between each heat
while the announcers did an instant replay/analysis of the
previous heat. But ultimately it was about the Flyball,
and we feel very privileged to have been able to watch, and
participate in, some really good racing.
Given that Patriot Flyball attended this event with
only 4 handlers and a box loader, we are very grateful for
the help we received from the other Flyball clubs - in particular
everyone from Mass Chaos who helped us with props and boxes
and pass calling. We couldn't have done it without you! Also
many thanks to Junior Handler Linnea for making the trip down
to help us.
Pictures of the event can be seen
here and
here.
Greenfield Derby 2022
Patriot Flyball Offense placed second in
Regular 1, while Defense placed first in
Regular 2 and Special Teams placed first
in Open 2 at the 2022 running of the Greenfield Derby,
April 30 - May 1 at the Franklin County Fairgrounds
in Greenfield, MA.
In the first running of this tournament in three years,
all three teams comported themselves very well. Offense
(Cedar, Gehrig, Henry, and Revel with a cameo by Maris) ran very
consistently, posting a best time of 16.747 and slipping
into second place only on the tiebreaker. Defense
(Thor, GG, Quinn, Nixx, Zak, and Wicked) was also very
consistent, posting a best time of 18.339 and giving Wicked
a chance to earn her FDX and FDCh titles. Special Teams
(Winchester, Maris, Rocky, and Violet with warmups by Poison)
dominated their division, handily winning first place while they
still had two races left in the tournament. All in all it was
a very satisfying weekend.
Items of note were the gorgeous weather (a little windy on
Friday night and Saturday, but no rain for the first
time that anyone could remember), Henna coming out of retirement
to run part time on BARK's for-fun veterans team, the box
malfunction during the first race (it just needed a little
lubrication on one of the plungers), and the mystery
of the pineapple top.
Pictures of the tournament can be seen
here.
Spring Fling 2022
Patriot Flyball Special Teams placed first in Open 2,
while Offense placed second in Regular 1 and
Defense placed second in Regular 2 at the 2022
edition of the Spring Fling Flyball tournament, April 9-10
at the Dover Ice Arena in Dover, NH. After a hiatus of
three years it was wonderful to once again be running
at this venue, one of our favorites.
Special Teams (Cedar, Maris, Rocky, and Nixx, with
Thor and Revel as backups) were the stars of the show, easily
outpacing their opponents and locking down first place
before the final race of the tournament. Since Cedar was
unable to be at the tournament on Saturday, Thor and Revel
pulled double duty, running in start for Cedar in addition
to their slots on Offense. Both dogs ran admirably;
Revel in particular was very steady in her first ever assignment
as start dog.
Offense (Thor, GG, Henry, and Revel with backup by
Rocky and Maris and warmups by Wicked) ran very well the
entire tournament. Rocky and Maris were thrown into the mix
to relieve Thor and Revel, who were pulling double duty
on Special Teams on Saturyday; despite the churn the
team ran very consistently even though they were outclassed
by their competition by almost a full second. Gotta keep
them honest! Wicked did warmup runs during the entire
tournament and looked very good.
Defense (Gehrig, Quinn, Violet, and Zak) were a bit
on the ragged side, but settled down enough to pull out
a solid second place in their division. This was the
"all lefties" team - all the dogs and the boxloader
were left handed. That doesn't happen very often!
Titles and other milestones:
- Henry earned his FGDCh-40 title
- Cedar and Thor earned their FMX titles
- Violet and Nixx earned their FM titles
- Thor ran a personal best of 3.9 seconds in start
- Revel ran a personal best of 4.009 seconds in start
- Nixx ran a personal best of 5.2 seconds in the pack
- Our youngest Junior Handler, Eija, ran a dog for the first time
Pictures of the tournament can be seen here.