Fast and Furry-ous: Flyballin'.

After the two days of coursing in Redmond, we stayed around for the flyball tournament at the same location.  Once she'd seen Elli run, the captain of the Tail Blazers team here in Portland became enamored with Elli. <3 I think my favorite comment of the entire weekend: "She's got great butt muscles. Very Whippet-y." Hahaha. Runners up include: "I said to myself, I said that dog has to be part Whippet!!" and "I love watching this girl run." :)

It was said more than a few times that she'd make a great flyball dog, and while I was slightly reassured about the impact the sport has on dogs' bodies after chatting about it, I hesitate with Elli's history of panosteitis. And maybe it's a silly thing to hesitate about because if she's taught correctly, she shouldn't be putting extreme stress on those bones and joints. Am I mama-bearing her?

Another thing that came up: Elli's favorite non-food reinforcer is her Cuz ball, as I'm sure you well know. Turns out squeakers aren't highly regarded in the sport... and for good reason. Elli's is torn so it doesn't squeak as much as a brand new one would, but, even so, that is worrisome. I've built such a bank of reinforcement with that damn ball, it's impossible to get her as excited just on the sight alone of anything non-food related. The captain suggested premacking tug with a brand new, neverbeforeseen tug of some sort, which, I know is possible with her. She'd do anything for that stupid ball, including taking a water break on cue and laying down in wet grass on cue. And, not all is lost -- we know for a fact that Elli loves the lure, so me running away with something fun and furry or plastic-baggish (hah, right..) could be a possibility.

Alright, alright -- enough Elli-talk. I got to watch Mr Pallo do his flyballthing quite a few times -- that was fun! He is hilarious with his tug. I sincerely had no clue he was so small. :) I saw Koira, too, and she's more than in love with the game but didn't play for whatever reason. She had fun coursing, though! Disappointed to say that I completely missed her running, picture-wise. Always got interrupted by someone on her turns, hmph. Beautiful girl, though, and hulk-strong. And I love her bark -- it made me laugh so many times.

Anyway! Pictures (that survived the delete button and actually had a subject other than just the hurdle in frame. Mygawdthosedogsarefast.) [To illustrate: the lure coursing pictures were taken with a 1/200 of a second shutter speed. Flyball pictures were taken with a 1/800 of a second shutter speed].

Trix!

Tater!

Elli at 0mph. 

small dog, large ball. :)