Petplanet.co.uk Flyball Teams

Petplanet.co.uk Flyball Team participates at Crufts 2010 for the 3rd consecutive year!
How proud am I to let you all know that our Flyball dogs and handlers have done it again! At Prestwick in June 2009, our fabulous dogs raced their paws off to come second in a nail-biting competition, qualifying once again for the privilege of competing on that famous green carpet!
And that happened despite the change of box from the old Crufts’ box to the new BFA box. The new box is totally different: no longer is style and technique as important, it is all about speed and precision.

Our sincere thanks go to DC for all the intense training she gave the club members and their dogs. DC was the only member of our group who had participated in BFA Flyball and knew their box inside out. She has played a huge part in the success of our team.

Last year’s team, then known as the Clyde Valley Flyers, included Maddie, Asha, Zip and Spook who all had to learn the new box. (Asha and Skye are both owned by DC so they already knew what they were doing!)

The team who qualified were:

Handlers and Dogs

Lynn with Maddie
Sara with Zip
Claire with Tsar
Pauline with Spook
DC with Asha
Amie with Skye

Those of you who have followed us in the past know that there is always some disaster waiting to happen to us and this year was no exception! And it had to happen to poor Lynn and Maddie – yet again:

2008 Lynn slipped on ice and broke her ankle 4 weeks before Crufts and could not compete

2009 Maddie went lame and could not compete at Crufts
2010 Once again poor Maddie has gone lame and will not be making the long trip South.

My heart goes out to Lynn. She has worked so hard to train Maddie and once again she will not have the pleasure of competing with her at Crufts.

I was not box loading for the team this year due to personal reasons so Lynn stepped in to take over. At least she will be part of the team and be able to enjoy all the excitement and hype that is felt competing in the Main Arena. Albeit a very small consolation!

So the team went back to the drawing board to decide who would take the magnificient Maddie’s place.

After careful consideration it was decided that Annette and Lucy were the most suitable replacements: Lucy having proved herself at a previous Flyball competition last year (More details will be posted about this later as one of my own dogs, The Fabulous Mr Bud, was also in that team!)

So that’s the line-up for Petplanet.co.uk Flyball Team for Crufts 2010.

Now that my Blog is up and running, more updates will follow along with the history of our small club and all the thrills and heart-aches which we have encountered on the way to Crufts 2010.