Meet the Team - Claire Bell-Jack & Tsar

http://www.petplanet.co.uk/

Flying Scots Flyball Team Members

Tell me something about yourself and your dogs
Hi! I’m Claire and I run Tsar. Tsar is a 2 year old tri colour border collie. He’s a little mad and over enthusiastic in everything he does, which makes him super fun to train! I got Tsar from a sheep farm in Ayrshire and life hasn’t quite been the same since!
At home I have another four dogs which can be a handful at times. Tsar has only recently been knocked out of his place as youngest in the pack by our ten week old collie pup. However, this has meant that Tsar finally has a friend to play with in the house!
Tsar is probably the luckiest dog I know. Practically one year ago come Crufts, Tsar had a massive accident which nearly cost him his life. Thankfully Tsar made a full recovery and is living life to the full everyday!
Tsar also competes in agility as well as flyball. He’s still in grade 3 at the moment but he’s got plenty time to work his way up the grades. I’ve competed in agility for 13 years and this has been my first year of competing in flyball.
Finally, Tsar has recently become involved in working sheep. Its still early stages but he’s born to herd and loves every second working with his favourite ‘sheepies’.

Why did you want to do Flyball?
I decided to do flyball as I wanted to give Tsar as much variety in life as I could offer him. He is very energetic and needs as much activity as he possibly can get. Plus he’s pretty quick and I thought we might as well use that to the best of our ability!!!

Which other dogs do you train in Flyball and how are they progressing – Future team members?
Unfortunately, my older dog Keela is now retired, which is probably a good thing as although she loved flyball, she was a pretty terrible flyball dog!!

Do you enjoy going to Crufts?
The highlight of my canine year is Crufts. I love the atmosphere and pretty much everything about it. I’ve been to Crufts both with and without a dog and I can see positives and negatives on both side. With a dog you feel like your part of it and you want to proudly show off your dogs abilities. However, Crufts can be a bit busy for the dogs and it means you can’t truly enjoy the experience which is why it can be nice to be there just to observe!!

What other activities do you participate in with your dogs and how have they progressed in that field?
See above

What are your goals for the future?
One day I would love to be able to compete at Crufts not only in Flyball but also in agility. To compete at Crufts in the championship or even to represent your country would be the ultimate achievement for me. However, right now we’re not even close so we just have to be patient and keep working at it.