Entries from September 2007 ↓

If you are unaware, NAFA has scheduled three Board of Director candidate chats. The chat sessions will be moderated and a transcript posted on the NAFA website after the chat. Each of the three scheduled chat sessions will start at 7pm Central Standard Time and will last about 3 hours. The scheduled dates are:

• Thursday, October 11th
• Wednesday, October 24th
• Wednesday, November 7th

For access to the chat, point your browser to www.flyballinfo.com during the time indicated.

This is your opportunity to get your questions answered. We have discussed quite a few different topics on this forum and I encourage you to refresh your memory by reread the post and comments in preparation for the chats.

• Measuring – Do the nominees even see measuring as a problem?
• Bureaucracy at its best – Height Cards go hand in hand with measuring.
• Flyball, a four letter word? – Promoting the sport and how others look at flyball.
  • The Flyball is Good Movement
  • The Movement – Part 2
• Focus on the Championships – Divisional championships.
• NAFA Flyball… and the nominees are… – A list of the candidates.
• Technically Legal? – A very lively box debate.
• Open Class and Performance Teams – Why was this implemented this way?
• Innovative Box Design – Only one Board member met the challenge, why?
• Training in the Ring – Should the rule be changed?

Please feel free to post your comments and other questions that you feel need answering.

Larry

I know for the most part this does not apply to may of the people that play flyball, but even I have been a little guilty of this with a foster dog I have. I am talking about giving our dogs a job.

The History of Chance

Someone on our regional flyball list posted a message that a Border collie was in dire need of rescue and was due to be euthanized. The shelter was located in Georgia and I live in Alabama so I called someone that I knew in Georgia that does rescue. They said that there was no way that they could get there in time and that I was actually closer to the shelter. Since I really didn’t know what else to do, I decided to leave work and go pick up the dog. I really didn’t have room for another dog but I thought that I could foster one Border collie until a home could be found.

I arrived at the shelter in Georgia on August 7, 2006. The dog’s name was Chance and he was in very sad condition when I rescued him. He was just an hour away from the ultimate fate when I arrived at the shelter. My first thought when I saw him was, “Is that a Border collie?” The shelter smelled bad and Chance smelled like the shelter. I knew that he was scared and not in good health and I had to carry him to the car.

Chance had a very bad respiratory infection and could not walk more then a couple feet without stopping to cough and wheeze. After getting him to the vet, I also found that he was heartworm positive and had a urinary infection. The vet gave him a shot of antibiotics and gave me a bunch of pills and we started treating him for the infections right away. The heartworm problem would be addressed when he was well enough for heartworm treatment.

Chance started his heartworm treatment about 3 weeks from the time I rescued him and he came through the treatment in great shape and is now in good health.

Chance Today

I really wish that I had before and after pictures because he has changed so much. Really, he doesn’t look like the same dog that I carried from the shelter that day. He is very lively and needs more of a job than I have given him up until now. I have worked with him some but probably not as much as he needs, and after a year, it doesn’t look like he is going anywhere.

For those out there that need to give their dogs more of a job you really do need to read a post on the Tip Tail blog titled, A Fairy Tale. It is worth your time to read and the link sent to anyone that doesn’t do enough with their dogs.

Larry

• Border Collie Rescue

My wife and I were in PetSmart over the weekend and she saw this laser pointer at the checkout counter and wanted to buy it. I said, “What do you want with that?” and she said, “To play with the dogs.”

We have a Labrador retriever, two Jack Russell Terriers, and five Border Collies and I knew that at least one of our Jack Russell’s would “chase the dot” because he loves Lure Coursing.

Continue reading →