Entries from November 2007 ↓

Flyball will be on Animal Planet on November 18, 2007 at 10:00 am. Flyball will be part of the Ultimate Dog Championships and the Flyball portion of the Championships will be from Las Vegas, Nevada. You can see the Animal Planet website for additional details. Planed activities for the championships and dates are as follows…

• Disc Dog Extreme Games – November 11, 10:00 am

• Flyball Las Vegas – November 18, 10:00 am
  

• Disc Dogs Southern Nationals – December 2, 10:00 am

• Lure Coursing – December 9, 10:00 am

• Agility Specials and Veterans – December 16, 10:00 am

Please pass this information on to your friends and family. As discussed in my previous post Showcasing Flyball, we need to get the word out to everyone we know. Let’s elevate Flyball as the best dog sport there is and this nationally televised event is the perfect opportunity.

Larry

I must say that U-FLI is really patting themselves on the back right now and I suppose it is a well-deserved pat on the back. After all, over $6000 was raised for a worthy cause.

St. Jude’s Showcase of Dogs ’07

Fetchin’ Frenzi brings U-FLI to the “St. Jude Showcase of Dogs” in Memphis for the first time and raised over $6000 for the St Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital founded by the legendary Mr. Danny Thomas.

By reading this first sentence you would swear that this is the first time flyball was held at the Showcase. However, what it means is, this is the first time U-FLI has been involved, for up until now this has been a traditionally NAFA event.

This event was started by the now disbanded Houston Flyball Association several years ago which if I’m not mistaken, Sam Ford was a part of back then. When the Houston club disbanded, Sam Ford and his group picked up the event, and continued to run it for several more years. I guess it just felt right for Sam and his club to turn the event over to Fetchin’ Frenzi since they are a Memphis club. It’s obvious that they never thought that this event would be turned over to NAFA’s competition.

Marketing

What’s really funny about all of this is the whole time NAFA hosted this event over all of those years they never highlighted the Showcase as U-FLI has done. It could be that U-FLI is just rubbing salt in NAFA wounds, but U-FLI is doing a great job of marketing this and other high profile event like Wags for Wishes in San Diego.

To be fair, NAFA has a much better website now and is currently doing a much better job of marketing flyball as evidenced by the Cynosport World Games in Scottsdale, AZ. However, more needs to be done to market high profile events where large numbers of the general public are in attendance. It doesn’t help NAFA by continuing to lose events like St. Jude Showcase of Dogs and The Peach Blossom Cluster in Georgia to U-FLI.

Competition aside, showcasing Flyball to the general public is good for our sport and I applaud both organizations for their efforts.

Larry

I thought this was such a touching story that I had to post the entire article from Itchmo.

News for cats and dogs – Dogs Stayed By Owner’s Body For Three Weeks

Pippin and Merry are extremely loyal and dedicated dogs. These two golden retrievers guarded over their owner’s body for at least three weeks after he died.

Gary Lorenz disappeared from his Colorado home in September, and his body was just found last week surrounded by Pippin and Merry.

Lorenz, who had Alzheimer’s disease, had taken his ATV and his two three-year-old golden retrievers over a ridge near his home. Officials said he died four or five days later from exposure and dehydration.

Pippin and Merry, brother and sister, lost about 9 pounds during the three weeks. They were emaciated and dehydrated when they were found. A veterinarian said that both dogs are doing well and will recover soon.

Lorenz’s daughter said, “Now that we have the dogs back, we feel like we’ve gotten a little piece of Dad back. He loved these dogs, and they loved him. They never left his side. They watched him. He was having trouble communicating with all of us, but he always seemed to be able to talk to the dogs. They were his best friends. We are so happy to have them back to remind us of the relationship he had with them and to help my mom get through her tough weeks ahead. They will be here to comfort her.”

Lorenz’s wife said that it helped that the dogs had each other to lean on during their time away from home. She added, “Pippin would never leave Gary, and Merry would never leave Pippin.”

Source: KNBC

News for cats and dogs from Itchmo.