David got a new spiffy camera and took video of me catching frisbees at like a million frames per second. I don't really know what that means, but as you'll be able to see from the video, it means you can see me moving at super slow-mo. Check it out! Click here.

I am an official Flyball Dog!!! Amy and I just got back from the Viva Las Flyball tournament in Lebanon, PA and look what I got!

On Saturday, I ran three times in a warm-up spot and then I earned my very first title, Flyball Dog, when, after the third warm-up, I ran in four of the five heats! Then, today, I ran in two full races, with five heats each and I earned my second title, Flyball Dog Excellent! I ran in a third race, but after the first two heats, I got very distracted by a dog in the next lane so I graciously bowed out. Actually, it was more like, Amy picked me up off the floor and took me outside the ring, but I didn't mind. I had run a whole bunch of clean heats!

Oh and as if that wasn't cool enough, see that medal? I got it because the our team won first place in our division! Yay!!! Oh and on top of all that, look at all of this stuff!

It's new toys! New frisbees and squeakies and a tug toy!

It was a really great weekend for me and everyone else on our team. All of the dogs ran and did great! I spent my first nights in a hotel, which wasn't too bad because we got a room with two beds so I had a whole bed all to myself. I might have woken Amy up a few times barking, but, hey, I'm a dog, that's what I do, I bark.

Oh, I'm sorry we don't have any photos or video of the actual competition, we had exactly eight humans and all of the humans had jobs to do during all of our races. There should be plenty of video and photos from our next tournament though because I think a lot of people are going to come out and watch the craziness that is flyball.

Here are some other photos of me. As you can see, I'm so happy to be doing agility, especially in this private class session, then I don't have worry at all about other dogs.

This is me practicing my contacts at the end of the A-frame. See that yellow part? Your back paws have to touch that yellow part. You'd think that'd be easy, but it's even easier to just zoom past it and forget.

Here I'm listening attentively to what our instructor, Melissa, has to say about the next thing we're going to do...I can't wait!

The tunnel! That's one of my favorite things to do, I love racing through it!

Ooooooh, the magical bait bag holds all sorts of good things to eat. This night it was hot dogs. Yum!

And finally, here I am on the teeter. That's probably the scariest piece of equipment because it moves. Right now, Melissa still has to hold on the teeter and set it down slowly. One day I'm supposed to be the one to make it pivot down.

Tomorrow we have our last flyball practice before the big tournament next weekend! I'm going to practicing with the entire 4 dog team. Wish me luck! Amy seems really excited about the tournament, I hope that I do well!

Frisbees like this one! It lights up blue in the dark. Ooooooooooooo

It's a big plastic frisbee with four little blue lights around the corners. I don't really normally play with plastic frisbees so I wasn't that good at catching it. What I am good at is chewing on plastic frisbees, which is what I did. I even managed to pop out one of those little blue lights. That's when Amy took it away from me :o(

So let's see, Amy and I went to a private agility lesson last night and it went great! We switched over to private lessons to finish our Agility II class because the regular class became a bit too much for me to handle. The private lesson was perfect because I didn't have to worry about any other dogs. We did jumping, weave poles, A-frame, tire, table, tunnels, dog walk and teeter and we did them all in a course! Amy is starting to learn how to walk a course, but we did pretty well overall. We have one more private lesson and then we'll start taking a Reactive Graduates agility class in late April.

This weekend, we have flyball practice! I can't wait! I haven't done flyball in weeks, I'm ready to run! Plus, Amy and I are traveling up to Pennsylvania in a few weeks to see if I can run in a tournament with a team. I'll definitely let everyone know how that goes.

Oh in other news, Lucy, Jenna and Rilee have moved :o( They lived two houses down and we were walked together everyday by our dog walker. Lucy and Jenna were the first dogs that I met when I was brought home as a 7-week year old puppy. Now I'm the lone dog on the block.

I wish dogs could play ice hockey. Oh wait, you have to wear things on your paws to play hockey? Oh, okay, then nevermind, scratch that idea. I think I'll stick to watching it on TV.

Look, I get out of Riot's way and everything.
Clip 1

Here you can see a little better that Aggie's running in the next lane and I pay no attention to her.
Clip 2

And here's a close-up of our pass.
Clip 3 - Close up

In other news, we started Agility II a couple of weeks ago and it's been going really well. Last week we were reintroduced to the A-frame. The first time I jumped off but then I remembered that I'm supposed to run all the way up and back down (that's how you get the hot dogs at the end). We also did the teeter and I wasn't even afraid of it! I stayed on the contact and everything!

Video 1

Video 2 (Slow Mo)

Now that I've started to practice passing, I have to learn to not to be a lane hog. See, when you're racing with a team, once you're done with your run, you're supposed to run off to the right immediately after the last jump, but since I've been practicing by myself, I always just run right up the center of the lane. Last night during one of our first runs, I didn't get out of the middle of the lane and there could've been a collision but, Riot is so fast and is so determined to get his tennis ball that when he was released, he just ran right underneath my legs and I didn't even care! Now that was a moment that needed to be caught on video, but of course, Amy forgot her camera! Hmph. I need to have a talk with her about making sure that along with my bubbles, bubble gun, laser pointer, frisbee, tug, treats, treat bag, crate, water, water bowl, and mat, she needs to always remember to bring her camera to practice. I mean really, is that too much to ask?

Anyway, so this week, we start our Agility II class. We were suppposed to start last week but they canceled, I guess cause they remembered that it was Valentine's Day and people might not show up. Did you have a good Valentine's Day? I got a new toy! I'll try to post a picture of it later, it's called Bamboo and is supposedly indestructible, we'll see about that.

I competed in single dog races and did great! It was a perfect place to make my debut. It was held at the Prince William County Fairgrounds, where we have our practices, so I was already familiar with the building.

What I wasn't familiar with was the food trailer.

It's always parked in front of the building but when we have practice, it's always closed. On Saturday though, it was open! When I first saw it as Amy and I were leaving the building, I started barking furiously at it. When she let me out the door, I ran right up to it and kept on barking. Then I started smelling some very delicious scents coming from it like hot dogs and hamburgers and french fries, that's when I decided it was okay.

So the single dog racing didn't start until later in the day, after team racing. Here are some of my teammates who participated in the team racing:

This is JackieO and Po. Even though Po is a few months older, Jackie's the boss and she makes sure that Po and everyone else knows it :o)

And here are Aggie and Max. Aggie competed in single dog races like me and Max, well, he's a veteran on the team, I can only hope to be able to run in as many races as he has.

Throughout the day, like we did when we went up to the tournament in York, Amy and I had short training sessions inside the building, playing the "Look at That" game and practicing relaxing in this hectic atmosphere. When we weren't working, I waited patiently in the car.

Finally, when the team racing was done and the awards were given out, it was my turn! After a long day of watching everyone else race, I was really excited. Amy was a bit nervous, but she didn't have a reason to be because I was really focused and did really well.

Here's my box turn. Just think, a few months ago, I was terrified of the sound that the box made when triggered, now it doesn't bother me at all.

And here I am running back up the lane. I've always loved the jumps.

If you want to see me in action, click here.

I raced in two races, both against my teammate Riot, and even though I didn't beat Riot (he is super duper fast) I had a lot of fun! I was quite happy when I was done :o)

Why am I so unhappy you ask?

Because of these!

They're dog booties...ugh. But wait you ask, don't you already have a pair of dog booties? Unfortunately the answer is yes >:o( Back in October I got Muttluks because my pads starting getting all ripped up from running next to the bike on asphalt and concrete. The problem with the Muttluks was that they were cloth and ripped the first time I wore them and ran around. These however have rubber soles. So hopefully this summer when Amy and I head back out on the bike, I won't hurt my pads.

Luckily some other things came with the new dog booties that made that dreaded package okay...a new frisbee and bouncy toy!

That green bouncy toy bounces in all sorts of crazy directions, kind of like me! Well, except when I'm wearing those stupid dog booties.

That dog is ready and rearing to go!

Not a bad box turn.

Oh, something else that I did today that was really fun was chase geese! On Sunday mornings, Amy and I walk over to the local elementary school. There are two softball fields there and the geese love to hang out on the fields, eating the grass and pooping all over the place. So, Amy lets me run onto the field and chase them away. I love it! Click here to see the video me as the Goose Chaser.

Oh and yesterday I had an awesome flyball practice! I practiced full races against Riot and did it without any gates the entire time! I'm really starting to get into flyball. I can hardly wait when Amy's holding me getting me revved up to run down the lane. My debut in single dog races is only a few weeks away, I hope that I can do it!

So another great thing that has happened, I got a BUBBLE GUN! It shoots out bubbles and it's the best thing EVER! Amy bought it for flyball so that she doesn't have run and blow bubbles at the same time. Click here to see a video of me and my new favorite toy.

In other news, our first agility class of the new year went well. We practiced the tunnel, chute, table, A-frame, jumps and the teeter. I think we're going to learn the dog walk this week. We just signed up for Agility II class too, which is going to start in February. Oh and I got a new toy after class...a "My Pal". It squeaks, squeaky things are always good.

Today Amy and I went for our usual Sunday morning walk. We passed by the local elementary school softball fields where some geese were hanging out and you know, causing trouble. She let me run onto the field and chase them all away, which was great. The bad thing was that the field was a little muddy and well...

When we got home she promptly threw me into the bathtub and I got a bath...yuck! I probably could've done this New Year without a bath, oh well.

Here's our first race.

Here's a video of our second race.

Then I did some by myself because Foster had to rest her legs. She's starting her return to flyball after her latest surgery, but she was able to serve as a huge distraction for me in this next video. She was standing in the next lane barking at me but I managed to ignore her and do my run! Here's that clip.

You can't really see it on these videos but my reward for running back to Amy is, of course, bubbles! Most dogs run for food, or a tug, a toy or even a laser light, not me!

Oh, last night was the flyball team party and even though only two dogs were in attendance, Po and Jackie (the party was held at their house), Amy tells me it was a lot of fun. She made FBI tennis ball cupcakes.