this weekend, in pictures

We got back from our trip to Ireland late on Thursday evening, and then after just 18 hours at home we left for the first flyball tournament of the year up in Canada.  Four countries in less than forty-eight hours, oof!  Pictures of the trip to Ireland will come later this week, first I wanted to put up some of the amazing photos and celebrate the milestones from this weekend.

First up are a couple of shots of me playing with Jadzia in the runback.  She never really liked the tug in the first place, and in her old age I'm only using it as a visual marker for her and instead I play with her using the ball she's brought back.  This makes her very happy, as you can see by the tail blur in the photos!

Finally, at long last, this weekend was Jadzia's FGDCh-60k title - Flyball Grand Champion 60,000 points.  This will be the final title of her career, as she'll be retiring from active racing in April at her ninth anniversary tournament, and it is a well-deserved title.  One of my teammates got this shot while I was watching the clock to see if the time was under 24 seconds to get those last few points....and it was! 

The other milestone this weekend was Phoebe's retirement from flyball, as next Saturday I will be taking her to her new family who lives in La Grande, OR.  She will have a retired couple all to herself, with no other dogs or cats, and I think she's going to be very happy.  These photos were taken by several of my teammates, and they really sum up Phoebe's career in flyball.  As much of a pain in the ass as she was (and still is for four more days) at home, at flyball Phoebe was always great and I will miss running her.

Barkblur!

Last flyball run ever...

Curzon and Ezri did well all weekend, in fact Curzon even helped "break in" a new handler on our team as she's never run a racing dog at a tournament before.  She did great, and he behaved himself, so all was well.  I'm pretty proud of him this weekend - he had fewer bobbles than he did in December, and several times he did return over all four jumps after a bobble.  He wasn't perfect, but he ran mostly clean and had a great time, and that's all I want right now.

And last but not least, some incredibly beautiful shots of both Curzon and Ezri by my teammate Liz.  These are two of the best photos of Curzon that I have period, and definitely the best of the last few months hands down.  I love the photo of Ezri stalking the tennis ball...so much focus!

 

And yes, for those paying attention, we have changed flyball clubs with this tournament being our first running with Unorthodogs.  Curzon and Ezri, as well as our soon-to-be puppy will race with Unorthodogs moving forward, and Phoebe and Jadzia are retiring with our friends on the Jet City Jumpers.  This was not an acrimonious move at all, and was one of the hardest decisions I've ever made, and I'm ever so grateful that my friends on both clubs have been gracious and accommodating as we make the change.  It means a lot to me that Phoebe and Jadzia will retire in lime green, the color they've raced in their whole career, and I'm so glad that they are going to do so.