NAFA Greyhound Flyball Dog Champions

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NAFA

(Ranked by total NAFA Points earned as of 05/02/10)

Rank

Greyhound

Points
1 Josie 10,304
2 Amos 6,424
3 Sylvie Bingo 5,583
4 Roland 2,016
5 Kachina Doll 1,578
6 Heartaway's Crimson 'N' Clover 768

"Josie"  (CRN 040459)  -  2001 Black Female

Mikies Fool GRC, JOR, JC, TFE, FMX

Josie coursing.... Josie, in typical Greyhound style, has a personality that ranges from calm & affectionate to spirited & silly.

According to Josie's owner, "... Josie likes carrying things, cooling off in the kiddy pool, and lounging on the sofa with four feet to the sky.  She dislikes her doggie housemates sleeping touching her during warm months and/or touching her feet – growls and moves elsewhere in a huff ...".

Outside of Flyball, she has participated in coursing and amateur straight and oval track racing earning Junior Oval Racer, Greyhound Racing Champion and Junior Courser titles.

Learning Flyball, Josie didn’t have any fears to overcome – just the standard Greyhound zoomies.  Josie usually runs anchor for her team and is blessed to have height dogs who set the jumps at 9 inches or lower.

Josie races wearing a standard sight-hound collar with owner/handler, Dana Hanson, releasing her approximately 45 feet from the start line.

Josie gets a count of Ready, Set, Take-it.  Take-it became the key command for her to understand the expectation.  She used to charge up on a BC in the back yard and steal whatever was in his mouth.  At first, Dana was amused and started telling her to Take-it to encourage that play.  Eventually, that command was worked into her send so she would understand to grab the toy from the box.

Josie has been crossed on by other dogs and usually freezes in her tracks and looks mortified.  She seems to be saying, “Excuse me, this is not appropriate” but gets over the cross in a hurry.

....Josie racing Flyball

 

Josie at the box

Josie catching the ball....

Josie relaxing

Arriving on the Flyball scene late, Josie was six years old when she ran in her first tournament and she now averages 16-18 heats per tournament.

Her box turn is usually a one-footed pedal press, grabbing the ball from the right hole and pivoting to the left.  Josie can get all four feet on the box for close-up work but to maintain the turn and catch a ball at the same time doesn't work . . . one of the hazards of having long legs.  She has a very soft bite and witnesses have said the ball sloshes around in her mouth as she runs.

Her times have gotten faster with experience and her best tournament time to date is 4.76 seconds.  She runs for treats and doesn’t typically tug during racing but does like to tug otherwise.

According to Dana: "...her favorite food is grilled chicken marinated in Mojo and likes most any homemade snack from the Three Dog Bakery cookbook...".

Racing Record:

FD=09/22/07  FDX=02/23/08  FDCH=03/30/08  FDCH-S=05/04/08  FDCH-G=01/11/09  FM=05/03/09  FMX=05/02/10

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"Amos"  (CRN 011337)  -  1997 Red Male

Amosh Pit (NGA) FM, TD

Amos the Greyhound Amos is a big boy who stands 28 inches at the shoulders and  weighs in at 73 pounds.

According to Amos' owners, "...Greyhounds get bored very easily and you have to be careful not to turn them off of something until they decide they really like it for themselves...".

Coming from the race track, Amos didn't know how to interact and play.  With a lot of patience and clicker training his new family learned to push the right buttons to get him motivated to learn new things, including Flyball....

Amos runs second on his team following a Dalmatian and meeting a German Short Haired Pointer on his return.  He is blessed to have a height dog (Poodle Mix) who sets the jumps at 8 inches.

Amos races in a harness with his owner/handler, Natalie Moroz-Cornell, releasing him approximately 35 feet from the start line.

Amos is left-pawed and uses multi-colored rubber balls, as he never acquired a liking to the feel of a tennis ball in his mouth.

Natalie and Amos the Greyhound
Amos the Greyhound at the box

Amos can do a perfect 4- footed turn on a box, but given the length of his legs his neck is too short to get near the ball.  Therefore, he uses his standard 2-footed push on the pedal  and with his quick pivot doesn't lose much time at the box.

His tournament times are usually in the 5.2 to 5.4 second range and he gets excited for food (beef heart, liver, etc.), instead of a tug toy, on his return.

According to Natalie: "...you (usually) only have to tell a Greyhound something ONCE.  They are VERY sensitive...".

Racing Record:  

FD=02/23/02  FDX=06/22/02  FDCH=01/18/03  FDCH-S=05/24/03  FDCH-G=08/02/03  FM=07/24/04

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"Sylvie Bingo"  (CRN 960472)  -  1990 Black Female

Sylvie Bingo (NGA) FM, CGC

Sylvie Bingo racing Flyball Being of medium small height and about 65 pounds, Sylvie was very friendly towards people.  She always smiled (a big grin showing teeth and gums) when she met someone new.

Whenever a new person would step in to box-load, her owner/handler, Ken Umbarger, would always have them talk to Sylvie before the first heat. Otherwise, Sylvie would run to the box, notice the stranger box-loading, put her paws up on top of the box, and try to lick them in the face.

Sylvie began Flyball with limited drive but that was overcome when Ken learned to read her mood and worked to get her pumped up with his "staging area antics".

Sylvie raced in a collar and Ken released her approximately 25 feet from the start line.  She could jump any height but usually raced with the jumps set at 8, 9 or 10 inches.

She was left-pawed and would put her 2 front paws on the box and her right rear paw close to the edge
of the box and would pivot on her left rear paw.

Having an explosive runback that always made for an exciting finish, Sylvie ran in the anchor position for her team.  She often ran just under 5 seconds, averaged in the mid 5's and returned for a stuffed toy (but occasionally liked a treat).

According to Ken: "...Greyhounds in Flyball are definitely a special breed and have special needs...".

Racing Record:

FD=01/19/97  FDX=01/19/97  FDCH=02/21/98  FDCH-S=06/28/98  FDCH-G=01/08/00  FM=12/09/00

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"Roland"  (CRN 990409)  -  1998 Red Brindle Male

DC Gerico's Wild Goose Chase SC, NA, OAJ, NAC, OJC, NGC, FDCH-S, VC

Roland the Greyhound Roland (a/k/a Rollie) is an AKC Greyhound from very fancy show lines on both sides and a finished show champion with a specialty award of merit and a group placement.  (He is very happy to be done with that!)

Roland is a champion lure courser, with best in fields and specialty wins.

Roland also competes in agility in open standard and excellent jumpers.  He is hard to beat in jumpers when he is on.

Being of average size for a male show dog, Roland is rather big for a Flyball dog, standing 30.5 inches tall and weighing in at about 93 pounds.

According to Roland's owner Costa Colbert, "...he was clicker trained from the time we got him at 12 weeks old, but no one can actually remember teaching him the pattern. He just grew up playing Flyball.  Consistent Flyball practice has been his secret to keeping in shape for all his activities...".

 

Roland doing agility

Roland doing the weave poles

 

Roland the blur Wearing a collar, Roland is released approximately 37 feet from the start line and usually races in the anchor position for his team.

He is right-pawed with a smooth 2-footed box turn and has a jump-to-box-to-jump time of about 1.75 seconds.  He returns for a food treat - cheddar cheese is his favorite - or for the thrill of chasing his handler.  When he really gets wound up, he runs just for the sake of releasing energy.

In his prime, Roland ran consistently between 4.25 and 4.35 line-to-line over 12-inch jumps, and would hit 25 mph at the finish line.  A line judge once said he looked like a 747 going by!

In 2003, he was featured on Animal Planet doing Flyball at the Houston Eukanuba Champions show.

According to Costa: "...Roland is very powerful, very fast, and very driven, especially for cheddar cheese...".

Racing Record:  FD=07/24/99  FDX=07/24/99  FDCH=07/22/00  FDCH-S=02/17/01

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"Kachina Doll"  (CRN 970209)  -  1991 Black Female

Deb's Chic (NGA & AKC ILP) NA, NAJ, FDCH-S, CGC

Kachina Doll the Greyhound

As a retired racing greyhound (who never raced), Kachina found a loving home with Diana Lyons.  She came to Diana catching and retrieving balls, and a love to run and jump, which is why she wasn't a working racer!

Kachina would do anything asked of her and would do it over and over.  She worked diligently at the Flyball pattern and once it seemed automatic, she was entered for her first Flyball tournament at Astro Hall (Reliant) on the Delta Omega Gamma team.  During her first runs, she was curious about a Welsh Corgi (definitely not a bunny rabbit) but quickly refocused after being called.

Kachina enjoyed Flyball so much that for her first run, she would get the ball and starting running the outside perimeter as though she was on the race track, but came quickly when called.  After “cutting loose” for the first race, she would do her job like a “trooper.”

Kachina made a great "passing-dog" trainer.  She would focus on her job and others learned to pass because of her neutral vibes towards other dogs.  Also, other dogs loved her!  They would come up and lick her on the face.

Kachina did her best and never complained through to her last tournament in May of 2003. For the morning runs Kachina was “on” at 11 years and 9 months, but for the afternoon, she wasn’t completing the pattern. She retired herself…

According to Diana: "...A Kachina Doll is a Hopi Indian Spirit Doll, and she was that for me for nine and a half years until she went to Rainbow Bridge, October 3, 2003....".

Kachina Doll racing Flyball

Racing Record:  FD=07/19/98  FDX=02/20/99  FDCH=02/19/00  FDCH-S=07/22/02

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"Heartaway's Crimson 'N' Clover"  (CRN 950591)

Racing Record:  FD=05/10/97  FDX=07/18/97  FDCH=02/21/98

Flyball Team:  Delta Omega Gamma

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