My Flyball Diary

Dogs Days Out

2007-10-21T23:38:00.000-07:00

I told you once about my mum's Sisters. The one called Marianne who has the Husband Des Dickie came to visit us and do Flyball.

We went to the CanadaBayDogsDayOut and did a Demonstration. It's a bit like a Competition but there were no other Teams, just us Sydney Psychos. So we raced each other all day long, with our own Watch the Lights and Ian doing all the Talking Talking Talking in the loud voice thing.

The first time it was my turn I heard Ian tell the story about when I wasn't Brave, when I just shook all the time and wouldn't do Team Ready and would run away when there was a new noise or a person with a flag or children watching or a dog I didn't know or just anything really. I was only shaking a little bit when he told that story.

When it was my turn to Go Go Go Ebbi I went down to the Box and I got a big shock because the Husband Des was boxloading and I didn't know he was allowed to do it. I had to look at him with my mum calling me, 'come on Ebbi, Bring the Ball' and then I stopped Being Silly and I brought the Ball back to my mum.

Everyone who was there that day had a turn, Jessie and Zeus and Kaos and Rosie and Missy and Maverick and Lance and Digger and Kyra and the other Digger. Even the beginners like Bryson and Meadow and Muskat had a turn showing how you learn Flyball and how you can learn to be Brave.

My mum's friend Debra came with her person puppy Petal, and boy were they surprised that I can do proper Flyball now with my Team.

This week we had another Dog's Day Out. Before we went to Flyball we went to Soccer. In Albury I've played soccer with the girl Cindy that my mum says is my person cousin. She is REALLY good at Soccer. Her Team is so good at Soccer they were in the StateFinalCompetition in Sydney.

It was a bit scary watching Cindy's Team play Soccer. There were people with whistles and orange flags and there was shouting and screaming and kids, almost like Flyball. But there weren't any Overs and Arounds and I didn't have Ebbi's turn at anything, I just had to watch. That was hard because I wanted to play with Cindy, she can do good tricks with the Soccer and I like to bring it back to her.

My mum says we are having another Dogs Day Out this week we are going to Canberra for her to work.

A Busy Day at Flyball

2007-10-07T12:55:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was an excellent Flyball Day at Sydney Psychos. Lots of good things happened. Alex's eye is better, Sydney Psychos Team came Second in the Competition at BoorowaIrishFlyballFling, we got another Watch the Lights so that two Teams can do proper racing like at a Competition, Jack did his First Full Run with a Ball, Bryson did Around and Over One, Poppy can do a Full Run without the Ball, and my friend Buster that I saw at the PetExpo a long time ago came to visit us.

I did lots of racing with different Teams. First my Team was Molly and Chloe and me, then my Team was Connor and Chloe and me, then my Team was Zeus and Chloe and Molly and me, then my Team was Zeus and Chloe and me. I did Start Dog and Second dog and Third dog and Last dog. I did Watch the Lights, Ebbi's turn next, Go Go Go Ebbi and Bring the Ball and I only made one mistake all day when I didn't Bring the Ball. My mum made two mistakes when she let me Go Go Go too soon and I did bad CrossOvers then.

I helped Poppy learn to do CrossOvers and then I watched Poppy teach Bryson to do CrossOvers.

It was a very busy day, and then the surprise came when two ladies brought my friend Buster. My mum calls him Ebbi's cousin because she says he looks like me. But he's smaller than me and has long hair and he's not a Kelpie he's a SkipperKee (I don't know how to write it properly). Buster said hallo but then went in his mum's arms because he's not very Brave.

He ran around at playtime and seemed to get happier. I hope he comes to Flyball again so that he learns to be Brave and Good like me. He would find out that Flyball is the best fun ever. You make lots of Friends and then you can play with everyone, Molly and Connor and Kaos and Rosie and Missy and Meadow and Muskat and Sasha and Kyra and Bryson and Jack and Mocha and Poppy were all my Friends who were at Flyball playtime yesterday.

Hospital Adventures

2007-09-30T14:57:00.000-07:00

My mum's been telling me we were going BoorowaIrishFlyballFling, and I've been practising wearing my Nurses Dress for the parade that happens at Ebbi's lunchtime. Last year I wore my Indian Feathers and that took a lot of practice because I wasn't very Brave then when I was still a Delinquent. But now I am a Brave Good Girl I can put on my Nurses Dress without shaking.

Anyway, after all that practise we couldn't go to BoorowaIrishFlyballFling, because something terrible happened to Alex.

She got a sore eye and kept rubbing rubbing rubbing it and then the DoctorLady told Alex she had to go and live in a special place called the Hospital for a while. My mum said the Hospital is like Alex's work only it's for people who are sick, not for sick dogs and cats and birds. And Alex's eye was very very very sick with lots of horrible bugs growing in it, so sick that it needed special medicine in it all day and all night, otherwise the DoctorLady might have to take Alex's eye out. Yucky. (I wonder if she could put it back after?)

Molly was meant to be in my Team at BoorowaIrishFlyballFling, but she wouldn't go without Alex, no way. She's bigger than me but she's not very Brave without Alex. Alex thought Molly might get frightened by a man or a noise or some scary thing and run away like Digger did when the SydneyPsychos went to Canberra.

For a while my mum thought me and Connor could still go to BoorowaIrishFlyballFling, but she told me Ian thought it would be better if there was one good Team instead of two Teams with no reserve dogs. I remember all the times I was a reserve dog you just sit at the back near the lady with the Orange Flags and you don't do Team Ready Watch the Lights but you still get a ribbon.

So my mum's been's looking after Molly and Connor and me, and we've had real Hospital Adventures instead of parade Doctors and Nurses at BoorowaIrishFlyballFling. Every day my mum drives us to the Hospital and we have to wait at the front door for Alex to come.

Then we run around the corner to a park that's in the Hospital and play and then Alex has to go away for her eye medicine and then she comes back and we play more and then she goes away and comes back and goes away and comes back. My mum says the time is half-an-hour between eye medicine, you might know what that means, I just know Alex comes and goes and comes and goes but at least Molly and Connor are very happy to see her. (Me too).

Alex looks funny, she has a thing over her eye, not sunglasses because they do two eyes and are black and have a handle over the ears. This thing that Alex has only does her sore eye and sticks on with sticky tape. But my mum says if the eye medicine works she won't have to have that thing on all the time and everything can go back to normal.

We don't know what happened yet at BoorowaIrishFlyballFling. Everyone will have new ribbons to tell about at Flyball next week. I hope Alex is better so that Molly and Connor can come too.

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2007-09-20T01:28:00.001-07:00

Me When I was a Devil Dog

2007-09-20T00:48:00.000-07:00

Cleo the Show Off

2007-09-16T19:22:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was another day when hardly any Sydney Psychos came to Flyball because so many are on a holiday together. Because there weren't many of us we had heaps of Team Ready Races and we all got very tired. My Flyball friends who were there were Molly and Connor, Kyra and Sasha, Poppy, Coco and Beau, Chloe and Zeus and Cleo.

Sasha is a baby and she's not allowed to do Overs yet but she can do good Arounds. Poppy is a beginner and she can do 8 Overs (but not very fast) and she might learn to Get the Ball out of the Box soon. Coco knows how to do a Full Run but she still has Blonde Moments like I used to. So does her brother Beau. Chloe is really good at Flyball but she keeps hurting herself. First she ate the apricot pit and had to go to hospital and they cut open her tummy to get it out (OUCH!). Now she has cut her own foot and she has to wear a stupid bucket on her head and you can't do Flyball with a bucket.
Cleo is a BIG SHOW OFF beginner. Yesterday for the first time ever my mum put the Ball in the Box and straight away Cleo did a Full Run and brought the ball back to her dad. She didn't even pretend to not know what to do. She didn't run away or bark or get scared of the Ball popping out of the Box. She just showed off and kept doing it and everyone called her a Darling and for a while I thought my mum thought Cleo was a bigger Darling than me.

But next time we had a Team Ready race and it was Zeus' turn and then Kyra's turn and then it was my turn, I went Over one jump and then Over another one and then the next one had fallen down. I nearly stopped but I thought 'Ebbi Don't Be Silly' (that's what my mum says to me when I have to be Brave) and just jumped right Over that fallen down jump and the next one and Got the Ball and Brought it to my mum Over that fallen down jump on the way back. My mum was really really happy and did that thing when she picks me up and calls me the Best Darling Most Perfect Clever Brave Ebbi Good Girl in the world.

A funny Fun Day

2007-09-11T02:02:00.000-07:00

We had a funny day at Flyball on Sunday. My mum said it's because Ian and Sandy and Jenni and Debbi and John have all gone on a big adventure by themselves. That means that Kaos and Rosie and Missy and Meadow and Muskat and Maverick and Jessie and Little Connor didn't come to Flyball. That's a lot of my friends, all the ones who have been learning a long time.

So at training there was just me and Molly and Connor and Zeus and Chloe and Cleo and Kyra and my new friend Bryson. Because there was hardly anyone there we got to do lots and lots and lots of racing and I had a really good time racing in a special team with Zeus being start dog and first it was his turn and then it was Kyra's turn and then it was my turn and after my turn came Molly's turn. We did so many races that I got very puffed and was happy to rest in my house in between.

My mum and Alex helped Bryson's mum teaching Bryson to go Around. He had a turn going Around on the Box. He's not scared of going Around on the Box even though he is scared of someone standing behind him and my mum had to trick him to hold him on the Box so he could do good Fast Overs for his mum.

Everyone helped little Cleo do Arounds and Overs as well. She's so small that she can't even see Over the Jumps before she does her Overs.

I thought she was a show off doing a Full Run when she's only been learning for a little while and she's so small that Zeus could have her for breakfast if he wanted to. He won't because she is his house sister and now Chloe has gone to live with him and Rob and Gerard too. Chloe is really happy in her new house and she is all better after the operation to take away the peach pit that was stuck in her stomach.

After a long playtime Molly and Connor and Bryson came for a special walk around Flyball Park to some new parts I haven't been to before. I like playing with my new friend Bryson I think he wants to be my boyfriend.

Bryson had to wear a silly bucket on his head for a while because he had a sore foot but now that's better too and he can run around properly without worrying about the bucket.

NO FLYBALL!

2007-09-02T14:07:00.000-07:00

We didn't have Flyball because my team Sydney Psychos went to KioloaSurfNTurf Competition without us. We couldn't go because my mum had to work. I hate it when she has to work, especially the work when she goes away from the house and that was the work she had to do on the day of the Competition.

One year ago KioloaSurfNTurf Competition was the very first Competition I ever went to that was a big adventure. I wasn't very Brave then and I was still a Devil Dog Delinquent and being at that Competition gave me lots of blonde moments, even though it was only a Beginners Competition and I didn't have to do any Overs and Arounds. Anyone who was at that Competition would have been very surprised to see me this time now that I am a Flyball Dog Excellent.

My mum said I should tell what a Flyball Dog Excellent is for people who don't know about Flyball. When you go in a Competition there are people who write everything down. If you do a Full Run they write down that you were a good girl and give you some points. If your team wins a race they write down good team and give you some more points. When you get 5 points you get called Flyball Dog. When you get 20 points you get called Flyball Dog Excellent. My mum says I have 33 points so I am past Flyball Dog Excellent but before Flyball Dog Champion, because you need 50 points for that name. Maybe if I do good Full Runs I can get that name at BoorowaIrishFlyballFling.

Anyway, even though there was no Flyball we had a good time because Alex and my mum took me and Molly and Connor to Rozelle where you can swim in SydneyHarbour and run for miles and miles without having to be on the lead. It was sunny and warm and we ran for hours before we had to go home.

Then we all had a big sleep.

Mad with my Mum

2007-08-26T18:19:00.000-07:00

I'm really mad with my mum because I haven't been able to do my blog for ages and ages and I've missed being able to tell all my news. She says it's not her fault, that she had to change her email address and then blogger wouldn't let her log in and she rang everyone and even wrote to google in america but no-one would help her.

I don't understand any of that, I just wanted to tell my news, because so many things have happened since we went out there in Orange.

First we had to take my Beazli to live with my mum's Noni in Albury because his wobbly legs got so sore going up and down all our stairs and Noni has a flat house where he can lie in front of the heater all day if he's cold.

Then scary Ian figured out a good way to help me be really Brave. After Orange when we did training he bought a box that made loud music and every time it was my turn to go with my team he played Oh Oh Black Ebbi Bambalam or Down in Devil Dog Drive as loud as can be and I had to learn to Ignore the music box and scary Ian standing in front of me with whistles and other people in the team waving Orange Flags at me all the time.

So when we went to CanberraMillionPawsWalk and when it was my turn to go with my team it wasn't as bad as that OOh Oh Black Ebbi Bambalam and so I did a full run for my mum and that was the very first time ever that I had done it in a Competition in front of the crowds and judgemen and other dogs and the people with the Orange Flags and someone said on the loud voice thing 'Ebbi has been learning for nearly 2 years and that is her first full run' and everyone clapped and cheered and I kept doing it all day and I got a ribbon and some points and I became a Flyball Dog.

Then we went to AlburyBorderChallengeCup and that was good because we stayed with Noni and I got to kiss my Beazli and play with him as well as go to a Competition. It was so cold in Albury that my mum had to buy me a warmer coat than the one she got in Orange. It has a tophood to keep your ears warm.

The AlburyBorderChallengeCup was inside a big room that made everything sound scary and I didn't like it in the morning. But by the afternoon I got to be Brave and listened to my mum when she said 'Don't Be Silly' and so I did good full runs with my team and got some more points (but no ribbon).

And then we went to the StGeorgeSoutherlyMuster and there were no scary parts except for Measuring Stick but that's only in the morning before you start. I did everything my mum wanted all day long. I went with my team and I Watched the Lights and I did Go Go Go and Over and Around and Bring the Ball and I got more points and now I am a FLYBALL DOG EXCELLENT! And my team came third and I got another ribbon. And my mum only had to say 'Don't Be Silly' once, at the very end of the day, when the judgeman looked at me and I was tired and I did a scared shake at the Box before I came back.

So now you know everything except that my mum just tells me that I am a Brave Good Wonderful Special Best Ebbi Darling Girl all the time. She hasn't called me a Delinquent for the longest time. And she says I don't have blonde moments any more and now I can just concentrate on going faster. I didn't really know why until yesterday at training when I was in a little team with just me and Mocha. And we were next to Missy and Rosie and Maverick and Digger who were doing a proper team and I thought I would try to go faster than Digger when it was my turn. That was great fun! It was like racing Beazli in the pool. I'm going to try going even faster next time.

One day I'm going to race against my new friend Bryson, who is just learning Arounds and Overs. He does good Overs but he's a bit frightened of everyone, even my mum. I've tried to tell him not to be frightened because you can have the best best fun at Flyball if you are Brave. And my mum would never hurt him. She never once hurt me, even when I was the worst Delinquent and ran away and wouldn't listen and just did what I wanted to instead of being Good. I know my mum would never never hurt Bryson or any of my Flyball Friends and she just wants to help him learn to have Flyball Fun.