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Over the last three and a half years I have been training my Parson Russell Terrier Bart to do Flyball. He picked it up extremely quickly and looked to be a very promising height dog. Having been clocked on several occasions running at 4.8 seconds he would be a very welcome addition to any team, with a height card warrenting jumps of 9inches. I had him earmarked for my top team, the Supadogs, with three collies already running at 4.7/4.8 each over 12 inch jumps, the possibilities were endless with Bart in the team.
So why was he always in starters then?? Bart always added his own dimension to the game of flyball, and it wasn't enough for him to go over the jumps and back to me, or more recently Martyn, who took over as his handler last year and seemed to have more success than I ever did! I felt it wasn't fair or safe on either him nor the other teams competing to let Bart do his laps of honour, shaking his ball at everyone trying to attract a game of chase from someone...anyone! Even though he never went near another dog, I didn't like to put him in a situation where he could cause mayhem in the ring. So he stayed in starters.
Martyn took over his handling last year, and despite my objections at the time took him in the ring to race against Steelers (who knew him very well and gave him a chance) at Stocksbridge. With rachel Child the judge (who also knows him!) and lots of people wishing him well he completed 5 full runs, gained his first ever points, and smashed the seed time of the Powadogs through the roof! After that, he was entered into all the Multibreed competitions and did the odd leg, until eventually he only had to do three perfect runs under 22 to get his first ever award.
It took him a total of nine runs, over two days to get those points and I was gutted as well as elated. Elated that he's made it to flyball dog, but gutted because of the way he ran around as though he'd never had a day's training in his life!
So, Martyn and I decided to really think about which direction we would take with him. Then, after a terrible freak accident that nearly cost him his life, the decision was made to retire Bart from flyball. In that moment when I thought he would die, I realised just how much that little dog means to me as a pet, a member of the family. And so Bart will never set paw in an open competition again, but will hopefully carry on causing chaos in the starters ring.
Thank you Martyn for Running him for me and having the faith (and courage!) to put him in a team, thank you Steelers for that very first race against you at Stocksbridge, and also to the judges who've had to stand waiting until we've caught him.
So, you've seen the last of Bart racing round the ring, and you've seen the last of me running OUT of the ring shouting
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