Skyhoundz Worlds - 3rd place!

A more detailed post to come but the short version is Spice and Jack placed 3rd in Skyhoundz Microdog Worlds!!  :)

Here is the video to hold you over till I can work on a more detailed recap of the awesome time we had in Chattanooga... Jack and Spice have so much more work to do as a team but they aren't doing too bad for a 2 year old dog and 3/4's of a routine!

Ziggy, Spice and Tali

Ziggy... he's awesome.  Honestly I just love him.  His disc drive has increased and he continues to be a social butterfly.  Last night at Canis Major he didn't meet a stranger... he played with kids... he greeted other dogs nicely... he played a little bit of disc with me on the main field after the competition was over.  He is just superb!  He's already attempting to put flash and flare into his disc catching attempts.  I've seen him flip a few times.  It's kinda crazy and additionally it means I have to be really careful with any disc work we do cause he isn't old enough to be leaping and twisting like that!  Makes me pretty giddy about his future though!

Spice... what an interesting dog.  So full of herself and so sure she knows what is right.  We went to a UFO major and AWI qualifier in Naperville, IL a couple of weekends ago.  She was a hot mess.  Blowing off short tosses but looking like a rock star on her vaults and long tosses.  She also sucks at bringing the disc all the way back to the line in toss n fetch.  LOTS to work on but SOMEDAY when she decides to cooperate with our rules of the game and not her own she'll be awesome.  With all that negativity said she actually is scoring pretty decently in freestyle much to our surprise.  What a difference a flashy driven dog can make I guess (as compared to Tali).  We made the trip up to earn some UFO points since UFO finals will be in Florida and Jack missed our UFO major down here.  She earned 20 points so not what we were hoping for.  We have a local in a few weeks so hopefully she'll earn 10-20 more and then the rest they'll have to try for at the last chance qualifier.  She did better at the AWI competition the next day placing 9th overall and was 1 spot away from qualifying.  That worked out quite well actually because we couldn't have made the trip to Missouri anyway and we were worried about taking a spot from someone else that we knew we couldn't use but not worried enough to not play - she needs the experience because we leave on Thursday for Chattanooga and Skyhoundz Worlds where she is qualified in microdog freestyle!  Hopefully she and Jack will pull it together enough to do well in that competition but we shall see... they are still so new and green as a team (partially because she likes to play by her own rules and not his)!

Tali... or Fat Tali as we now call her.  Oops... she's gained weight and we didn't realize it so now she's on a diet!  Jam too for that matter... stupid rain and mud has been preventing exercise for the dogs.  Jack played Tali in SuperOpen freestyle in Canis Major last night.  It's her first time competing in freestyle since... well I think since USDDN Sun N Fun this spring which was right after she got sick.  She's mostly retired but he wanted to play her in Canis Major one more season.  She did well in freestyle but sucked in toss n fetch and ended up finishing 6th or 7th and thus got no canis major points.  It was pretty surprising that Spice finished 2nd in Canis Major in superopen freestyle but we'll take it!  :)  Tali did good for me in round 1 of D&A but sucked in round 2.  Makes sense considering her weight gain and being out of shape.  She has over a month till her next competition so the weight should be gone by then.  Jack is entering her in the Masters freestyle division at the Skyhoundz last chance qualifier.  She just turned 9 a few weeks ago.  Should be fun!

Ziggy loves frisbee!

Since our trip to Naperville Ziggy's interest in disc has gone way up!  He's so fun - LOVE him!