A Langford couple and their four-legged friend have returned from the national flyball championships with some shiny new hardware.
Corinne Andersen, her husband Stan, and their five-and-half-year-old border collie/whippet cross, Power, were part of a team that won the North American Flyball AssociationB次元官网网址檚 CanAm Classic Flyball Tournament in Indianapolis last month.
B次元官网网址淲e werenB次元官网网址檛 nervous, it was more excitement than anything else,B次元官网网址� Corinne said.
Flyball is a relay race with four dogs on a team competing against four other dogs on a opposing team. Each dog must jump over four hurdles on their way to a spring-loaded flyball box, which holds a tennis ball, grab the ball and then return over the hurdles and back to their handler. Once the first dog has crossed the finish line, the second dog and go and so forth.
The Andersens are part of Total Anarchy, a local flyball club that practices once a week for three hours out of Cobble Hill and consists of roughly 15 members from the Island and the Mainland.
Club members Kelly Knight and dog, Squid, Joanne and Brian Fryia and dogs, Risa and Pirate, and Christina and Matt Budau with dogs, Grytz and T-Rex competed in the national championships, which draws roughly 180 teams from across Canada and the U.S. every year.
The club competed in the highest division level one B次元官网网址� for the first time in its history B次元官网网址� and they didnB次元官网网址檛 disappoint. After winning several heats and posting a new personal best, running the 102-foot-course with a time of 14.803 seconds, the club defeated the opposing team to take home the championship.
B次元官网网址淲e were screaming before the dog even crossed the finish line,B次元官网网址� Corinne said. B次元官网网址淓veryone was proud of our dogs that competed
CorinneB次元官网网址檚 love of flyball started more than 10 years ago, when she was driving on the Pat Bay Highway and noticed a handful of dogs running over hurdles. It wasnB次元官网网址檛 until several years later, when she was living in California that she decided to give it a go.
Now, all three of the AndersenB次元官网网址檚 dogs, including nine-year-old Topo Gigio, a border collie, whippet and terrier cross and two-year-old Prima, compete in roughly eight flyball tournaments a year with the club.
B次元官网网址淚t takes a lot of commitment every weekend to go to practices,B次元官网网址� Corinne said, adding it takes about a year to train a dog to compete in the sport. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 the excitement of the dogs having such a good time. The dogs love the sport. A lot of people think itB次元官网网址檚 so noisy, I canB次元官网网址檛 handle the barking, but the dogs are so excited to do this that theyB次元官网网址檒l bark.B次元官网网址�
With a national championship under their belt, the Andersens and Total Anarchy hope to continue their winning ways during a tournament in Langley later this month.
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