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The Seaside Sprinters add another team!Congratulations to the Seaside Sprinters Fyball Club!! This new club began competing with their first team, The Salty Dogs, in May '06 and ten months later they took their second team, The Wave Runners, to All Dogs Gym in Manchester, NH for the club's sixth tournament in March of 2007. Not only did the "new" dogs do a great job but several titles were earned in the process! Since March 2007 the Seaside Sprinters have been to five more tournaments in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, our dogs have earned many new titles and the team has run its fastest time ever of 22.414 seconds. Then February of 2008 the team took its 4 newest member to two tournaments in New Hampshire where again there were new titles earned by both the newest dogs and many of our veteran dogs.
Flyball is run as a relay with four dogs on a team, running side by side against another team. Each dog must jump over four hurdles, retrieve a ball from a spring loaded box, and return carrying the ball over the hurdles. The first team to complete the race without mistakes, wins the heat. Flyball is an exhilarating sport combining team work, speed, running, jumping and lots of tennis balls. This is a sport in which all dogs can participate; it makes no difference if your canine is a purebred or a mix, large or small, dogs of all shapes and sizes and even those a little older can play the game.
The Seaside Sprinters practice weekly at My Dog's Place in Mystic, CT. The practice is led by the team captain Bea DeGruttola, who has been involved in flyball for over eight years. The following are members of the team:
Bea DeGruttola and her English Springer Spaniel "Molly-Dog" with 1316 points, FDCH-S and "Power Pup" her mix breed with 55 points - FD
Katie Jordan(Co-Captain) and her Vizsla "Tiki" with 3027points - FDCH-G, All American "Scout" with 683 points - FDCH, and cockapoo "Addie" with 2948 points - FDCH-G
Marge Lineweber and her Irish Setter "Derby" with 2743 points - FDCH-G
Sheri Throop and her Standard Poodle "Lucy" with 354 points - FDX
Gina Macaione and her Border Collie "Jasmine" with 1839 points - FDCH-S
Megan Roche and her Old English Sheepdog "Oliver" with 62 points - FD
Bill Loftus and his Australian Shepherd "Champ" with 461 points - FDX
Joseph & Elizabeth Cefaratti and their Labrador Retriever "Cassie" with 50 points - FD
Kari Daniels and her Labrador Retriever "Potter" with 17 points
Kim Daoust and Amanda Throop Box Loaders
Joshua Throop and Xochitl Hernandez-DeGruttola - Ball Chasers
Abbreviations indicate Flyball titles: FD = Flyball Dog, FDX = Flyball Dog Excellent, and FDCH = Flyball Dog Champion. The dogs earn points towards a title when, as a team, they run the race under a specific time. If the race is completed in less than 32 seconds each dog earns 1 point, less than 28 seconds: 5 points, and less than 24 seconds: 25 points. Titles are awarded based on the number of points a dog has received. More information can be found on www.flyball.org or www.flyballdogs.com
If you are interested in taking a flyball class, Bea teaches a beginners and intermediate level course. Please contact My Dog's Place for more information.
More pictures from our recent tournament coming soon!
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