Last weekend we drove nearly 1000 miles to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to compete in a wonderful charity Flyball tournament in Escanaba, MI. It was a UFLI tournament and Casper got a Singles spot so he could officially go for the Kooikerhondje speed record, which was the only North American breed Flyball record he didn’t have! He smashed the record on Saturday running over his own height, 9″, with a 4.504 after a .007 start. On Sunday we dropped to the minimum height, 6″, and he set a 4.336 with a .013 start. (The video is of another run of 4.342 – I left it uncut because at the very end you can hear my surprised “4.3!?”). I was so shocked to see 4.3s on the board, especially after months without competing, but as usual, this boy delivered. Casper now is the all-time top point-earning Kooikerhondje in both NAFA and U-FLI, and has the U-FLI Singles speed record. He is also the second-fastest spaniel in U-FlI!
Thank you to our teammate Dawn for this video! And thanks to all our Chattanooga Chomp teammates and teammates and trainers from former teams for helping us get here. Flyball is a team sport and there are dozens of individuals who had a hand in developing Casper into this solid competitor and also working on me as a handler, and I’m forever grateful for the wonderful connections we’ve made through this sport!