On March 8, at our team’s Flyball tournament in Jefferson, Georgia, Casper retired from Flyball. It has been his favorite activity for 9.5 years, and he has every breed Flyball record. He ran on 9 different teams in 10 states and one province, attended both Nationals multiple times, and completed his Iron Dog and Flyball Grand Champion titles. He is a cheerful and polite competitor who can run with any team in any position, and is always willing to do more than required.
Unfortunately, sometime last year at home, he ruptured a ligament in his toe. While it doesn’t bother him day-to-day and he’s still sound and physically capable of almost all things, it’s perfectly placed to be the toe that bears the most force and torque during a Flyball box turn. Thus he started avoiding putting his toe on the box, which resulted in an unsafe box turn that is likely to cause him further and more severe injury. After several veterinary consultations and X-raying almost his entire body (he’s in great shape!) we sadly concluded that he will need to retire from Flyball. Since this is his favorite activity ever, it’s broken both our hearts to do this, but we will try to find new hobbies for him (he is signed up for a nosework class next month!)
Huge thanks to all the teams, dogs, handlers, box loaders, and judges who have helped Casper with his Flyball career. These individuals literally number in the thousands so we cannot name them all, but we are grateful to all.