An English Shepherd

No flyball this weekend. But some nice hot weather has arrived so there is plenty of time laze around in the garden in the cool shade before a nice evening walk.



Not much happening at the moment



So why do I feel tired?

Just had another good flyball weekend. We were just down the road in Berkshire and the sun came out finally which was very nice.


Fortunately flyball is not just about certain (very quick) dog breeds. Smaller breeds also make great flyball dogs and they lower the height of the jumps which benefits all their teammates.

For the first time on Saturday we ran all the Clubs terriers in the same team. Four Terrier brothers who are 9"/10"height dogs and Chip who is the smallest you can be at 7". But as you will see from this video not the slowest... (Chip is 2nd from last in the race).



And this a picture of the Terrier team, Lightning Ratpack. They got second place in their division which is very impressive.


Me and Dare also got second places in our own divisions and Auntie Breeze got a fourth place.

But flyball tournaments are not just about the racing you also get a chance to chill out and enjoy the scenery, which is very nice in this part of England. The boss thought this view looked a bit like France.


And we even had Red Kites flying overhead which untill recently were almost extinct in the UK but are now making a recovery in England.

With loads of weekend flyball tournaments at the moment its nice just to have a good run out in the park.


Dashing though the long grass is great.


But you can go really fast where its shorter.

Another flyball tournament this weekend this one was in Kent at Capstone Country Park. To say the weather was changeable is a little bit of an understatement!

In the sunshine some more action pictures. This is me at full tilt


and determinedly approaching a jump


On Saturday the others raced. Auntie Breezes team got a 4th place in their Division. Chip and Dare ran in the same team for a change and got a great 1st place in their Division.

My team Lightning Flash ran today and we got a new fastest ever time going sub 19 seconds for the first time with a 18.98 second run in one of our races. We also got a 2nd place in our Division.

In this you tube video of me warming up and racing you can see how changeable the weather was...



And if you missed it in the video this is a picture of how in rained today on and off.


Do you think the drinks can ever ran out in that rain...

We have had a fairly quite week this week after last weekends flyball tournament, just our normal obedience training last night. But we are off again next weekend to another tournament.

So in the meantime I have to keep myself busy in other ways.




Like chewing on one of my toys which avoids being told off for chewing on something less appropriate .



Because how would I like it if Chip chewed on something of mine...

We got back from the weekends camping late yesterday evening. We had two days flyballing in Cambridgeshire at the Just Dogs live Show. We got the big tent out for the first time since last year.



The weather was very nice most of the time and we had a great competition. This is me with my team mates from Lightning Flash on race day.


Obviously had some more action pictures taken of me in full flow.


Apparently it is quite hard to get shots of you in mid flight going over the jumps but we got two from Saturday.


As you know I do get quite excited when waiting to race


And I can get a bit tricky to hold on to.



But I always calm down just before I zoom off fortunately (well about 1 second before...)


We all raced over the weekend, Auntie Breeze and her team got a third place in their division.


But Dares team did the best of all our pack gaining a 1st place in their division which was very impressive.


Chips team got a second place in their division despite the weather getting quite hot on Sunday. He was certainly flying.


The boss also got a nice video of Chip racing with a better camera than we normally use which shows just how fast Chips team were going.





But perhaps best of all I got to meet a reader of this blog who races with Tyne Tailwaggers Flyball Team. She sees my Dad Adam race regularly with his Club and is a Fan of English Shepherds which is obviously very nice of her.


Hopefully we will see her again at the British Championships later in the year.

We just had flyball training this Sunday, no tournaments. But the weather held up again with lots of sunshine so we got some nice action shots.

This is Chip in full flight between jumps, he does lift his legs up nicely.




Auntie Breeze 'blowing in the wind,' she looks like she is enjoying herself.





Dare racing down to the jumps with his team mates watching on.





And on the way back having a sneaky peak over at the other lane.





And of course me waiting to have a go




Going over the jumps



And finally a bit of a creative picture of me with a blurred background to show the speed better.




We are off to another flyball tournament next weekend and we are camping so hopefully the weather will stay fine till then as well.

They have been playing Tennis this week at Wimbledon which is not very far from where we live. As is traditional during Wimbledon week we have had both rain and sun.

So the lawn in our back garden is very ready for a good mow now.



But one hazard of trying to be clever with taking photos is you get spotted by inquisitive onlookers.





Who want to know what you are up to.




Well until they get bored that is!

The summer flowers in our back garden have really started to come out.


Hopefully its a good sign


of lots more sunny weather on the way



As you can see Auntie Breeze seems to enjoy the flowers



Not sure what she sees in them myself.



I prefer to watch out for those pesky birds.