2 more X members!!

Okay so I have to apologize for being a lazy blogger. It's harder than it looks, to keep up a blog! Now I have more sympathy for all the blogs I like to read that take forever to get updated. :-)

Tactic joined the X family about a month ago. Tactic is owned and loved by Gina Malizia. He is a crazy little mix who is already doing box turns off people. No one has zoomies quite as exciting as Tactic. He comes from Blue Cedar Sport Dogs. We can't thank Tooie and Ian enough for such a cute spunky little guy!
Our latest addition is Blackie!!! Okay, so his name is not really Blackie, but we called him that for so long that it's hard to not call him that now. :-) Nicole couldn't decide on a name so we called him Blackie until she settled on the name Vibe. Vibe was bred by Crystal Cappel. He is out of Hatter, who is Crystal's heart dog, and Riddle who belongs to Ashley Hilliker of Offspring Border Collies. Thank you Crystal and Ashley for this wonderful little boy. Vibe is a border collie so of course he is perfect in every way. :-)
Having three young pups on the team that are relatively the same age has been so much fun! I'm looking forward to sharing training videos as these young pups progress in their training. Right now they are all concentrating on their tugging. Right now the tug is the end all be all. They are also learning the touch stick and learning to work with distractions. Let the games begin!

Introducing the newest member of X Flyball Team!

Our newest member of X Flyball is HNH Extreme Flip Flop, Teva. She is a very cute split face, black and white Border Collie. She hails from Painted Star Farm and was bred by Bonnie Klonowski. Teva's mother is HNH Blue Porsche and father is Tripp from Power Tripp Border Collies.
I met Teva yesterday and was very impressed with this little girl. She is full of spunk and determination. She tugs like a little hellion. Holds on with all her might even through lots of distractions. She tugged with me, a stranger she just met while her mama walking by her several times and she also held on while her BC brother walked by. That's a lot to ask of a 7 week old pup! But she did it naturally and with ease. I loved that she liked to bring the tug back to me. When I let go of the tug she brought it right back for more tugging. We have high hopes for the newest and littlest team member of X. Congratulations Kathy on your new baby girl! Thank you Bonnie for an X-tremely talented little pup!

So what does X do with puppies? We start their training right away of course. Stay tuned for training updates! Here is a little video of her tugging. We have a lot planned for this littler girl. :-)

Lots of X-citment for our green dogs!

There has been a ton of X-citing things going on with X. Since we are a small team we are not able to practice on a regular basis. We don't always have access to do full course work. If you are in the same situation do not worry! We have found that when we switch up our training from week to week it's a lot of fun. We have fun and the dogs don't get bored. Here are a few things that we do. We try and do box work once or twice a week. Then on either Saturday or Sunday we try and do some kind of jump training. Lots of chase recalls and power jumping going over more then four jumps. It's great for conditioning and it's also great to get the dog's jumping rhythm down. Allowing you to make sure that the dog is taking off at the right place etc. If we do our power jumping on Saturday then on Sunday we try and do something really fun to help with conditioning. Like hiking or just a fun romp at the park. We fit in full course work when we can (again, thank you FNA for allowing us to practice with you guys!!) but we have found that with all the other little things that we do in between has really helped progress the dogs faster in their full course work.

Anyways, on the the fun stuff! Our green dogs have been having a blast lately. I will try and give you a brief update on how they are doing.

Stare is our resident Border/Whippet cross. We like to call him Stare Bear, he is all hugs and kisses. He is intense like a Border Collie and has the speed of a Whippet. Stare ran the full course for the first time last Friday. Since we don't always have access to full course work we broke down all the steps for Stare before putting it together on the course last Friday. He did not let us down. He ran clean, held his box turn, held his ball and fired out one hell of a return! We are also very X-cited that our new three stride technique worked. Good boy Stare!




Dragon is the coolest Whippet ever! Everyone that meets him will agree with me. He is a lean red racing machine who has springs for legs! You can just tell this dog has heart. I have been calling him Whippet Boy Wonder since he was a pup and he sure lives up to his nick name. He tugs like a beast and does whatever you ask of him with enthusiasm and of course tons of heart. He went over jumps for the first time this weekend and blew us all away. We were all amazed with his grace and speed. He literally blew Nicole away. She was the one letting go of him and she got a face full of dirt and grass! Way to go WBW!!




Drastic the Maligator is doing great with her conditioning. With her wall work and jump work she will be back in action in no time. She is getting stronger and stronger each practice. We will start box work with her very soon. Can't wait to see this crazy girl back in the lanes. Her striding looks fantastic over the jumps. Drastic is such a "sweet" girl!




Psycho my red merle boy is very much enjoying himself and I am having a blast running him. He is getting more confident each time he hits the course. Seems like when you are starting a new dog there is so much to worry about. Like striding, rotation, take off, ball holding, that you sometimes forget to just enjoy the partnership that you have with your dog. Each time I work Psycho or any of my dogs for that matter I try to remind myself that we play flyball to have fun with our dogs. Keep it positive and fun. Psycho ran the full course with another dog in the other lane for the first time this weekend. From the video you can just see how much fun he is having. It really makes me smile. :-)



It's 2010 and we are X-cited for what the new year will bring to our new team.

Merry Xmas to all from X Flyball.

X Flyball would like to wish everyone a Happy Holiday and a very Merry X-mas! We are looking forward to what the new year will bring and can't wait to get back in the racing lanes.

We would like to send a special thank you to Fly'N Aces for allowing us to practice with them last Friday. They have an excellent indoor facility, people were awesome and super nice and it was just a good time all around. Our dogs have not had full course work practice since mid October so it was a rush to get them back in the lanes.

Psycho ran the full course and carried his ball all the way for the first time. Stare worked on two jumps box and holding his ball. Truce and Tripp worked on their passing. All the dogs did great and we really appreciated all the help that we got from FNA.


Fly'N Aces is hosting their First Annual Need for Speed Tournament on April 24-25. It's going to be right here in Veags at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The location is great and the weather will be excellent in April. We hope everyone can make it out here to support Fly'N Aces very first tournament. We are so thankful to teams that are hosting local tournaments right in our backyard.

Happy Holidays from X! See you in the racing lanes soon!

Drastic is back!

Drastic is a super crazy Maligator who belongs to Nicole. She is seriously whacked in the head. She has so much drive in her little Mal body I don't think her head knows what to do with it. Of course Nicole thinks she is the sweetest little thing. We just amuse her and agree along with her. Even though we all think she is a real alligator! Snap snap snap, that is what she sounds like and we all fear holding her, in fear of losing a finger or two.

A few months ago Drastic acquired a soft tissue injury. Nothing could really hold this dog down and I don't thinks its possible that she actually feels pain. The only thing that Nicole noticed was a slight limp after strenious activity. She crate rested her for a few weeks and the limp came back. So after multiple vet visits, lots of rehab and many months off. Drastic is finally making her way back into her flyball training.

Drastic sure did come back with a bang! Last night was her first night back to practice and she is as whacked out as every. The months of rehab have made her stronger and more aware of her body. Nicole only did some wall with her inorder to get her back into form for the box but damn was she on fire. Posted is a short clip of Drastic doing her wall work. We are so happy that Drastic is feeling better and can't wait to get her racing again!

Godspeed Olé

Some friends of ours lost a very special dog this weekend. Bo-Tyne Olé was a beautiful little girl with a stunning split face. Nicole was drawn to this dog before even meeting her and after meeting her was so excited to be on the list for an Olé puppy. Nicole was suppose to get a puppy from the litter that was lost with the tragic passing of this beautiful little girl. We are saddened by the loss of a puppy who was not born yet. We can't even begin to imagine what Lisa, Mary, Robbie, Sonya and Jessica are going through. Our hearts go out to you guys. X Flyball is sending prayers your way.

Every passing of a dog is tragic and it just makes you realize how short the time is that we have with these precious souls that bring so much joy into our lives. Please give all your dogs an extra hug today and let them know how much you appreciate them.

Godspeed little girl...