Swamp Vision

Today we went to Dianne's house for the long awaited visor decorating. We sat there talking for almost 2 hours before we ever got started. Our time management skills are seriously lacking. As usual, we had a great time and everyone's visors look fantastic.

Pirate Invation at IPOC

This tournament certainly had it's ups and downs. We did really well on Saturday. We ran with Tico from Waverunners and Flash from PCP. We got lots of 25 point runs and finally moved up one spot in our division, coming in 5th out of 6 teams. Sunday, however, was a complete mess. Due to circumstances beyond our control, our line up fell apart and we had to try and pick up the pieces. This was the closest we have ever come to not being able to finish all of our races. But we pulled together as a team and made it through to the end. The last race of the day on Sunday was the highlight of the entire weekend. We ran Coder as the start dog. This is a very difficult position. Coder is a totally green dog and Deanna has no experience with the lights. Yet the two of them were able to pull it off and we finished 2 of the 4 heats. It was a great finish to a really stressful day.
Titles:
Nybble - FDCH
Coder - FDX
Sassy - FDX

Deland Tournament

Swamp Dogs rocked Deland coming in last place BOTH days in open division. GO TEAM! Even though our placement was the same, we made a huge improvement over last time. This time we made several 25 point runs. We successfully debuted 3 very green dogs. Coder and Sassy were able to run races and Angie is almost there. Our crating area was beautifully decorated and the talk of the entire building. We had people stopping by to look at it like it was some kind of tourist attraction.

Titles:

Xena - FDCH Silver

Nybble - FDX

Sassy - FD

Coder - FD

IPOC Practice

Tonight we went to Lakeland for our last practice before the tournament. All the dogs rocked! They were all able to practice beside the FAX dogs with no lane crossing issues. We are ready for Deland.

Swamp Dogs Hit the Road

Jo from Waverunners graciously invited us to practice at her house in Ocala. It was a long drive but well worth the trip. We got the rare chance to practice full lanes with unfamiliar dogs. All of our dogs did very well but the real stand-outs were Angie and George. Angie has never once run a full lane and she was able to do it there over and over beautifully. And George was more focused than he has ever been in such a chaotic environment. But never mind the dogs, the greatest accomplishment of the day was that we finally got our team photo taken!

Most Awesome Gift Exchange Extravaganza

This afternoon, we all gathered together for our official Swamp Dog Christmas party. Yet another fabulous party hosted by Shawn and arranged by Melanie. Melanie found a very cute website (http://www.elfster.com/) that allows you to draw names and make wish lists on-line. We had the best secret santa gift exchange in history because we all know each other so well. Everyone gave and received a wonderful gift. Dianne provided an amazing food platter from Too Jay's that even included salad and desert. Dianne and Melanie also provided some very cute party favors. As part of the festivies, we all got to see the video of our first tournament on Shawn's enormous TV. Our team color were blinding on that huge screen.

Jump Building

Jump building was a blast and quite productive. Deanna did a great job cutting out the jumps ahead of time, thanks Deanna. We all worked so well together. Kimberly and Deanna paired up and did the cutting. Dianne and I did the sanding. Women and power tools, you gotta love it.

Our First Tournament Tropic VIII

Wow! What a great weekend. Our first tournament went incredibly well. The tournament was hosted by Waverunners and held at IPOC in Lakeland. Our line-up consisted of Rosie, Nybble, Xena, George and 2 Waverunner dogs, Ayla and Lucy. In our very first race, we ran Nybble and Xena together, 2 height dogs in the same line-up.....too funny. We finished 3 of the 5 heats and got 10 points. We ran a total of 5 races and in all of the races, we got more finishes than no finishes. We didn't get any 25 point runs but we came very close in our very last race. We didn't have anyone writing down times so it's hard to say how many points we got. Xena may or may not have gotten a title and Rosie most likely did get a title. We came in last place in Open division but it was a huge success that we were able to make it through all of our races. And we definately improved each time we got on the lanes. If we did this good our first time out, who knows what we can do in January. Look out Deland, here come the Swamp Dogs!

Our First Demo

Our first demo got off to a rocky start. It was on a dirt road that had not been recently graded. Kimberly was the first to get there and realize that unless you had a 4-wheel drive, you would not be driving on this road. She was able to warn the rest of us not to get stuck like she did but then we had to figure out how to get Dianne and the equipment up this rather steep hill. A very nice passer-by in a 4X4 offered to give Dianne and our stuff a ride up. After convincing Dianne that we were not going to leave her on the top of the hill and that we would find a way for her to get down, she agreed to accept the offer. The rest of us took the dogs and walked up the hill. After that, the demo went pretty well. Krissy was there racing with Molly and she ran line-ups with us. Molly and Xena did great. Rosie was having a hard time using PVC jumps for the first time and Nybble the Diva thought it was much too hot to run a full lane. We had a great time and we were invited to come back and use the property any time.

Bag Decorating

Oh boy, this was so much fun. Five hours of team colors bag decorating at Shawn's house.

Wiggle Waggle Walk

We used this event as a training exercise for our "socially challenged" dogs. Instead of participating in the walk, we found a nice shady spot and practiced remaining calm while dogs, strollers and scary men in hats went by. Angie and Jasmine did great. However, Xena was bored out of her mind.

BBQ

This weekend we had a Barbecue over at Dianne's house. The plan was to cook-out, eat and then play video games. But after 4 hours of talking, laughing and eating, it was time to go home and not one video game got played. The husbands did an great job on grill duty and the food was delicious. Baby Lara was an angel at her first club activity.

Finding the Perfect Gator

After searching through hundreds of gators, it looks like Dianne has found the perfect one for our logo.

Today is Baby Day

Deanna will be having her C Section this afternoon. We already know the baby is a girl. Welcome to the world baby Lara!

New Team Colors

Dianne has decided to eliminate the orange from our team colors and add hot pink. This will give us the ability to flip flop the colors of our shirts without duplicating the color of another team (Sundogs, who are orange). As an added benefit, lime green and hot pink are a very popular color combination so the possibilities of finding things in our team colors will be endless.

Surgery Update

The surgery went well and Dianne is expected home in the next few days. Hopefully, she will be up for having visitors soon.

Surgery Day

We are all thinking about Dianne today, hoping the surgery goes well, and wishing her a speedy recovery.

First Club Activity

This morning we had our first ever club activity. We all met up at Dianne's house at 9 am. It wasn't easy getting there on time after staying at Shawn's house so late. From Dianne's house we went over to the SCC campus for a packing/carting exercise. The idea was to get the dogs familiar with each other while walking in a group. We gave the dogs a job to do like carrying a backpack or pulling something so that they focused on their job instead of each other. It worked great! We took a little break in a shaded breeze-way and did a ball retrieve exercise. All of the dogs were successful. After the walk, we headed back to Dianne's house for some flyball practice. All of the dogs were able to accomplish more than we had anticipated. It was very exciting and rewarding to see.

Card Party

Tonight we had a card party at Shawn's house. It was a blast! Melanie was in charge of providing the food. She got some great stuff from Publix, lots of choices (lesson learned: don't bother getting baked chicken if you are also getting fried chicken). The best thing was a very cool cake with the team colors. Shawn's Whippet George provided some hilarious entertainment showing us that he can zoom around the house at the speed of light. Dianne had to leave after we ate, as her in-laws are in town. The rest of us attempted to play Uno but we were talking so much that none of us were really able to keep up with the game. Shawn mysteriously won almost every hand. Her husband informed us that she likes the cheat at cards ....Hmmm.... Before we knew it, it was 11:30 and we decided to leave poor Shawn alone and go home.

Team Members

Dianne's surgery has been confirmed for Sept. 10th and it looks like Deanna will be having a C-Section. We will definitely be having a break in the action while they recover.

First Team Meeting

After much excitement and anticipation, today was our first team meeting (even though it has actually only been 5 days since we became official). We met at the Central Florida Fairgrounds just in time to catch the end of DOCOF. Then it was off to Olive Garden. There is still a lot of uncertainty about how and when things will happen but a there is a tentative plan to run in Open Class with another team in November and then run as Swamp Dogs in January. Some of us will be going to the September tournament to gather information about captain duties.

Suggestion for Club Activity

Melanie found a great club activity http://www.showcaseofcitrus.com/ecotour.asp

It's a monster truck swamp tour. We have to wait until we get our shirts so we can get our picture taken on this thing.

More Colors

At first it was suggested that we use a rainbow as the secondary colors. However, this would be expensive and difficult to execute since screen printing is priced per color. Dianne found the inspiration for the secondary colors in some curly ribbon that she saw at Target. The secondary colors are orange and purple.

It's Official!

After many funny suggestions for names, we have decided on a name, Swamp Dogs for the flyball team and Swamp Dog Canine Sports for the club name. When we get enough dogs to run 2 teams, the proposed names are Gators and Squeeters. The primary team color will be apple/lime green, secondary colors TBA. The proposed team logo will be a dog on an airboat. Dianne suggested that we take a team photo on an airboat http://www.orlandoairboatrides.com/ The yahoo group has been formed and now has 5 members. It's been a very exciting day.
And......

Converse makes lime green shoes