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U-CD CH Crossraguel Exuberant Flyer CD ONYX AKA Flyer
Flyer came from the womb assuming that every human and every animal would like her. She has never understood the concept of fear or nervousness. She likes every sport she's tried, and every place she's been.
On her first try at conformation at 11 months old, with a handler she'd never met before, she took a 3 point major over several polished bitches with professional handlers. She acted like an idiot puppy in the ring, but she looked at the judge and demanded his admiration. We tried agility and she loved it, especially the seesaw. The louder it banged on the ground the more she liked it. (Sadly, her human was not up to the challenge of guiding her around a course, so she never
competed.) She got her Novice obedience titles easily. She acted as demo dog for puppy kindergarten and Basic obedience classes and loved it.
She loved flyball as well - it involved running, jumping, The Most Holy And Precious Tennis Ball, praise, and COOKIES! Starting in May
2005 that was her only sport - her human had a stroke and couldn't stand or walk. She was handled by most of the humans in Flat-Out Flyers for 7 long months until her human could stand long enough to take over. She will happily go anywhere with anybody to do anything - this is NOT a one person dog!
At almost 10 years old, her muzzle is grey, and she tires faster than in her youth, but the spirit and enthusiasm is still there. We're trying to refresh her obedience skills with my new handicaps so that she can compete in Veterans Obedience and Veterans Conformation at future Flat-Coated Retriever National Specialties, and hopefully she'll be running flyball for many more years.
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Crossraguel LicketySplit AKA Giddy
She doesn't do flyball yet because she can't believe that she's worthy of a tennis ball.
Tennis balls belong to other dogs, especially Flyer. | |
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Sunny
DOB: March 13th, 2006
She liked him, they offered her to him, and she came to us, terrified of new people, new dogs, and new places.
She now loves people, but still is wary of dogs. She is struggling to believe that humans want to communicate with her;
the concept of earning cookies still is a struggle for her, but she's trying.
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U-CD Ambersand's Exuberant Sky CD FM
AKA Zubie
U-CD Ambersand's Exuberant Sky CD FM was one of 12 puppies born in snowy Michigan on January 4, 1996. When she was 10 weeks old it finally was warm enough in Detroit to put her on a plane, and she arrived in Houston a few hours later.
The airline staff was glad to be rid of her, as she had been LOUDLY demanding to be released from her crate the entire trip.
Zubie had very definite opinions about everything, and shwe wasn't shy about expressing them. She believed herself to be the owner of all toys in the universe. She adored water, and had to jump into any pond or pool or ocean she saw, regardless of temperature.
She lived to retrieve. She grudgingly tolerated obedience training and showing until she got her Novice titles, and then refused to go on. She loved playing on agility course, but refused to run if she had to follow any course other than her own.
And she adored flyball at first sight.
I called her my Border Collie in a Flat-Coat suit. When we were in the lane, I hung on with both hands and prayed, because she was vibrating with readiness to RUN!
After a wreck on the way to practice, she became afraid of car travel, and eventually she informed me that the even joy of flyball wasn't enough to make up for the trauma of getting there.
She retired in 2002, and went to the Bridge on January 10, 2008 at 12 years and 6 days old.
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Photos by Margaret Bryant, Mark Fletcher, Sterling Photography, +Kyle Lehrman, myself and a host of friends!
This page is a work in progress!
