14.558 secs - New Flyball World Record!

On the 8th December, the Touch N Go team in the US established a new World Record of 14.558 seconds. This is an amazing time and we at the Rooky Racers would like to congratulate them on this fantastic achievement.

Watch the video of their record breaking run here : -

http://www.facebook.com/v/10200216218794577

 

Bob and Lush discount code

 

Just a reminder, the ROOKYRACERS £25 discount code off your first order of Bob and Lush products (with free P&P) is still valid.

Feel free to pass this code among your dog owning friends or at Agility, Obedience, Rally-O and Puppy Training.

This is a quality food and Chewy, my fussy terrier cross, clears the bowl every time (she would not even do that with Orijen !).

And no wonder… most ordinary dog food is low in meat and contains cheap fillers instead.

Bob & Lush make their kibble with 55% duck (and wet food with 70% lamb).

All food is made with no rubbish ingredients;

• no sweeteners,
• no colourings,
• no artificial preservatives,
• no soya,
• no wheat,
• no eggs,
• no dairy.

Go on, give it a try !  (and you can use the code direct, no need to ask Andy !)

Click on the image below or enter http://www.bobandlush.com/ in your web browser.

Old Windsor update

The Rooky Rebounds set off to Old Windsor to compete at an indoor sports hall (over the road from Battersea Dog and Cat Rescue) last Saturday.

We were due to take Radley and Jovi, unfortunately this clashed with an Obedience competition on the same day; this left Ruby (Young), Lacey, Bruiser and Mist, the same 4 dogs that set the new Rebounds seed time of 21.57 at Acremead.

The racing was very close between us, Mad Mutts and Buccaneers… both of these went to 5 races, in the end Rebounds won 2 and lost 2 to come 3rd overall.  (We were seeded 5th).

And also set another new seed time !… 21.37

Andy running Mist managed to tear a hole in his jeans while trying to hold Mist still at the 35’ marker !.

Well done guys girls !

Arden Grange

Discount on all Arden Grange products (including cat food and treats) for Rooky Racers Members and Starters, email Andy@RookyRacers.co.uk with a product you are interested in to get a price:

http://ardengrange.com/index.asp

First order going in on 11th October (Order two 12Kg bags and get a third bag for free).

After then orders will be made on the 1st of every month.

Thanks,

Andy

Movers and Shakers…

Coming to the end of the racing season you would think there would be no more movers and shakers, after all, everyone got their awards during our wet summer !.

Someone obviously forgot to tell Suzie !.

Mist now has 210 points and has made “Flyball Dog” nice going you two

Looking forward to 2013; future shakers will be:

Jovi, on track for Flyball Dog

Juno, on track for Flyball Dog

Harry, on track for Flyball Dog Graduate

Benji, on track for Flyball Dog Graduate

Summer, on track for Flyball Dog Advanced

On a different subject, while reading through some of the dogs history to find our next shakers I was reminded of this….

Shannon and Lacey had their first real race at the 2011 BFA Championships, scored 15 points and spent most of the time not bothering to go over the jumps, at Acremead one month later it was the same and picked up 20 points.

One year later and Lacey is a rock solid Flyball dog and Shannon is confident with the start lights… at Mapledurham Lacey picked up 440 points !.

Just goes to show, with a bit of patience, and keeping up the training, the penny will drop for your dogs.

Movers and Shakers…

 

Two new movers and shakers !.  Points earned at the BFA British Championships:

Sassy the talented human Search and Rescue dog also has a knack for rescuing tennis balls from the clutches of the evil flyball box !.

Congratulations on gaining 3000 points and Flyball Dog Graduate !

Young Ruby has now moved out of starters buy gaining over 200 points to earn her Flyball Dog award.

Who next ?!… well…. it has got to be Mist … she has come along in leaps and bounds and run some great races recently at Mapledurham and also Acremead… I will be keeping an eye out !.

Andy

Free photos !….

I know for a fact Darren has taken lots of RR photos… see if you can find any of your dogs !

Free Flyball photos!

Have we caught your dog racing? Well now you can use our pictures on your Facebook page to show your friends and family how great your dog is!

From today, all photographs of flyball dogs under the Flyball Events section of the Whiskers Pet Photography website are now free for you to download and use on Facebook. To download any image simply use the ‘SHARE’ button which is top right of the photo and select the link for the X-Large image. Open this link, right click and select save.

Tell your flyball friends.

Enjoy!

http://www.whiskerspetphotography.co.uk/flyball-photographer

The Perfect Day - Mapledurham competion

Mapledurham was the perfect setting with perfect weather. All 3 teams (Racers, Raiders and Rebounds) racing on the same day so it was great that everyone was all together and helping each other out.

The Racers were due on first at 08:30 in the cooler temperatures of the morning. With the line-up of Harry, Summer, Darcey and Milly, we knew we had a potential sub-19 second team. all we needed to do was prove it, and prove it we did in the first heat of the first race - 18.81 seconds! We followed that up with an 18.91 seconds. The rest of the mornings racing continued with times in the very low 19 seconds, so it was clear that the dogs and handlers were tiring. However, we won all our races in the morning. In the afternoon, we continued in the same vein, though our times got slightly slower as the heat of the day took its toll. We won all our races with some nail biting finishes to take over 1st position of the Division and the fastest time for the club ever and the fastest time of the day for any of the teams racing. Well done the Racers!

The Raiders performed equally well and really quite surprised us with how quick they went - fastest time of 19.53 - as fast as the Racers have been over the last few months. The combination of Lacey, Alfie, Sassy, Benji and Bruiser - with Nigel as Team Captain making the team decisions - was inspired and again some close and hard fought racing was enjoyed. 4 races wins and a nose-to-nose 5 heat 5th race ensured a well deserved 2nd place overall in the Division

The Rebounds required some tactical racing, with Juno, Ruby, Mist, Chewy, Tosca and Muttley. Patricia and Juno did particularly well to bring the team to some great race wins. Again, the team blew out their seed time to get a fastest time of 22.17 seconds (we actually broke out of the Division time once). Another well deserved 2nd place win for the Rebounds

So, a 1st and two 2nds for the club is probably the best set of results for many a year. Andy and I are still on a high from this competiton :- )

The Coleman event tent once again proved a bonus to keep us all in the shade from the heat of the day.

Acremead competion on the 22nd/23rd with the Racers and Rebounds competing

Mapledurham Comp

 

Camp Rooky is set up… follow us on Twitter for up to the minute results !

Good luck teams !

Andy…

Training this Sunday is ON !!!

10:30 to 11:30… and the sun will be out for a change too !

A dog food offer…

 

This is aimed at people who feed their dogs dry food and purchase what I would class as high end or premium dog food (Arden Grange, Burns, James Wellbeloved, Royal Canin, Orijen etc…. but read to the end):

I will have some free samples available of the following:

http://www.bobandlush.com/

I have Adult and Puppy Samples that contain:

100g of Bob & Lush Premium Duck Kibble with Potatoes & Peas

100g of Bob & Lush Premium Lamb Wet Food with Carrots

A taster pouch of our Seriously Tasty Duck Breasts (Treats)

A £25 off voucher for your first order

If your dog likes the food P&P is free if you decide to purchase 15Kg; with the £25 voucher this brings the price down to £45.

Should we have at least two team members interested in buying this product on a regular basis I will see if we can keep ordering the food at £45 (breeders price).

Obviously spending £45 is not an option for everyone … so here are my budget tips !

____________________________________________________________________

Remember, as a Rooky Racers member / starter, the following can all be purchased from Petfayre with a 10% discount in store (or free delivery to training by me).

____________________________________________________________________

1) If you feed Pedigree or Bakers but want a better but cheaper food - buy 15Kg of Chudleys Performance.

2) If you feed Pedigree or Bakers but want a better food, or wheat free, or containing joint care etc. for the same price check out Skinners Field and Trial http://www.skinnerspetfoods.co.uk/products/Field---Trial-Products/  Different products offer different things… and yes you can order VAT free working dog food !

3) If you really cannot be bothered with Petfayre or Internet shopping then the following is available from all the supermarkets … switch to Harringtons   http://www.harringtonspetfood.com/content/UK

Some members feed CSJ which is an art to track down, but is normally available for delivery to any Flyball competition, ask Chris about this food… it is not expensive, but can be a bit like Marmite for dogs, my two and Alfie can’t stand it, but Milly, Tosca and Sassy love it !.

And if we have any members who feed BARF (Bones And Raw Food) I would love to know how the prices stack up !

Andy

How not to do a cross over…

… training last Saturday !….

Rooky Racers Cross Overs

Training next weekend 8th / 9th

Hello,

As all 3 teams will be racing at Mapledurham on Saturday 8th there will be no training on Saturday.

However,

I am willing to set up and run one lane on Sunday at 10:30 .... open for all dogs at all levels, will play it by ear... but could last up to an hour depending on how the session goes.

Let me know if you are interested ... if I get 4 or more dogs wanting to train then I will run this.

Cheers,

Andy@RookyRacers.co.uk

British Flyball Championships 2012

I could write a small book about this years BFA Championships, but I wont !.

Be assured it was full of drama, tension, despair, delight, (anger lol !).

It was also the Rooky Racers best outings at the Champs.

272 teams 45 Divisions and 3 days of racing in 4 rings… the event is huge !.

Rebounds and Raiders both seeded 4 got 3rd, a great result for both teams.

Racers seeded 2nd produced the sort of drama that movies are made from… talk about doing things the hard way :-)    …. but it was worth it in the end with 5 very close hard fought wins out of 5 !!!…. winners of Division 22 with the fastest time of 19:34.

Well done Jordan with Benji, Val with Harry, Chris with Milly, Nigel with Alfie and of course Diane our glamorous box loader …  

British Flyball Championships 2012

 

The Rooky Racers have all 3 teams entered, and for once I am not going to make predictions … The Champs are just tooooooo difficult to predict !

Link to the weekend racing - http://www.flyball.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1799

Link to welcome pack - http://www.flyball.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1802

The Rebounds race on Friday, Racers and Raiders on Saturday.

Ring party on Saturday.

Good luck all,

Andy  ( I will be tweeting results over the weekend #@rookyracers)

(oh okay, I am quietly optimistic for 2 of our teams )

September comps… Dog names please :-)

Hello,

Just to let you know I will be sorting out entering the Rooky Racers teams into the last few competitions of the year.

We have two competitions in September:

Barkshire Bandits Limited Open tournament on 8th and 9th September 2012 at Mapledurham House, Reading, Berkshire
And
Mad Mutts Limited Open tournament on 22nd and 23rd September 2012 at Acremead Kennels, Drayton, Abingdon, Oxfordshire,

We have three teams already entered for Mapledurham, just need dogs to fill them !, please let me know if you want to race on that weekend.

IMPORTANT !!!!

I need to know by 8pm on Tuesday 14th August if you want to race at Acremead, I will only enter a team if there are enough dogs to make one up.

One other thing, if you put your name down to compete can you pay me your £5 in advance at one of the Saturday training sessions please.

Many thanks,

Andy

BFA Champs 2012 tops….

… order here …

http://www.itsaboutsport.co.uk/products.asp?cat_code=100&subcat_code=797

Winter Racing…

… in the “old days” you stopped doing Flyball racing through the winter months unless you wanted to travel miles to Kent or South Yorkshire.

Now things are (still not great but) getting much better.

We have the chance to compete in November, January and March… after then the full racing season kicks into gear.

Stick a date in your diary, although we don’t train in December or January we will be wanting to enter a team or two for the following in door comp:

January 5th, 2013

To be held at Bracknell Leisure Centre, Berkshire RG12 9SE over 2 days

Hosted by Dream Team

Need to blow away those Christmas break cobwebs and burn off all the mince pies and alcohol consumed !.

I will be contacting you before entry opens to gauge interest !.

Andy

Acremead points are up…

… no movers or shakers, just a solid points haul from most dogs.

Ruby (Young) and Mist are now over half way to getting their Flyball Dog awards.

Stockbridge points next…. but the next awards should come after the Champs points come in.

Andy

Easipetcare offer for RR Team Members and Starters

 

Easipetcare are offering 10% off all products and services to RR Members and Starters (not just for dogs !)

They are based in Woodley:

106 Crockhamwell Road
Woodley
Reading
RG5 3JY
Next door to Woodley Waitrose!

01189 699 526
reading@easipetcare.com

http://reading.easipetcare.com/

I know two people use them and think they are great …

Andy

Stockbridge, clouds and silver linings…

The Rebounds and Racers went off to Stockbridge.

Chewy, Muttley, Juno, Ozzy, Tosca in the Rebounds

Milly, Harry, Benji, Alfie, Summer in the Racers

Rebounds raced on Saturday and had a torrid time, finally getting a running order that worked in the afternoon.

Won 3, lost 2 and came 3rd overall … so not a bad result considering we were seeded last, we even beat the Dons !

The Dons	243	22.01
Essex Extras	229B	22.24
Shooting Star Rebels	001D	22.82
Fantastic 4 Fire Balls	214C	22.99
Buccaroos	025B	23.51
Rooky Rebounds	202B	23.69

We had problems with the box triggering, but after speaking with Delta Flyball team, who have the same box as us, we have made a few adjustments … should be running sweet as a nut at the champs for low hitting dogs like Tosca and Lacey.

Sunday was much better, Summer, Alfie, Harry and Benji doing the most of the racing, set a great time of 19.26.

Seeded forth in tough division

Kennet Specials	198K	19.64
Lightning Hurricanes	217N	19.70
Up and Running Ricochets	289A	19.83
Rooky Racers	202	19.94
Up and Running	289	20.02
Essex Express	229A	20.13

But came first after winning 5 out of 5 !, great result!… just need to do that at the Champs in two weeks time !

Andy

Cheap Wormer, be quick !

Just ordered these for my dogs:


Plerion Chewable Tablets [ 10mg single tablet ] at www.bestpet.co.uk


But it is 50% off all Plerion products at the moment.


Enter 10BESTPET10 before the end of Tuesday 31st and get an extra 10% off.


So just ordered 25 tablets for £15.26, with free 1st class P&P !


Or... for a laugh you could buy the same tablets from PetsAtHome for £112.25 ! ... honest, go on line and have a go :-)


Andy

Rooky Racers Skitttles night

On Saturday 21st July, Berkshires finest flyball and skittles players lined up at the Jack O Newbury pub in Binfield for a fun  night of food, drink and the world play-off of skittles.

With our own separate bar and food laid on, we were set for a great night.

3 teams of  6 were selected and each team played 6 legs of 3 bowls each against the other.

After much hilarity, and some spectacular googlies by some, the final results were:

Team Banoffee Sundae - 7.5 points - 1st place
Team Bantam Bees - 6.5 points - 2nd place
Team Wiggly Bums - 5.5 points - 3rd place

Here are these world class players in action  ;-)   :-

Pictures from Acremead

 

http://www.whiskerspetphotography.co.uk/rooky_racers_flyball/h20802058#h2d456103

Barbury Castle Points are in… Movers and Shakers

We had the Raiders and Racers running at Barbury.

Not quiet the country show I was hoping for …  but my wife was addicted to the cross country horse trials … I have a feeling that we might return next year !

First some big news …

Alfie gained his Flyball Dog Advance award at Barbury (5000 points)… and although we have dogs in the team with more points, these were built up with different teams… Alfie is our first real Rooky Racer, he has been with the team from the start and is our first dog to get FDA !… nice going Nigel, Diane and Alfie !

Then…. (28th April 2009)…Can you spot him ?!

Now !

Other movers and shakers…

Harry gets Flyball Dog Intermediate (1000 points) good work Val and Harry !

Sassy is now within 35 points of getting Flyball Dog Graduate (3000 points).

Another Joint Care + Trial BE QUICK !

 

https://www.facebook.com/wearefordogs/app_262309210524511

Well worth giving it a go if your dog is aged 6 plus or has stiff joints !

Stagbar and Pedigree Joint Care+ update

Okay, I now have enough people to make another bulk order of Puredog Stagbars … they should be with me for next weekend.

In addition both Muttley and Benji have been trialling Pedigree Joint Care+ with some really good results. 

http://uk.pedigree.com/jointcare/

With the teams good relationship with our local pet shop (petfayre-reading.co.uk) we can get a box of 21 bars for £7 or 63 bars for £20, which is cheaper than on line or in the shops (rrp = £7.99… which is what you pay in Tesco, Sainsburys etc.)

If you want any let me know and I can bring these to the next training session.

It is also a good time to remind all members of the team, we get 10% off EVERYTHING* at Petfayre … and if you live to far away but want something let me know, i’ll pick it up and bring it to training… you can pay me then.

(* If you want something not on the website just ask !, they can get stuff for all pets, including horses !… go on, help support local business !).

Cheers,

Andy (andy@rookyracers.co.uk)

Snowball Farm Points in… Movers and Shakers !

I missed this one !….

Sherry running Maya scores a massive 90 points and Maya gets FLYBALL DOG ! (that’s it Colin, you are demoted to ball collector lol !)  well done !.

Juno opens their points haul with a respectable 65 points.

Another one I missed… Darcy gets FLYBALL DOG INTERMEDIATE (I think Darcy is one of our fastest points earners to date… to get FDI after 4 races is great going… a big thanks to all Darcy’s team mates who helped contribute to this)

As predicted Summer gets FLYBALL DOG GRADUATE, Lacey gets FLYBALL DOG INTERMEDIATE, Radley gets FLYBALL DOG.  Well done all !

Looks like the next dog to pick up an award will be Sassy aiming for Flyball Dog Graduate … just need a good run at Barbury Castle next Sunday.

Just a reminder, anyone who wants to compete at Barbury on Sunday let me know, you get free entry to the Country show and Horse Trials.

AND

It is the first time ever that the Racers and Raiders are going to race each other in the same division… no pressure Chris but us Raiders are going to kick Racers butt

Andy

Dogs Wanted !!!

 

We need some more dogs to race at Barbury (Should be Sunday 1st July).

Don't forget you also get free entry to the horse trials and country show !

http://www.barburyhorsetrials.co.uk/?content=spectator&id=wiltshire-county-show

Although the Racers and Raiders are entered any BFA dog is welcome !

Also,

If anyone wants to do STARTERS at Acremead (Acremead Kennels, Drayton, Abingdon, Oxfordshire OX14 4EZ) let Chris or I know.

We also need to know which dogs can make this weekend for open racing (and this is the weekend we do our fete demo in Ascot if you want to take your dog to that… Chris has the details for that).

Raiders and Rebounds entered but we will run any dog that wants to race.

Cheers,

Andy@rookyracers.co.uk

Points update, Acremead and Wokingham

Points have only gone up for the Racers and Raiders, we will chase the BFA for Rebounds on Sunday if they are still not up... Movers & Shakers !

• Alfie - 4600 points, and after last weekends racing is now within licking distance of gaining Flyball Dog Advanced!
• Summer - 2840 points, and after last weekends racing will get Flyball Dog Graduate ! (Nice going Summer !) 
• Lacey - 940 points, and again after last weekend will make Flyball Dog Intermediate ! (Go Lacey and Shannon !). 
• Radley - 255 points, that's it Radley, you have made the rank of Flyball Dog !, no going back to starters for you... 

Well done :-)
Andy

Snowball Farm the results

so I got it half right….

Raiders first with a new seed time of 20.05

Rebounds get…. 2nd (!)

Maya doubled her points, almost at Flyball Dog.

On on a different subject… Benji’s owner Jordan parks his car forward just a bit too far forward at Flyball training today : )

Andy

Andy Predicts...

... Results for Saturdays Lightening Strikes Racing Comp .... My predictions for tomorrow... assuming the Kennets declared time is optimistic... Raiders 1st and Rebounds 5th might even get 4th :-) Maya gets enough points for Flyball Dog ... Check back to see how we do, or follow us on Twitter for live updates :-)

Photos from Cantely Park

 

Some great photo’s from Darren again.

Note he is now making a small £1.99 charge for High Res royalty free photos (plus other options)… which is a bargain for animal photos !

http://www.whiskerspetphotography.co.uk/rookieracersflyball/h1b1c4911#h1b1c4911

Wokingham Comp pics

Check them out here!

http://www.whiskerspetphotography.co.uk/rookieracersflyball

Acremead Points are in !

 

Acremead points now up...

• Benji gets Flyball Dog Intermediate… Nice going Jordan
• Bruiser (yes, I said Bruiser !) gets Flyball Dog Intermediate... im so chuffed for you Suzie :-) 

Other interesting points...

• Darcy is on 630 points after only 3 outings... wow !
• Mist improves on her points by 100%... now has 20 :-)

Well done all !

Andy

Frogmore Points are in !!!

Movers and shakers !

Darcy = Gets “Flyball Dog” nice going Darcy.

Harry = Gets “Flyball Dog” Yay !… well done Val !

Toby = Gets “Flyball Dog”… a big cheer from all your fellow rebound team members… we want some of your home brew to celebrate !

Benji = Gets 285 points… and is only 55 points off “Flyball Dog Intermediate” !

Maya = Up to 85 points now

Riley = Up to 95 points now

Nice going all !

Acremead April Photos…

…Taken by Darren Bull (www.http://www.darrenbull.com/) he will be at Acremead again in May.

If you want any type of photo taken at Acremead don’t be afraid to ask as he is good friends with Chris and I.  (He does not charge for Photos, but does like a good beer if you feel like giving him something !).

I have the full high resolution shots of the following if you want any, just ask.

Andy

		Acremead April 2012 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL