by Bev Eitner
posted June 29, 2009
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His story begins with a picture on petfinder.com, placed there by a rescue group in North Georgia. I am one of the owners of Play Dog Excellent, and I was looking for a height dog for the Chattanooga Chomp Flyball Team. Small dogs are highly prized in flyball, since the shortest dog sets the jump height for the entire 4-dog team. The lower the jumps, the faster the run, the greater the glory.
Despite this rocky beginning, PDQ was easy to fall in love with; big brown eyes, perky little ears, fast long legs and an indomitable spirit of joi de vivre. After many training classes it was clear that he was a smart, if stubborn little dog. It took about six months to get him fully trained as an anchor dog for the flyball team. Once he was ready to compete, PDQ was the catalyst that boosted the Chattanooga Chomp Flyball Club from a small and struggling group to one of the largest teams in the region, with multiple Champions and Masters. His contributions have opened the way for 24 other dogs and their handlers to have a blast traveling around the southeast in pursuit of faster runs, tighter passes, and better desserts.
Flyball is a performance team sport, with four dogs comprising a team. The dogs jump over four hurdles, hit a box which throws out a tennis ball, catching the ball in their mouths, jumping back over the four jumps and passing the next dog in line for the heat. It’s very loud, extremely exciting and a high energy sport.
On June 14 in Nashville, PDQ, with the help of his teammates, earned his Flyball Onyx award when he accumulated 20,000 points. For perspective, a fast and clean run is worth 25 points, and it takes a whole lot going right to get four dogs down and back under time and without errors.
A triumphant terrier indeed.
Bev Eitner
be@pdxdogs.com
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