Happy Hurdlers

Introduction

The Happy Hurdlers were formed in July 1987 and are registered as NAFA Team number 030. The first tournament entered was Animal Inn's in June 1988. We are affiliated with C & E Dog Training in Golden Valley, MN. We practice on Saturdays. New dogs are at 3:00 and our regular teams practice at 4:00.

C & E Dog Training Ctr
7600 Wayzata Blvd
Golden Valley, MN 55426
Phone: 763-546-9339
Map

Active Dogs

The current team members are:

Sasha, a Labrador Retriever (FGCH), and Kathryn Hogg
Sasha was born on May 27, 1990, started Flyball training in May 1991, and has been competing since Jan 1992. Sasha is the first member of our team to earn a FM, FMX, FMCH, and ONYX titles.

Points

Buc, a Border Collie (FGDCH), and Marlo & Sandy Johnson
Buc ran in his first tournament in March, 1995.
Points
Maggie, a Shetland Sheepdog (FMX), and Anne Jansen.
Maggie competed in her first tournament in June, 1996.
Points
Tyler, a Labrador Retriever (ONYX), and Shannon Murphy & Jeremy Gleason.
Tyler is a big boy that picked up Flyball pretty fast. He was the fastest Labrador in the single dog racing at the Dynomutts tournament in November, 1997 with a time of 4.98 seconds. Tyler's first tournament was November, 1996.
Points
Meko, an Akita (FDCH)and Ed Pheifer.
Ed is the "E" in C&E. Meko became the first Akita to earn a NAFA title at his first tournament in November, 1997.
Points
Patch, an Australian Shepherd (FMX, and Matt Miller.
Patch was a member of Sudden Impact and after their demise transferred to our team in January, 1998. Matt and Michelle are the proud parents of their 2nd human child Emma who was born on August 10, 1999.
Jack, an Australian Shepherd (FDX), and Gina Guertin.
Jack's first tournament was in September, 1999 at TCOTC.
Rudy, a Toy Fox Terrier (FD), and Nancy Guertin.
Rudy's first tournament was in September, 1999 at TCOTC.

Dixie, a Jack Russell Terrier (FDCH), and Sharon Aizer.
Dixie started racing with us in January 2000.

Yankee, a Jack Russell Terrier (FDCH), and Ron Aizer.
Yankee started racing with us in January 2000.

Skye, a Border Collie (FDCH), and Sandy Johnson
Skye took her time getting ready to race but once she was ready she came out flying!

Points

Coco, a Labrador Retriever (FDCH), and Dan Rode
Coco's first tournament was Jan 12-14, 2001 and she performed almost perfectly. She's a nice looking chocolate lab and was running in the mid 4's even without great turns.

Points

Retired

Shine, a Cocker Spaniel (FDCH), and Mary Thill.
Shine transfered from the Flying Red Rangers in November, 1993.
Points
Teamo, a Golden Retriever (FDCH), and Jim & Linda Griffiths.
Teamo's first tournament was June 29, 1997 at Animal Inn. He ran in half the heats and didn't make a single mistake.
Pumpkin, a Mix (FDCH), and Andria Claude.
Pumpkin is a mix that is "all legs" and she is showing real good potential. Pumpkin's first tournament was November, 1996.
Sprigan, a Border Terrier (FMX), and Al Champlain.
Sprigan began competing in October, 1994 and retired in September, 1999.
Marty, a Jack Russell Terrier (FM), and Tim & Char Chimielewski.
Marty's first tournament was in April, 1996.
Sadie, a mixed breed (FDCH, U-CDX), and Heather Hamiliton
Sadie has been competing since Februrary, 1994.
Haze, a Sheltie (FDCH), and Micheala Rhubee .
Haze competed in his first tournament in February, 1996.
Jake, a Golden Retriever (FDCH), and Steve Gerber.
Jake competed in his first tournament on February, 1996.
Buerkle, a mixed breed (FDCH), and Kathy Bird
Buerkle has been competing since Februrary 1989 and has competed in the Gaines Classic the past few years.
Shadow, a Schnoodle (FDCH), and Ginny Smith
Shadow was a founding member of the team and competed from June, 1988 to June, 1996.
Digby, a Border Terrier (FDX), and Kris Blake
Digby ran in his first tournament in March 1995. I think Kris is the primary person responsible for importing Border Terriers into Minnesota from England.
Sophie, a mixed breed (FDX), and Deb Lynch
Sophie competed in her first tournament in March, 1995.
Mindy, Golden Retriever (FDX), and Ed Pheifer
Ed is the co-owner of C&E Dog Training and Mindy competed from February, 1991 to June, 1996. Sadly, Mindy was diagnosed with cancer in June of 1996. She gave it her all at Animal Inn's tournament to try and get her FDCH but came up a few points short. Mindy passed away in September, 1996.
Mookie, a Golden Retriver (FDCH), and Kenton Anderson
Mookie competed from June 26, 1992 to March, 1996.
Silver, a Sheltie (FDCH), and Sarah St. Denis
Silver has competed from November, 1989 to March, 1996.

Shep, a Border Collie (FDCH), and Teresa Swanson
Shep transfered to our team in Februrary, 1995. Prior to that he was running on Sudden Impact. Teresa is probably the youngest handler in NAFA history. She started running a Sheltie in tournaments we she was 5 years old.

Chelsea, a Golden Retriever (FDCH), and Cheryl Boehme
Chelsea got a late start in Flyball and didn't start competing until November 1993 when she was 9 years old. She competed until February, 1996.
Buffy, a Chesapeake Bay Retriever (FDCH), and Ray Neudauer.
Buffy transfered to our team from Sudden Impact in June, 1995 and competed until February, 1996.
Sophie, a Jack Russel Terrier (FDCH), and Dave Sawyer
Sophie has been competing since June, 1993 but took some time off in summer and fall of 1994 to have a litter of pups. She's our smallest dog (11" at the shoulder) but is still our best height dog with a time usually around 6.5 seconds. Sophie also competes in Jack Russel Terrier Trials.
Scooter, a Jack Russel Terrier (FDCH), and Gerry Schott. Scooter had also been competing since June, 1993. Scooter is also owned by Dave Sawyer but Gerry is Scooter's official handler. Scooter is a right hand lane dog. Whenever he runs in the left lane, he has an uncontrollable urge to visit the other box. Scooter also competes in Jack Russel Terrier Trials.
Topaz, a Papillion (FD), and Diana Sedoruk.
Topaz's had a short career with us. Her first tournament was March, 1995 and her last was June, 1996. It's too bad because she had the potential to be very fast for her size.
Don, a Border Collie (FDCH), and Sandy Swanson
Sandy is Teresa's mom and Don transfered in February, 1995 with Shep. His first tournament with us was at Animal Inn in June, 1995 and he retired after a tournament in March, 1996.
Zak, a Chesapeake Bay Retriever (FDCH), and Laurie With
Zak's first tournament was June, 1991.
King, a Brittany Spaniel (FDX), and Gary Wardell.
King started Flyball when we was pretty old so he had a very short career.
Greg and Bonny Hays
Greg and Bonny have been with the team since 1988 even though none of their 3 dogs have taken to Flyball. Greg is our primary boxloader and Bonnie keeps things running smooth during races, serves as a boxloader when our teams race each other, and serves as a substitute handler during those cases where a dog can make it but the owner can't.

Best Time

On March 19, 2000 we established our current team record with a time of 19.51 seconds. Much credit goes to our new height dogs Dixie and Yankee. The dogs running were Tyler (Lab), Buc (Border Collie), Patch (Australian Shepherd), and Dixie (Jack Russell Terrier).

History

When I joined the Happy Hurdlers in May, 1991, Sasha had just turned one and the team was struggeling to put four solid dogs together. They never traveled to tournaments and for quite a few years only ran in Animal Inn's tournament in June. Shadow and Buerkle were the highest point earners with around 250 points each. When Sasha ran in her first tournament (Jan, 1992), the dogs that ran every heat earned 54 points. The people were ecstatic! That was by far and away the most points ever earned in one day.

A month later at BOTC's tournament we ran a 4 dog team of Buerkle, Shadow, Zak (a Chesapeake, since retired), and Sasha. We ran solid clean 5 point runs and earned 80 points that day. One month later, we ran the same team at TCOTC's tournament and got the first 25 point runs in team history! The dogs earned a whopping 155 points that day. In three tournaments Sasha and Zak earned more points than Buerkle and Shadow did in 4 years! I really have to commend Ginny and Kathy for sticking with it for so long.

After that we were getting to the point we could have another team but it would be really slow. We decided to split up the main dogs to help the other dogs out. That has been our legacy every since. Fortunatly, 4 breed tournaments were getting started and we decided to put together our best team for 4 breeds and split up the fast (for us) dogs on the regular tournaments.

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