Flyball Heaven

Flyball Heaven is a wonderful place for our dogs to go when they leave us. It's a place where dogs may run as many races as they want, the jumps are always low, they never drop their balls, and they always win.

1996 - 2013

We adopted Tools from the Washington City animal shelter on October 22, 1996. The staff thought she was the last one in the litter and they couldn’t find a home for her.  They suspected that she was 4 months old because she still had her canine teeth but had lost a few milk teeth.  I will never forget the first night we brought her home. We really didn’t know what we just got ourselves into!  Thanks to Deb Noxon, we got Tools enrolled in Carol O’Connor’s puppy class. I don’t think they knew it at the time, but they triggered an obsession in me to train her to do everything I could.

Tools was THE SMARTEST DOG I have ever trained!!! The only one that has come even close to her is Zurg (almost 16 ½ years later). Tools knew a lot of dog tricks. Every time we entered in a local pet contest we took home the best pet trick. April 1999 Tools and I earned her AKC – CD obedience title and CGC. I tried to get her Open obedience title but she wouldn’t stay still long enough to qualify.  All she wanted to do was run, play fetch and shred up toys. Andy and my arms would get so sore from hours and hours of throwing tennis balls. Thank goodness for the invention of the Chuckit!

When I was at an obedience fun match in Vegas, I mention that I saw flyball on TV. I thought Tools would be good at it and would enjoy it too. I was told about a flyball team in Vegas that was willing to help me train her. So I drove to Vegas every chance I could. That drove Andy crazy! About the same time I started to play around with agility also.  St. George didn’t offer any flyball or agility, so I made Andy make us some equipment to play on. One day, while Andy was outside painting equipment, I let Tools out. She went over and stepped on all the freshly painted equipment and make blue paw prints all over the drive way. Andy was SO mad, but Of course I loved it!

On October 30, 1999 Tools was the first dog in Utah to play and earn a flyball (NAFA) title. It was at the 4th Annual Jumps N Jackpots tournament hosted by Touch N Go. On March 26, 2000 Tools was the first dog in Southern Utah to earn agility title. Tools and I played and earned a lot of titles under a lot of different organization. She played a HUGE role in Stampede’s earlier records. She help Stampede go from 21.15 to 19.54. She also had a self taught box turn, when four foot box turn where not trained.  Sadly her career ended when she developed an ear infection that we could not it clear up all the way (to bad I didn’t discover raw food earlier). She spent her retirement years helping me train younger dog, and being a good companion! Tools passed away on October 12, 2013 at the age 17+ years.  There will never be another dog like her again, she will be dearly missed.

Titles Earned by Tools

AKC – CGC, CD, NA, NAJ, OA, OAJ, AX, AXJ, MX, MXJ
NAFA – FD, FDX, FDCH (S &G), FM, FMX
NADAC – NAC, NJC, OAC, OJC, EAC, EJC
USDAA – AD, ADC