Rough Flyball Weekend for Halas

[Leslie and Halas]

Our team was really out of sorts early Saturday, but we put it together and ended up having a decent day. At the beginning of the weekend, Halas was 393 points away from 1,000 points and his next title. On Saturday, he got 246 points, so we were looking pretty good. He even ran full-time on Saturday, meaning that he ran every single one of our races. That's the first time he's done that, and he probably won't really do that very often, so it was good experience for him. We also had 2 other dogs close to their next titles: 10,000 and 15,000 points. We're not usually too hung up on points, but when a dog is really close to that next milestone, the team does try to get it for him.

But Sunday was another story. Our first race was kind of a mess. All of our dogs were having little problems, and it was just a comedy of errors. Then on our second race, in the first heat, Halas had a collision with another dog on our team. In fact, it was with the biggest dog on our team. Luckily, it was kind of shoulder-to-shoulder, instead of head-to-head. After the collision, Halas just kind of stopped, looked around, and then stood there with a pathetic look on his face, holding up his left leg. They stopped the race, and we went to him to check him out. There just happened to be a vet there running with another team, but acting as a line judge during our race. She came over and checked him out. He seemed to have a little pain in his left shoulder, but he let her move it around and check it out. She said nothing was broken or separated, but she came with us back to our area and showed me where to ice it. Even as she was finishing her check, Halas was wagging his tail trying to greet people again, and putting weight on the possibly injured leg, so we could tell he wasn't truly injured. A little sore, and scared/confused, but not injured. We kept a close eye on him, stretched him, and rested him for quite awhile. By the time our next race came around (our 3rd race out of 5 today), he was good to go. We warmed him up and tested him passing a smaller dog, and he was great. So he ran that entire third race and all of our fourth race. By the time our fifth and final race of the day came around, he must have been getting pretty tired. Plus he had had more time to think about what happened. Because in that race, he decided to wait for the other dog to pass him before he even started running. So we took him out at that point. He ended up a little short of his 1,000 points, but we'll get that soon enough. I think he was probably running on adrenaline (if dogs have adrenaline) in the other races, but he was getting tired and finally got kind of scared again in that last race. If he had shown any signs of injury, he wouldn't have been running. Some teams are really competitive and may run an injured dog, but our team isn't like that. The dog's health comes first. But since he was just scared and not really injured, the goal for the day just became to get him running again, so that he would remember that collisions aren't normal. Kind of a "get back on the horse" attitude. We did accomplish that. We have a couple of weeks off now, so he'll hopefully forget the whole thing.

The collision was really a fluke. Junior (a giant lab) was running, and he must have gotten a poor grip on his ball off the box. I released Halas at the normal point, but just as they were getting ready to pass, Junior's ball fell out of his mouth. He adjusted to grab it, and that moved him just a little bit off-center. By that point, Halas' focus is up ahead on the box, not on Junior. Junior's focus was on grabbing that ball, not on Halas. The two of them just hit shoulder-to-shoulder. 90 lb lab vs 29 lb doodle. I don't think Junior felt a thing, and I'm not sure if Halas even knew that it was Junior that he ran into. I think he probably wondered when they started allowing freight trains in flyball. Junior's mom was so upset. She didn't see it, because you're running ahead to get your dog to run to you, and you don't really see him coming over that last jump. Someone told her that Junior ran into Halas, but there were 3 or 4 of us gathered around Halas at that point, and she couldn't see him. That made her think it was a lot worse than it was. It was scary for me at first, but Halas was physically fine within a few minutes. He hasn't shown any signs of stiffness all day, including after the 3-hour drive home. I gave him some baby aspirin a few minutes ago, and I'll ice him again in a little bit, just to be safe, but I think his leg is fine. Collisions don't happen very often, but it is one of the bad things that can happen during flyball. I'm glad there was a vet there to check him out and let us know the things to look for and check before we let him run again.

So, like I said, rough weekend. I'm sure he'll be even more exhausted than normal. His 1,000th point can wait until spring.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I am glad Halas appears fine. It is so cool to have this activity with him. Good luck at the next race day. Get to 1,000 Halas!

[GBK]

He is a trooper Leslie! Glad he was OK, sorry Halas didn't get all his points, but like you said, there is always another day..... We know that well :) We will be rootin for you guys in the Spring.

[Frannie & Callie]

I hope Halas is feeling ok today!!!!!

[Nina, Phil, Harlow & Lacey]

I am so glad that Halas wasn't seriously injured.

[Jane, Rooney & Stuart]

Wow - who knew that Flyball was a contact sport? Poor Halas - glad he is fine - I'd hate missing his Flyball stories.

[Kathy Spyker]

I am so glad Halas is OK, I am sure it was scarey for both of you . 90lbs. running into you would even put a human in a daze. You were lucky there was a vet their so you didd'nt have to worry about anything being broke. We will be watching for the posting of his 1,000th point in the spring.;-)

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Poor Halas! I hope his leg is fine tomorrow and he forgets all about the collision. Hugs to you both!

[BG and Gavin]

It must have been a scary moment for you. Halas sounds like he is as good as new.

[F, Calla & Luca]

I'm glad Halas is OK.

[Camilla and Darwin]

Sounds like an exciting day for Halas. I am very glad that nothing more serious happened!