Sounding the Alarm - Flint, MI

It's been over three years since I last posted on this blog. Originally, I started this in order to promote my favorite sport, flyball. People who play flyball sometimes are so passionate about their views that they "forget" that opinions are just opinions. They are not facts. So, I liked to poke fun when things got too serious.

But, a blog is also a public forum and I can be as serious as necessary if I believe something serious is happening. I believe that to be true today, in Flint, MI.

I have a friend who just happens to live in Flint. I grew up with Vicki Marx. We went to the same school, rode the same bus to and from school. In fact, she was in my Kindergarten class and it seems like she was always there until we graduated from high school in 1973.

Vicki's home in Flint is just a handful of blocks away from Ground Zero of the beginning of the Flint Water Crisis. Meaning that her tap water was just as contaminated with dangerously high levels of lead just like the house which triggered the crisis when tests showed toxic levels of lead in the tap water of that home.

Vicki also was diagnosed in 2014 with the early onset of Parkinson's disease which is a neurological disorder. Heavy metals, such as lead, have been linked to early onset of Parkinson's.

Since 2014 when the Flint Water Crisis was first reported, several Michigan State officials have been criminally charged in the scandal. A class-action lawsuit has been filed. But, the purpose of this post is not about fault-finding. There is plenty of blame to go around.

The purpose is to point to evidence that the crisis is NOT yet over as Governor Snyder would like the public to believe. In fact, it's my opinion that we do not know just how bad the crisis truly is. There is not enough data and not nearly enough follow up investigation into the water quality in Flint to conclude that the crisis is "nearly over".

Back to Vicki

Sometime in mid-June, Vicki woke up on the floor of her home office. She didn't know how she got there nor how long she had been there. She had somewhat of a headache and had difficulty concentrating. A lot of us would probably shrug an event like this off. Vicki tried but, without a "bright line" to draw between cause and effect and feeling simply "yucky" without a fever or other symptoms, it's hard NOT to be very concerned. She sees a doctor regularly and promised her friends and family to ask about this incident.

In addition to regular visits to the doctor, Vicki also takes advantage of monthly tests for the lead by the Michigan DEQ Lab. Two samples every month just days apart. In early June, the tests showed a lead level of about 95 ppb. (Read Parts per billion). 15 ppb is considered high enough to be "actionable" by the Federal EPA. Ideally, you shouldn't have any lead in your drinking water. Let me repeat: 0 ppb lead in drinking water is what is recommended.

06/06/2017 Lead reading was 95 ppb.

The July tests were a bit more "alarming".

07/05/2017 Lead reading was 3818 ppb
07/12/2017 Lead reading was 4138 ppb
07/11/2017 Lead reading was 7245 ppb.  (All dates refer to the date of collection, NOT the date on which the DEQ lab received them.

Do you see a trend?

The sample taken on July 11 was an all time HIGH of 7245 ppb. That is 1.9 times the sample that was taken just a week earlier which tested 3818 ppb of lead. EPA considers anything above 5000 ppb of lead to be "Hazardous Waste. TOXIC! Skull and crossbones hazardous waste!

....but, there are no warning signals chiming that there's an emergency. Remember what happened in the movie "The China Syndrome" when these was a near nuclear accident? Like that movie, there should be flashing lights with chiming and sirens going off. Maybe a monotone voice repeating over and over, "WARNING: This water is TOXIC. Do not use for any purpose! Do not allow any exposure to eyes, mouth or skin! WARNING! WARNING!"

How would you feel if this was your water test in YOUR household? What would you do?

Vicki did two things.

1. ) She stopped taking showers in it. Now, she uses captured rainwater for any purpose that may touch her skin. Not only does lead tainted water permeate your skin, the lead will be left behind on any surface that contaminated water touches. In other words, you cannot use it to wash your dishes or launder clothes. It will leave these surfaces covered with lead particles.
2. She booked an appointment with her Doctor for a blood test. The draw was taken on 7/26/2017. The result showed 38.4 ug/dl. Translation: ANY amount over a value of 10 is considered to be too high. Such a result carries this warning with it: "Lead level is high. Quick action is required. Talk to your doctor or health department about next steps." Imagine yourself in this situation. How would you feel knowing what you know about lead in your body? ...but, the governor and other officials are claiming that the water is "safe" as long as you maintain the filters on your faucets... and you don't drink it.

Vicki is a real person and is caught up in this real and devastating situation. The problem is NOT inside her home. Her pipes are copper. Her water heater has been replaced. Her kitchen and bathroom fixtures have been replaced. And, the Michigan DEQ labs simply process tests and their results. There are no instructions about what to do or where to go for help. They don't care when there are results like this. They just.push paper.

What these test results tell me is that something catastrophic has happened in the water delivery system upstream from Vicki's home. It tells me that the system is eroding even though Flint has switched back to receiving it's drinking water from Detroit. The damage that has been done to Flint's water system continues unabated.

It NEEDS to be fixed NOW without any more delays!

Some pipes have been replaced but, a lot more work needs to be done. Predictions are that the entire City of Flint will have new pipes installed by 2023. 2023? Really? Can someone like Vicki wait that long?

What I can't fathom is why these results, which are so alarming because they are so dangerous, why aren't these being reported to the governor? Why isn't the MDEQ knocking on Vicki's door? Why aren't her neighbors being contacted for additional tests? Why hasn't the Army Corps of Engineers been tapped on the shoulder to lend a hand and speed things along?

I know why. This is a disaster that you just can't see happening so you don't think something is really, REALLY wrong here.

There are no cars being swallowed by flood waters. No helicopters rescuing people from rooftops. There are no flames rushing down a mountainside towards a neighborhood full of homes. No winds that have ripped off rooftops or flattened homes. Nothing that can be shown as a video on the 6 o'clock news.

It's a man-made disaster that is underground, inside peoples basements and walls. It can't be seen or heard.  ....and, it's become "old news". Headlines have given way to new disasters that have much more "drama" than the Flint Water Crisis.

Do you want to see your Congressman or Senator get something done? Here are some tips on how to make get their attention:

DON'T bother with online petitions or emailing. Online contact basically gets ignored. Letters pretty much get thrown in the trash unless you have a particularly strong emotional story.

There are 2 things that activists should be doing all the time. They're by far the most effective ways to shine a light on the problem:

•  The best way to be heard and get your congressperson to pay attention is to go to town hall meetings.Go to their local offices. If you're in DC, try to find a way to go to an event of theirs. Go to the "mobile offices" that their staff holds periodically ( places and times are located on each congressperson's web site). When you go, ask questions, a lot of them. Push for answers. The louder and more vocal and present you can be at those meetings, the more likely you will receive their attention...
•  Those in-person events don't happen every day so, the absolute most important thing that people should be doing every day is calling.You should make 6 calls a day: 2 each (DC office and your local office) to your 2 Senators and your 1 Representative. Calls are what all the elected officials pay attention to. Every single day, the Senior Staff and the Senator get a report of the 3 most-called-about topics for that day at each of their offices (in DC and local offices), and exactly how many people said what about each of those topics.
• They're also sorted by zip code and area code.

And this is IMPORTANT:

• When it's a particular issue that single-issue-voters pay attention to (like gun control, or planned parenthood funding, etc...) they pay closer attention to the subject of your call, in this case, the Flint Water Crisis.

SO, WHEN YOU CALL:

• When calling the DC office, ask for the Staff member in charge of whatever you're calling about ("Hi, I'd like to speak with the staffer in charge of The Flint Water Crisis or Relief for Flint, etc. please"). Local offices won't always have specific ones, but they might. If you get transferred to that person, awesome. If you don't, that's ok - ask for their name, and then just keep talking to whoever answered the phone. Don't leave a message (unless the office doesn't pick up at all - then you can..).but it's better to talk to the staffer who first answered than leave a message for the specific staffer in charge of your topic.
• Give them your zip code. They won't always ask for it, but make sure you give it to them so they can mark it down. Extra points if you live in a zip code that traditionally votes for them since they'll want to make sure they get/keep your vote.
•  If you can make it personal, make it personal. "I voted for you in the last election and I'm worried/happy/whatever" or "as a single mother" or "as a white, middle-class woman," or whatever.
• Pick 1-2 specific things per day to focus on. Don't go down a whole list - they're figuring out what 1-2 topics to mark you down for on their lists, so, focus on 1-2 per day. Ideally, something that will be voted on/taken up in the next few days, but it doesn't really matter…even if there's not a vote coming up in the next week, call anyway. It's important that they just keep getting calls.
• Be clear on what you want - "I'm disappointed that the Senator..." or "I want to thank the Senator for their vote on..." or "I want the Senator to know that voting in _____ way is the wrong decision for our state because..." Don't leave any ambiguity.
• They may get to know your voice/get sick of you - it doesn't matter. The people answering the phones generally turn over every 6 weeks anyway, so even if they're really sick of you, they'll be gone in 6 weeks.

If you hate being on the phone or feel awkward, don't worry...you can write a script. After a few days of calling, it starts to feel a lot more natural. Put the 6 numbers in your phone all under Politician, which makes it really easy to click down the list each day!

Now go get 'em!!

Resources:

Michigan Department of Attorney General

Lansing OfficeG. Mennen Williams Building, 7th Floor
525 W. Ottawa St.
P.O. Box 30212
Lansing, MI 48909
Main Number: 517-373-1110
Facsimile: 517-373-3042
 

 CNN: Flint Water Crisis Fast Facts

Flint woman dealing with lead level spike in blood, water 

Find Your Representative or Senator HERE! 

How to Contact Your Elected Officials 

Keeping My Home

Environmental Coffee House Live Video/Facebook 

Michigan Democratic Party Environmental Caucus 

Permission to share and cross post is granted and encouraged!

Starting Flyball Training With a New Dog or Puppy

Do you want to start training your dog for flyball but, don't know how to begin? Did you just get a puppy and want to know when to start their flyball education? How would you like to follow the actual progress of a puppy in real time as its owners and flyball club members introduce concepts of flyball to the little one and watch as the puppy progresses through its teachings and training?

In this series of training articles, videos of these actual lessons will be included along with written explanations of what the lesson is intended to accomplish. Questions may be asked in the comments section with more details provided by the author.

The video series is titled "It Takes a Village" acknowledging that flyball training is faster and easier when the trainer/handler is able to enlist the help of others. Flyball is a team sport and the major feature and accomplishment of its participants is a very complicated series of behaviors that is both timed and performed in the environment of other dogs participating as well. The racing rings are normally very noisy and each dog must know its job and ignore a multitude of distractions.

Lesson 1 - Introducing Restrained Recalls

I train flyball by what I call "back-chaining". Flyball is a race which means the Finish Line determines who wins and who loses so, we want to teach our dog to RETURN to us as quickly as they possibly can. To accomplish this, we begin our very first lesson by introducing the "recall". Nearly ALL competitive dog sports include the recall in some fashion. In flyball, a fast recall is essential for all dogs who compete so, I begin training using restrained recalls.

Begin the lesson by having a teammate hold the dog or puppy a short distance away. You should have already determined what kind of reward works with your dog. Most flyball trainers use a tugging toy to reward their dog. This is because a tug is fast and easy to produce and is re-useable over and over again. Food is also used however, it is less desirable as a reward because it must be replenished and some competitors believe that digesting food during athletic activity is not good for a dog's health. My belief is use whatever works for your dog!

With your teammate holding your dog, get your dog's attention by calling his name. This is a very short, quick lesson repeated many times. As SOON as you see your dog look at you, say his name and run in the opposite direction offering the reward (or "motivator") to your dog. The restaining handler should release the dog as soon as they see you moving and the dog has their attention on you. The dog should be trying to chase you and committed to catching you!

The video should illustrate just how close you need to be to start out with and how you should motivate the dog to chase. In the beginning, these should be rapid fire lessons. as training progresses, we add distarctions and distance. Restrained recalls are used to warm up dogs preparing to race and so consider the restarined recall as a basic tool whenever flyball concepts are being introduced or reinforced.

The Video 

The next lesson will show a dead ball retrieve. The puppy featured in these videos is a quick learner so don't be discouraged if you have to break down your dog's training into smaller parts before you put the "chain" back together for a flyball run.

Good Luck and Good Racing!

Ballistic's "2012 River Run" Flyball Tournament in Vassar, MI

The "River Run" is a flyball tradition in Region 1. Held every Labor Day weekend for almost 15 years, it is so well known and popular that all you have to say is "Vassar" and everyone knows what tournament you are talking about.   ..and when.

"Flyball Today" has Livestreamed the event at least twice and is experiencing a growth spurt in its audience. As a way to remind and promote this flyball extravaganza, I am happy to embed a promotional video on this blog and I invite and encourage all who read this and those who are already in the audience at home to tune in to Flyball Today September 1 & 2.

Flyball Today Livestream Channel can be accessed at:

http://www.livestream.com/flyballtoday/

Additionally, Flyball Today will update their fans through their Facebook page at:

http://facebook.com/flyballtoday

and through Twitter at

http://twitter.com/flyballtoday/





Good Luck and see you on Labor Day at Flyball Today!

.....Chris

Words to Live by...

Dalai Lama

5:39 AM  May 7 - 2012  - Public

The quality of everything we do: our physical actions, our verbal actions, and even our mental actions, depends on our motivation. That's why it's important for us to examine our motivation in our day to day life. If we cultivate respect for others and our motivation is sincere, if we develop a genuine concern for others’ well-being, then all our actions will be positive.

Court Ruling Could End #Flyball Sanctioning in Maryland

On April 26, 2012, the Maryland Court of Appeals (highest court in the state) delivered a finding that held a landlord liable for a 2007 incident in which his tenant’s dog, an American Pitbull Terrier, escaped from a pen and mauled a child. The Court also declared that “a pit bull or any dog with pit bull ancestry shall be deemed hence forth vicious and inherently dangerous as a matter of law.”

The Court’s ruling is particulary chilling since now owners of dogs who appear to have “pit bull ancestry” may be forced to abandon or kill their dogs since it can be presumed that landlords will not accept the “strict liability” for allowing such dogs on their property.

The ruling is far-reaching since such liability may also extend to Animal Shelters, Veterinary Clinics, even grooming shops and boarding kennels. If you “know” that a certain canine is a pit bull or even looks like it might have a little bit of “pit” in his/her pedigree, then you could be held strictly liable if that animal bites someone and you are within the State of Maryland.

What does this ruling mean for Flyball in the State of Maryland? What happens if liability insurance underwriters specificly deny coverage for a flyball event if they allow bully breeds and pit bulls to compete? Liability insurance that specificly names NAFA as a “Co-insured” party is necessary for NAFA sanctioned events. It is a valid question not easily answered.

Flyball venues within the State of Maryland also have been handed a huge headache. Assuming that a flyball hosting club can still obtain the insurance necessary for sanctioning their event, Venues may decide that there is too much liability and deny use of their facilities if bullies and pitties are allowed as part of the Flyball Tournament. Loss of a venue is the most common reason for hosting clubs to stop hosting. It is unlikely that a hosting club would be able to go outside of Maryland if that is where they normally host a flyball event.

Other states are looking closely at the Maryland Court Ruling. I hope it is more along the lines of, “We should not do this in our state” than a “How can we do this in our state?”

I am not a lawyer and this ruling has many twists and turns. Groups that fight against BSL laws being passed in the legislatures were caught “off guard” since this ruling amounts to creating law from the bench. I am including several links for more information on this disturbing development in the State of Maryland.

Whole Dog Journal article: Tracey v. Solesky ; Society v. Pitbulls – Maryland, 4/26/12

STOP BSL article: Maryland court ruling imposes strict liability on “pit bull” owners and landlords

The actual opinion.

Maryland Renters Rights, HSUS

As always, comments are welcome and encouraged!

Good Luck and Good Racing!

.....Chris

The NEW Pre-Flight #Flyball Class

{The following article was published previously on "The Flyball Blog" 02/27/2012. It is reprinted here with the author's permission. The Flyball Blog is scheduled for shut down in June, 2012.}

Effective as of November 1, 2011, version 2.2 of the U-FLI Rules and Regulations went into effect. You will find among the changes the addition of a new class of competition: Pre-Flight Singles Class is intended for dogs that are not yet ‘race ready’.

Pre-Flight was created to address the concerns of competitors who wanted a more competitive singles class. Too often, dogs were entered in singles who were not ‘race-ready’ and unable to race head-to-head against an opponent in the opposite lane.

Here is a summary of the rules and conditions governing Pre-Flight Singles:

• Dogs entered in this class will be in two races, four heats each.
• False starts will not be re-run.
• Times will not be recorded.
• No judges are required, however the participant may provide their own ‘judges’ if they desire.
• Gating and or props, of any kind will not be allowed.
• Participant with the competing dog, has the option of allowing another dog in the ring with its’ own handler.
• The warm-up time allowed will be the same as allowed for Singles and Pairs at the event.
• An overall time limit of 10 minutes, to run the 4 heats, for each race will apply.
• Both dogs must have a RUN and be of racing age.
• Handlers can release at any time.
• During a race, the dogs entered in this class may use one or both lanes as the participants choose.
• The competing dog may not be entered in any other class.
• Dogs entered in this class will not earn U-FLI points.
• This class of racing can be offered by the Host club before, during or after regular racing.
• Host club fees paid to U-FLI are based on Singles.
• All other racing rules apply.

My team took advantage of this new class at a tournament held in Michigan last month. None of us knew what to expect but, it turned out to be a very productive learning experience for both dogs and handlers. First, it helped tremendously to work with dogs who have “crossing over” issues. We had the opportunity to set up distractions in the true hyped up environment of a tournament in progress.

Second, dogs that we thought were not “race-ready” demonstrated to us that they could focus on their training and handler even with the distractions. It was delightful to have evidence that we could “up the ante” during training sessions with these dogs. Without Pre-Flight, these dogs would have continued to be held back during training. We also felt that certain dogs would’ve advanced much faster during training if Pre-Flight had been available during their earlier flyball training.

One final thought that we had as a result of trying out this new class is this: Pre-Flight offers a potentially effective tool to prevent dogs from “crossing over” by providing an opportunity for better proofing dogs in training. I think proofing dogs that cross for whatever reason (herding, chasing prey or just want to say “hi”) will create a safer flyball racing environment for everybody.

To review all of the rules, please download a copy of version 2.2 of the
“U-FLI Rules and Regulations” and the companion document “Summary of Changes” available here.

..........Chris

COMMENTS from the original post:

Linda,

I think this new class of racing is also good for dogs who may have competed already but perhaps had never been exposed to a really large tournament or who may have never traveled out of their own area to compete.
For example, one of our dogs (Sam) had already competed successfully in a team at a few tourneys in our home area. However, he had never raced in Singles which also happened to be a tourney we traveled to and it was much larger; literally by 10-fold. Lots more dogs, noise, distractions, etc. Needless to say, he was very distracted at this huge tourney and he did not do well in Singles that time.
The pre-flight scenario would have helped tremendously and made that outting successful.

Mike Keck,

At our (Hyper Flight) February tournament, we offered Pre-Flight. It was a big success. It’s good for the dogs (for all the reasons Chris mentioned), but it’s also good for new handlers. New handlers often lose interest before their dog is ever able to compete, but Pre-Flight allows them to get out in the lanes sooner but in a safe environment. We had people travel to our tournament that probably would not have attended if there was no Pre-Flight class.

Chris,

Thank you, Mike! I hadn’t thought about the “train new handlers” aspect.
I would also like to point out that all fees collected by the host club for offering Pre-Flight, stay with the host club. U-Fli does not benefit financially by offering the class at tournaments. The creation of the class simply allowed host clubs the ability to offer the class while a tournament was ongoing and permission to use the U-Fli lights under tournament conditions.
Seems there is a lot of benefit to the new class. Does anybody see any drawbacks?

Santa Paws 2011 Flyball Tournament

A video is worth a million words!

Flyball is a sport for dogs (and their people). It's a race over jumps for a ball.

It is also described as addictive. Watch this video and you be the judge.

2012: A New Beginning

Hello!

It is a NEW year and I want a new beginning for myself and for this blog.

I know that readers have found this blog because they are searching for information on flyball. (The dog sport that is a race over jumps for a ball!) That passion will not go away but, I have found the topic to be somewhat limiting if the only purpose for posting to my blog was to say something about flyball or my love for MY dogs or, just my love for any and all dogs. Recently, I have been reminded that there is much more to life.


This post is an introduction to the many topics in which I have an opinion. Let's face it, in life, nearly everything is a matter of 'opinion'. The food we eat, the cloths we wear, the stuff that entertains us.

I came across an idea in a self-help book which sums it up pretty nicely: "Facts are facts. Everything else is everything else." ..meaning, unless you are dealing with facts, everything else is someone's opinion. This blog just happens to be MY opinion.

I think that opinions are good to have so long as we recognize that they ARE 'just opinions'. Everyone  has one and nobody has an opinion that is worth more than anyone else's. Unless you get paid to have one and then, I guess you can be considered to be an expert on a topic in which people will pay you to listen to your opinion. Just remember, even if you get paid to have an opinion, that doesn't mean people will actually do what you advise them to do. (Based on your opinion, of course!)

So, expect the 'unexpected' on this blog. Be willing to be surprised and be open to the idea that we can disagree with each and still be appreciative of our 'uniqueness'. You just might find yourself in a bigger world. I know that I am looking to expand my world and my understanding of it.

What kinds of topics might you read about on this blog? Well, for starters, I will be commenting on ABC's new TV series, "Pan Am". I'm an avid fan and I won't apologize for that. I would like more people to watch the show so that ABC wouldn't be sitting on the fence while they decide if the show is worth a second season. I think that fence-sitting by TV execs as to the future of programming is exactly the reason many people will not invest their time watching new shows only to have the rug pulled out from underneath when their new show is CANCELLED.

Another thing to watch out for is a completely new design and makeover for this blog. I'm even toying with the idea to move it over to Wordpress. There is a way to migrate a blog to Wordpress and, because I have other blogs that I write for on Wordpress, it would be so much easier to work from one platform, one 'dashboard' for all of my blogging.

At any rate, I'm starting out with this announcement so that readers are not wondering how this blog goes from being about how to teach my dog flyball to diatribes about the latest episode of Pan Am, some new recipe I am trying out, or maybe a sprinkle here and there of what kind of weather is happening outside. (Right now, the first serious snowfall for this winter season is occurring and the temperatures are falling like a rock!)

This blog will become about what matters most in life: Finding out what our dreams are and doing something to help them become true. My new heroine is a fictional character on Pan Am. Colette Valois convinced her Captain to let her fly the plane. That scene's symbolism was apparent from the first time I watched it unfold. Identify what your dreams are and then take action to make them come true. Colette did simply by saying something.

One of my dreams is to become a writer. Perhaps, one of those people who get 'paid' to have an opinion. First step is to practice writing. It doesn't matter if anyone reads this or not. What matters is to write, Write, WRITE!   ...and then write some more. Some days, I won't feel like writing and that's when it will become the most important thing to do. We all have to work when we don't feel like it.

...but, my readers have an important job to do and that is to comment. I'm not just looking for complements but,also if I have holes in my logic or simply, an uninteresting topic. If you have a topic you want to read about, I want to know about it. This blog should be entertaining as well as useful. Then again, anything that appears here is "Just an Opinion".

I hope that anyone who made a New Year's resolution has been successful keeping it. Until my next topic, I wish you a Good Day!.

Chris

Proposed: Title Points Revision for Multibreed Class

Announced on the NAFA Website:

October 6th, 2011 – Multibreed point proposal for a binding delegate vote

Introduction: In an effort to revitalize the Multibreed class, the Board is presenting a proposal for consideration by the delegates that would increase the NAFA title points earned in the Multibreed class. If adopted, the following change would become effective October 1, 2012.

Question for delegate vote: Should NAFA amend the point-count rules for the multibreed class so that each dog on a team that runs with a recorded time less than 24 seconds earns 30 points; from 24 to 27.999 seconds earns 7 points; and from 28 to 31.999 seconds earns 2 points?

Pros: This increase is designed to recognize and reward the comparative difficulty of assembling a multibreed team where every dog running is of a different breed, counting a mix as a single breed. Of all the classes, multibreed perhaps does the most to stimulate interest in flyball because people who have dogs at home can identify with the variety of breeds running and visualize doing so with their own dog.

Cons: This proposal cheapens the points earned by dogs who run with clubs not able to field multibreed teams and makes titles too easy to get. There should be one point system for all.

This is news and the first opportunity for the flyball public to discuss it.

My opinion is that it would have been nice to have some kind of “heads up” before the NAFA Board finalized the wording of the proposal. In the past, the NAFA Board has been presented with proposals to reform the title point system for ALL classes because the times posted by teams today do not even come close to the average times that were posted when the title point system was first adopted by NAFA in the year 1987. Back then, relatively few teams posted under 24 seconds and so it was quite an achievement to do so. Since then, there have several technical developments that totally revolutionized flyball racing. Some of these developments include the EJS (lights), internalized catapult system of box design and the swimmer’s turn. The Board has always rejected proposals that would change the title point system, even proposals that requested the delegates be given the opportunity to vote on them.

So, would it make more sense to reform and rethink the entire title point system FIRST and then look at the Multi-breed class and see if we want to increase points earned in that class?

What other questions and issues or concerns should we be looking at?

…..Chris

The True Cost of The NAFA World Record

Occasionally, I receive a request from someone who has an opinion and wants to write on a topic. I will allow this as a "guest" blogger. Publishing this article does not mean I endorse this view. It means that I believe that everyone has the right to express themselves and they are welcome to use this blog as a platform.

"When you try to determine the cost of something, there are several things to consider.  I‘m going to discuss two of them, the monetary cost and the opportunity cost, as they relate to the new NAFA regular record.  It doesn’t matter which sanctioning body sanctioned the tournament, it’s not a world record, because it’s not the fastest time ever run in competition, but that can be argued in another forum.

There’s no disputing the accomplishment of setting the NAFA record.  It takes a lot of hard work and practice.  It’s what one does in trying to achieve that accomplishment that teaches us about character. 

The monetary costs for attending a tournament are pretty easy to come up with:  gas, lodging, meals, entry fees.  Then there are the monetary costs to the organization because of one team’s behavior.   It’s a monetary cost for one, and an opportunity cost for the other.  It can be argued that the team used it’s member’s positions within NAFA for their own benefit.  If you’re 1,000 miles away, you may not think so, but if you had to race against it at every tournament in your region, you may think differently.  

Liberties were taken with regards to dogs that clearly weren’t ready to compete.  Steps were taken to try and keep them from crossing into the opposing team’s runback area.  Sometimes they worked, sometimes they didn’t.  That leads to the next opportunity cost.  The team attempted to gain an advantage by claiming that a member of another team tried to injure one of the dogs that crossed over into the opposing runback area.  Much to their surprise, the disciplinary committee ruled in favor of the accused, but threw the complaining team a bone, by issuing a reprimand for an ‘inappropriate correction’, whatever that is.  The attempt to run-off one of the strongest flyball competitors in region 1 failed.  Coincidentally, a member of the record holding team resigned from the NAFA Bod.  Also around the same time, the complaining team decided to remove itself from a ’hostile environment’, and relocate to an adjoining region. As someone once said, ’if you can’t beat ’em, leave ’em’. 

Now, let’s look at the monetary cost of those opportunity costs.  Region 1 is now an also-ran when it comes to NAFA regions.  It was once one of the strongest, along with Region 2. There has been a decrease in tournaments, from 12 each in 2009 and 2010 to 6 in 2011.  The team’s opportunity cost had a monetary cost for NAFA. By my calculations, there were 213 fewer fees paid to NAFA.  At $25/team, that’s $5325.  I wonder if they’ll be asked to pay it back? 

Congratulations on your NAFA record.  I hope it was worth it."

-Russ Helganz

Tribute to Zima

The "About Me" page on this blog states that I live with 9 dogs. Recently, that number changed to 8. Zima, pictured above, left us to wait at the Rainbow Bridge. She was just one month shy of 14 years.

Zima was one of those dogs that will be memorable for the rest of our lives. Although I lived in the same household, Zima wasn't my dog. She belonged to my sister and since we share this house, I often took care of Zima, feeding her, walking her, letting her outside and playing with her. She enjoyed attention and she didn't care where attention came from. But, clearly, her heart belonged to Ruth.

Flyball Accomplishments

Zima was as accomplished in Flyball as any Border Collie should be. Her record speaks for itself:

 FD=03/04/00 FDX=03/04/00 FDCH=04/15/00 FDCH-S=05/06/00 FDCH-G=07/15/00 
       FM=11/11/00 FMX=06/30/01 FMCH=10/27/01 ONYX=05/25/02 FGDCH=08/30/03 
       FG40K=09/03/05 FG50K=10/18/08 

 In the Spring of 2009, we learned she had cancer and so we retired her at Chelsea Fairgrounds on 5/30/2009. She deserved to enjoy life and, although she loved flyball, she was soooo much more than a Flyball Dog.

As a young dog, Zima revealed she was a character. She loved the sound of ripping newspaper. At first, I thought she just liked to make messes but, her reaction when I tore a paper demonstrated to me that it was the sound that attracted her to make confetti out of newspaper. Who knew?

She liked to bark at thunderstorms, too. I thought she was scared of them but, no, she didn't act nervous or afraid. She just wanted to tell that "big dog" outside to shut up and stop barking at her!

She had herding instinct out the wazoo! Whenever I took her for a walk, she spent countless hours just circling me. Circle, circle circle. My friends would watch us at flyball tournaments and that's how they would know I was walking Zima because she would constantly circle me.

She would also herd us by jumping up and bouncing off of us and barking whenever we started dancing in the house. You know how it is. Some good song with a strong beat would start playing and you just can't help yourself, you start a moving and a groovin'. Well, Zima acted like the "fun police" telling us to stop it! Stop it! Stop it! I thought she didn't like us moving. I was half right. In her eyes, we were sheep trying to run away. She wasn't going to let that happen!

One day, my sister took her to a herding test. We thought she would be a natural with all these indicators. Zima got in the pen with real sheep. It was towards the end of the day after this group of sheep had been herded several times. The ram was fed up, took one look at Zima,  snorted and tried to head butt her. Oh-oh! Zima wanted out of that pen in a hurry! Picture this: Sheep on one side and Zima on the other.

After that, we knew that Zima's "herding" behavior was all pretend herding with pretend sheep!

Zima could "spell", too. She was extremely observant of mine and Ruth's behavior and liked to get the whole household stirred up when food was being offered. She knew all the words associated with "food": hungry, dinner, "feed the dogs", it's time, etc. We tried spelling it out to keep the peace. "I think it's time to F-E-E-D the D-O-G-S". It didn't work. She would hear us spell and she was telling everybody, "they're getting out the food!" Bark, bark, bark!

Folks wouldn't believe us. We would demonstrate by spelling the word, F-E-E-D, and getting her to bark. Still, they claimed we were "doing" something that was giving her a "que". So, one night, just to prove it to us, Ruth started to spell out feed in total darkness. Zima still alerted. She knew what those letters meant. We knew she knew.

I miss Zima. There won't be another like her in our household. Not in a million years!

Sleep tight ol' girl. We'll be reunited some day...

Is Your Dog a Potential Flyball Candidate?

ANY dog can play flyball. However, not every dog will. There are a few things to consider if you plan to join a flyball team. One of them is the response you get from your dog when you introduce certain elements of the game. Does your dog like tennis balls? A dog that goes nuts when he sees a tennis ball can be a great candidate for flyball training. Does your dog like to chase you when you play with him? The desire to race is called "prey drive" and a dog that is crazy to fetch a tennis ball or to chase and catch you is a dog with the natural talent for flyball. These are the kinds of dogs that flyball teams want to train for flyball.

Another consideration is the size of the dog. A person who has a small dog with prey drive is in high demand by flyball teams because of size. This is because the flyball course consists of a series of jumps that must be jumped by the dogs. Miss a jump and the dog must re-run the course. Jump heights are based on the height of the smallest dog on the team. So, a team that has a small dog on the team has lower jumps, making it easier for of all dogs in the team.

Another factor is the speed of the dog. Flyball is a race and the team that finishes first is the winner. If you have a small dog in the team so that the jumps are low, that helps most dogs.

Flyball Dogs should be intelligent and curious. Fast learners are the dogs most likely to succeed. Dogs who are naturally very lazy and relaxed, can learn flyball but, may not do as well. If you plan to play flyball, it might be better to play with a ball or try to get your dog to chase you and see if they can learn and is eager to learn. If you sign up for flyball classes, you can always borrow a flyball box and see if you can teach your dog the box and if it is reasonable to do so. The best dogs are dogs that love to catch the ball out of the box for fun.

Flyball is very competitive, sometimes very hard but, great fun. There are other dogs, most of them barking wildly and enthusiastically. Racing is often very close to the other teams in the competition. Teams are running at the same time, against each other and parallel to each other. The Flyball candidate must ignore the other dogs and stay motivated to maintain focus on running the race and returning to its handler.

Flyball teams usually practice at least once a week and often when there is a competition to prepare for. A flyball competitor must have the time available to engage in this activity. His fellow team members rely on his presence. A person who is unable to engage in this activity should not become a competitor.

If you and your dog can meet most of the foregoing, it is probably a safe bet that both of you will be welcome additions to any flyball team.

...chris

FlyballGeek.com

in·no·vate

[in-uh-veyt] Show IPA verb, -vat·ed, -vat·ing.

–verb (used without object)

1. to introduce something new; make changes in anything established.

–verb (used with object)

2. to introduce (something new) for or as if for the first time: to innovate a computer operating system.

3. Archaic . to alter.

From the moment that scent hurdles introduced a catapult that launched tennis balls into the air for the dogs to catch, "Flyball" has been a sport constantly evolving and changing. The latest innovation to create a "buzz" in the flyball community is "FlyballGeek.com".

Flyball Geek is the brainchild of Andy McBride of the Go-Dog-Go Flyball Club. For years, the flyball community has used various ideas and methods to provide race information to participants. Large numbers for displays set both inside and outside were most often used. The problem was that no matter how big they were, they often were not readable at great distances and other buildings often blocked their view.

Next, we tried two-way radios set to a specific channel for the tournament. These were great but, sometimes were drowned out by barking dogs at camp. Static often garbled the message. People forgot to announce races. Many did not trust their reliance on them and if they did not understand the message being broadcast or simply missed what was said, you would send a runner to ringside or risk being late to a race.

In fact, sending a runner to report where the host was in the race schedule was the only truly reliable method for keeping track of racing but, it was exhausting for the person(s) doing the running. I blame that for the reason I would need to take Monday off to "recover" from a weekend of racing.

The growing popularity of "smart" phones, tablets and laptops along with an ever improving broadband internet access made creating a web app that kept track of the racing schedule desirable. Andy McBride took up the challenge and successfully created such an application that worked so well, NAFA offered to pay him to develop a much more sophisticated program to handle the demands of the CanAm Classic.

Flyball Geek is available in limited beta. Go the website and sign up for an account which simply involves creating an ID and a password. Email Andy at Andy@FlyballGeek.com with your reasons for requesting an account and he'll finish setting you up allowing you to upload race schedules and do other administrative functions.

As Chief Correspondent for Flyball Today, I set up an account so that viewers watching the livestream of an event could access race information and know exactly who they were watching race. It was so much simpler for me to use Flyball Geek than to upload that information at Livestream.

What I want to emphasize is that Flyball Geek is simple, simple, simple to use! Do NOT let fear of all things technical keep you from exploiting this service for your event! Andy will answer all your questions and guide you through step by step. In fact, the instructions on the Flyball Geek website seem to be very clear but, if you get confused, there is plenty of help available.

Sign up at least a week in advance of your event so that you can familiarize yourself with the program and do the necessary testing to make sure it works for you and that you understand what is normal behavior for the program.

As an example, it was necessary for me to change my uploaded schedule for three small changes on Sunday. I wasn't sure that deleting the existing schedule and uploading a corrected version while the schedule was in progress wouldn't mess something up. Andy answered my question with plenty of time for me to upload my corrected schedule for Sunday's racing. AND, there were no glitches with the program!

So, rest assured that anyone can use this and you can even correct your mistakes! Help is only an email away!

Another benefit is that all of your event's participants will love you for doing this. Your tournament will move quicker, too, since there is no longer an excuse for a club showing up late for a race due to inattention. (Of course, a human will still have to look at the updater every now and then!)

Remember the name, Flyball Geek. It just might be the most important innovation in flyball since the swimmer's turn!

Good Luck and Good Racing!

Chris

#Flyball Says "TWEET ME"

Do you flyball? Do you also twitter? Let's take advantage of Twitter's recent explosion in popularity!
Twitter is today’s hot spot! Bill Gates, Ellen DeGeneres, Ashton Kutcher, CNN, your local news, and even your local radio stations and shopping malls, all have twitter accounts to grow their network of twitter followers. They promote themselves on twitter to generate new fans, leads, viewership, news hounds, and music listeners. Even the creator of R2D2 in Star Wars uses Twitter! Shouldn’t flyball players be doing the same?

You  hear “Follow Us On Twitter!” every time you turn on the TV or Radio or visit a website!

This has caused an enormous avalanche of new twitter users signing up every second hungry to connect with like minded people! We who play flyball are always looking to connect with such "like-minded" people and their dogs.

Could we use Twitter to promote Flyball?  Why not?

So, how does it work and how do we get started?

Create a Twitter Account

You cannot believe how easy it is and how much fun Twitter list building is!!!

If you already have a Twitter account, you can skip this step. If not, here is what you do:

1. Go to Twitter
2. Click on the sign up button.
3. Follow instructions.

Ok, now what? What can I/we use Twitter for?

Are you going to flyball practice? Tweet that. Does your club offer flyball training? Tweet that. Are you leaving for a flyball tournament? Tweet that. Are you hosting a tournament? Tweet that. Are you participating in a demonstration of flyball? Tweet that. You get the idea....

OK. You have a plethora of activities and you have been tweeting them to let your friends and the public know where/when they can find flyball. What else can you do?

Hashtags #

Twitter makes it easy to identify "topics" that may be of interest to "tweeps". (People who use twitter are known as tweeps). To isolate a group of tweets by topic, users use a hashtag symbol (#) followed by the keyword you are interested in following. An example would be #pets. Any tweet about pets would contain #pets and would show up in twitter searches. However, #pets is too broad a topic to do much good for flyball so, doing a twitter search query for #flyball would reveal a more targeted group of tweets.

At the moment, there are only a few of us using #flyball but, we are growing in number as the word spreads. Hopefully, #flyball will become a "trending" topic for tweeps who do not necessarily participate directly in flyball but, who like to help a worthy cause along by "retweeting" informative tweets.

To post a "retweet" is to read a tweet and pass it along to your followers who might find an interest in it. Say you have people who are just interested in #dogs. If they know what flyball is and they see your tweet about an upcoming flyball tournament, they would "retweet" your tweet and therefore, might hookup your event with new people. Of course, you reciprocate by either thanking a "retweeter" in a tweet or "retweeting" one of their tweets. This is how Twitter grows interests & topics among its users and is the reason Twitter itself is growing so rapidly.

Common Topics on Twitter

Some common hashtag topics you will see are #pets, #dog, #dogs, #cats. Some less common but, equally effective at helping you to locate tweeps to follow are #woof and #Fursday.

#Fursday refers to Thursday where cat & dog tweeps look to find new followers. The hashtags will show up in searches and you can be reasonably sure that tweeps using them have an interest in animals.

#ww or #WW refers to woof Wednesday. #FF is also #FollowFriday and that means you follow back anybody who begins to follow you. This is the way to build influence within Twitter. The more people who follow you, the more people have opportunity to read your tweets.

#Flyball

The hashtag topic #flyball is gaining because of one tweep who decided to promote it. @flyballtoday decided they wanted to harness Twitter to promote flyball but, the best way to do that was to create a searchable hashtag. Hence, #flyball was created. Flyball Today uses it a lot but, I happen to know that the people there would just be thrilled if other Flyball Teams, Clubs and individual flyball players would use it to draw attention to our sport. They check all the time and follow ANYBODY who uses it to reference the sport for dogs. (warning: some Baseball tweeps use the phrase "flyball" when tweeting about baseball)

Twitter Accounts of Interest to Flyball

By the way, I happen to be on Twitter myself. You can follow me at @chrisandblast. Want to follow my flyball team? @wooferines. If you are familiar with Flyball Today (Livestream channel dedicated to live and pre-recorded flyball action video) you can find them at @flyballtoday. All these #Flyball tweeps will follow you back!

Got questions? Post a comment! Want followers? Post a comment and let us know your Twitter ID!

Good Luck! Good Tweets! and, Good Racing!

The Greatest Gift

“

“He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog.

You are his life, his love, his leader.

He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart.”

- Anonymous

I had intended to make this post a very short “Have a Merry Christmas” message. Indeed, I still want to wish our readers a Happy Holiday but, I want to give our readers the opportunity to learn about a cause that impacts all Americans – The Military Working Dogs Cooling Vest Project.

From the WTVG Ch 13 News Story: “The military uses highly trained dogs to detect bombs aimed at U.S. soldiers in the war zones of Afghanistan and Iraq. Believe it or not, many of these hero dogs do not have the equipment they need in the rugged desert terrain.”

“It’s the dog’s job to detect any explosive material, any IEDs in the road. The dog goes first, then its handler, and the troops follow 100 yards back.”

“For every dog mission, which is approximately nine months, they save 1,084 lives. The dogs are unsung heroes. The dogs keep every son and daughter in our military safe.”

From the Military Working Dogs website:: “Starline Nunley started with the idea of helping her son, Major Parker Frawley, who is a Longbow, Apache helicopter fighter pilot stationed in Iraq. She asked him if he would like a Cooling Vest to help him cope with the typically very hot temperatures encountered there. His reply was “Mom, I am and we (soldiers) are all right. The military provides for us very well, but dogs have different needs. It is so hot that they are having trouble doing their job and that puts us all in danger.”

“Temperatures sometimes reach as high as 140 degrees. The dogs cannot work for more than an hour to an hour-and-a-half before being completely exhausted. Our troops are provided with proper equipment but the dogs are our first line of defense in many situations. They’ve been forgotten and have no protection against the heat, blowing sands and rough terrain.”

The cost to completely outfit and protect one dog is $400. This purchases one cooling vest, two cool packs, Doggles, Muttluks, Mutt Muffs, FURminator, a collapsible water bowl, toy, and reward article (toy). They do receive other requests for additional items such as extendable leashes, harnesses, tracking equipment which wears out, and sturdy storage containers for the dog food (the rats were eating through the bags and into the food faster than the dogs could be fed!) These are provided whenever supportmilitaryworkingdogs.org can.

Sixteen people donating $25 each could completely outfit one MWD and thus save the lives of 1,084 men and women serving in active war zones. Won’t you consider donating today?

For more information, visit the following:


Military mom raises money for military dogs
Military Working Dogs Cooling Vest Project

There is no greater gift than to lay down your life for another. These amazing dogs and their handlers risk their lives every day to keep the troops they are deployed to protect safe. How good will you feel when you give knowing that your gift will impact many, many more? That is the true spirit of Christmas.

Visit the websites and even if you do not give a gift of money, please, DO spread the word about the mission of the Military Working Dogs and the Cooling Vest Project to as many of your friends and families as you possibly can. Become a Fan at: Support Military Working Dogs Facebook page

If you Twitter, please, RT this article. Thanks!

Hope you have a very, MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Chris VanWert

Flyball Survey

It's my personal belief that the most important function of anyone who serves or seeks a position on the NAFA Board of Directors is to listen to the flyball playing public. While I'm not sure exactly what the public wants NAFA to do for them, I have developed a short 10 question survey that I believe will:

• provide some insight to the needs of NAFA players and
• demonstrate that I can ask good questions when seeking answers to complex issues.

So, please take about two minutes to answer a few simple questions about flyball and NAFA and then we can get on with something REALLY important like, playing with our doggies!

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world's leading questionnaire tool.

Prank .....or Vandalism?‏

I recently received the following information from the Captain of a NAFA Hosting Club:

We lock the building at night. People can come to get a key at {our} trailer. {team name withheld} got the key and didn't relock the building. Morning comes and most flyball boxes, buckets of balls, props, etc., had been duct taped and zip tied together. Silly but not a big issue. Then we start racing. The NAFA EJS doesn't function properly. TD played around trying to fix them. Then we realized someone had switched the poles around and pass pole and start had been switched in both lanes. Fixed that but still had lights doing weird things. After calling another judge and Leerie(NAFA CoB), both told me (TD) to do all the things we had already done. Wipe them down, check switches, etc., time is passing. After 40 mins of dealing with this and planning to go manual, someone realized the two black poles had been switched around, too.

This "PRANK" cost us (hosting club) 45 mins of our day. Worse, from now on we won't be giving bathroom access at night so now we have the added cost of renting porta-potties at $150 per weekend times 2 tournies a year. This will cost my team $300 a year extra. Plus, we will lose entries as some won't camp if there no bathroom access. There are many consequences and added risks for this. They could've smashed the lights (EJS) or, stole our raffle prizes, trashed the arena, etc., etc.
Someone, {name withheld} has confessed they did the duct tape, zip tie prank but, swears they didn't do the lights prank. Alcohol makes people do stupid things. I (TD) don't know who did it but, messing with NAFA lights is poor sportmansship, malicious, and just plain rude.
This has changed the way we do things. We can't be trusting our (flyball) competitors to act in a civilized manner. It sucks.

I happen to agree. Hosting clubs put in a lot of work to set up and run a tournament. They shouldn't have to worry about pranks.... or, possible vandalism. What is even more disturbing about this whole story is that the person who confessed to the duct tape/zip ties "prank" happens to be a flyballer. It is my understanding that they were not entered in this event so, what motivated them to be on the grounds at all? Just visiting? Getting loaded? Found opportunity?

I haven't identified the Region because it "could" happen anywhere. Hosting Clubs, TD's beware and be "aware". No matter how "safe" you consider your venue to be or how well behaved you think your flyball community is, don't take risks after the racing pauses on Friday or Saturday night. Lock the building and take the keys.

It's the only way to insure that flyball will be there for the future.

Good Luck and Good Racing!

.....Chris

Flyball Today Livestream Channel

Watch live streaming video from flyballtoday at livestream.com

Please, note: There are buttons at the bottom of your screen:
"Viewers" tells you how many are watching right now.
 "Videos" will take you to the library where Live! broadcasts have been stored and you can access what has been recently broadcast over the web via Livestream.com.
"Chat" will take you to Flyball Today's live chat room where viewers can interact with a moderator who is broadcasting or also with other viewers.
 The number in front of "Share" tells you exactly how many times someone has shared the channel with somebody. The Facebook, Twitter and Buzz icons allow you to share this channel with family, friends, neighbors & co-workers through these web applications and email. There other options if you click on them.

Flyball Today is the fastest growing livestream channel featuring Pets & Animals. Tune in and see why everybody in flyball is talking about what's happening in Flyball Today!

Good Luck and Great Viewing!


.....Chris

NAFA News: Leadership Chat - 6/6/10‏

NAFA has announced the following on NAFA News:

The second quarter leadership chat will be on June 6, 2010 at 5:00 EDT. The third and fourth quarter leadership chats have not yet been scheduled, but will be announced later in the year. Sign in information will be posted on the NAFA® web page.

The ground rules from the last chat will still be in effect.
Ground Rules for NAFA® Leadership Chats:

· This is a community chat. Everyone is welcome. If you want to post a question or comment, please use your first and last name on your log in so folks will know who you are.

· This is a moderated chat. Please address your comments to the moderator, who is tasked with grouping topics to keep things on track.

· Be courteous – no profanity or defamatory personal attacks.

Posts that violate these rules will be deleted and the poster may be blocked.



It should be noted by everyone that NAFA will block anyone who forgets the rule and tries to ask a question without logging in their full name, first and last. There will be no warning given or second chance.



-Chris VanWert

NAFA's CanAm Classic

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.

What is a video worth?

Everybody wants to go to the "Nationals" but, how many had to stay home? Fortunately, a lot of good video was shot at this event. I'm hoping that after viewing this, if you did not go, you'll find a way to get there next year.

....and if you DID go, here's what other people were doing while you were racing....or, relaxing in your crating area.....or eating.

Anyway, here is a dedicated YouTube viewer for your CanAm viewing pleasure!




Good Luck and Good Racing!
(and Good Viewing, too!)

.....Chris