In honor of my first flyball dog's 13th birthday yesterday, this is a re post of my very first flyball writing back in late 2000 or early 2001...wow, that seems like a long time ago and then again it seems like just yesterday!  Originally I had no idea the writing was put on the Internet and to this day I don't know exactly 'who' posted it.  I discovered it by accident one day.  I've never been able to thank the person who published it but to whoever it was...thank you for thinking it worthy enough for sharing :o).

HOW TO EXPLAIN FLYBALL TO YOUR FRIENDS & FAMILY

Since real dogs play flyball and real people live for flyball, you already know what that blank look means on your non-flyball friends', family and/or spouse's face as they stare at you on Sunday evening. They're staring because of that big, stupid grin all over your face! They're wondering what planet you've been on or why on earth you're so darn happy.

What they need to understand is that the big stupid grin is all because you just spent the last 48 hours with your best friends (furry and semi-furry). You may be inclined to try to explain how you feel, but would they be able to comprehend it at all?

Now, some people can only see the good aspects about something and some can only see the bad things. What if you explained both what's good and what's bad about flyball? That may help them begin to see the picture, eh?

Well, here's a stab at a list you can share with them. Let the rest of us know how it works:

1) Getting up at 4am on Saturday and Sunday morning to be at the tournament site by 7am when the rest of the house gets to sleep in until 9am.

2) Lugging ten times your body weight in gear from your house, to your vehicle, through the parking lot, into the arena in below freezing temps and in pitch darkness before breakfast.

3) Paying extra mileage fees on your lease vehicle because all the tournaments are in Canada and you live in the US (or they're all in the US and you live in Canada).

4) Learning to live on mouthfuls of whatever food you can get your hands on instead of 3 square meals a day because two of your teams are on deck in both rings and your other team is on double-deck.

5) As a handler, realizing that it's never the box loader's fault.

6) When you're the box loader, realizing that it's always the box loader's fault.

7) Standing at the box having to give the "I need balls" signal when some of your non-flyball friends are watching your team for the first time.

8) Not seeing your family on weekends and Holidays because you are at your favorite tournament (again).

9) Not being able to wear a skirt to work on Monday because your knees are red and swollen from kneeling on Tuff Spun for 12 hours a day for the last two days.

10) Having to borrow money from a teammate for dinner because you flagged on your passes a few too many times that weekend and now you're broke.

11) Wearing the monkey hat!

So much for the good things…now for the bad………………………………………?

The End

Written by LINDA 

Proud dog-mom of Timber & Indy

Member of the Ballistics' Flyball Team

 

http://flyball.com/high5/family_and_friends.htm