Harry was great with Jess – another very good partnership indeed, and although Jess occasionally went round the side to collect the ball, she never touched it – and then realised she needed to hit the paddle. Breeze… well what can I say about her !!!!! Well I know what I wanted to say, but it wasn't polite enough! Kayla tried her best but either Breeze was too manic, or the ball wasn't right, or something, but she didn't do it right all day and ended up not being used in the races. However Kayla tried her hardest with her and completed all the warm up sessions.

 

Thankfully we had a fantastic pair standing in reserve with the two stars of the show, Tasha and Boris. They were amazing. Tasha had never done flyball before, let alone with a dog that wasn't hers. To have to do her first session at a Crufts qualifier was rather nerve-racking, but she didn't put a foot wrong, and poor Boris had to run every leg which for Boris was quite hard. Boris, though, was our hero: he ran up and took the ball every time in his usual calm and collected manner, as if there was all the time in the world. He won the day for us all, be it by about ten inches, but we won the race making us 2nd overall – and putting us through to Crufts!

 

I'll now explain a little about the racing and you'll see why Boris was the star of the show. After the first round, all the teams had lost one race each so we had to race everybody once more to decide the winner. First and second place get you to Crufts and, as you could tell by the end of the first round, the teams were pretty equal. We started our first run-off race and the other team beat us (the races are best of three legs). Then that same team beat the other team, making them overall winners. So we now had to race the team that was level-pegging with us – no pressure kids, but they wanted to win and they knew we wanted them to.

 

The first leg we won on interference, which we were pleased about as poor Boris was getting really tired by now and was just ambling down the lane. In the next leg Steve had a fantastic start, and Harry with Jess got another good chang-over. When Chris let Sampson go, we were nearly a dog in front, but the other team had two quick dogs as their last two dogs and brought some of it back. When Boris went up the lane we were about half a lane in front, but the other team had a Sheltie and in my heart I thought that poor Boris wasn't going to beat a Sheltie. However the Sheltie went wrong on the box, which meant that all Boris had to do was collect the ball and start coming back – and he'd still have the advantage.

 

Unfortunately Boris had other ideas. Yes, he calmly collected the ball and then thought that he would stop and look at what was happening over the other side for a while! Poor Jodie nearly had a nervous break-down on the box and was shouting "Boris over" as if her life depended on it. In the end he got the message and started his trek down the lane. As he was half way down, the Sheltie got its act together and started to fly down the lane. I have never heard so few people (Sue M, Sue T, Sharon, Vanessa and me) make such a noise yelling at Boris to hurry up. Boris crossed the finish line with about ten inches to spare. WE HAD WON. I was in tears and Boris was our superstar.

 

I am so proud of the kids and the dogs that run. I never thought that we would qualify for Crufts on our first attempt. They are all amazing and I'd like to say a big thank-you to all those involved in lugging that wonderful Crufts box backwards and forwards, but it's paid off.

 

WE'RE GOING TO CRUFTS, WE'RE GOING TO CRUFTS, WE'RE GOING TO CRUFTS!

 

Ebony had 7 puppies on 9 January: 3 boys (1 red & white and 2 black & white), and 4 girls (all black & white).