Dog>Gone Flyball began in May of 2001 when Nancy started teaching her first flyball class at SOTC. Nancy had hoped to offer the class as part of SOTC, but the SOTC board felt that the demand for flyball classes would not justify the expenses for equipment. Instead SOTC offered to rent the building to us on Thursday nights so we could hold our own classes. Although it was expensive, it was a fortunate turn of events since it meant that we controlled our own destiny in terms of management and decisions.
Our first class consisted of 5 dogs and their handlers who trained with old jumps and a single-holed box through the heat of the Florida summer! At that time, SOTC was not air-conditioned and flyballers were the only people willing to train in the building throughout the summer. Gradually we added one competition box at a time, regulation jumps and small dividers. Over the years we have been fortunate to have team members and family work to provide the equipment we now have!
Although the first dogs started training in May, they didn't run in their first tournament until March of 2002. At that point, the only clubs in Florida that put on tournaments were Ketch and Waverunners and those were few and far between. The Dog>Gone Express team went to its first tournament in Tampa with five green dogs and Osko, Nancy's GSD, the only experienced racer. Much of that first tournament is a blur now, but records show that this team placed 4th in Division 2 both days. There were only two divisions and a total of 12 teams competing. We were thrilled to be racing whether we earned five points or one - and that's pretty much what we earned in those early tournaments!
From the start Dog>Gone's team philosophy has been to run clean, stay healthy and have fun! We believe that any dog can do flyball if his or her handler is committed to doing so. We encourage all breeds and mixes to try the sport and actively recruit rescue dogs! Although we have top ranked dogs in several breeds, our emphasis is on putting together teams than run consistently under 24 seconds. In the first 5 years of our team's existence, we ran exclusively in NAFA tournaments. Now that UFLI tournaments are offered in the South, we have begun running under both organizations. We celebrate all of our team dogs and their successes whether they have one title or dozens!
We always welcome newcomers who want to have fun with their dogs. Over the years, we have found that people who fit best with our team are TEAM PLAYERS who enjoy their dogs and have a cooperative attitude!
