Saanich Fair 2024

Barn Stormers put on a demo each day of the fair again this year.   The dogs entertained the crowds with their speed and their “not quite following the rules” antics… this just emphasized that we’re in this for fun!   We had a variety of dogs able to participate…  showing that all dogs are welcome…. it’s not a breed specific sport.       There are videos available to view on our FaceBook page…Barn Stormers Flyball Club – check them out.

Run Free Tournament

Chilliwack… June 8-9, 2024

A smaller group off this time… one team, but what a team!   The Hurricanines are back in business… 2 whippets  (Odie and Archer) and 2 border collies (Bailey and Lea), aided by 2 mini aussies (Pico and Nova).   More titles, more super good race times… well done.    Misty ran with Animal House, a team from Oregon, and Dixie and Stormy… our seniors, got to play a little at lunch time on Sunday.    Good fun for everyone.

Matsqui Spring 2024 Tournament

A two team trip to the mainland for the Barn Stormers.    Despite some last minute changes, we still managed to have two teams… 4 dogs who had been in tournaments before, (Lea, Dixie, Stormy and Misty), 4 dogs who had never seen a tournament before, (Reese, Bailey, Pico and Bowie) and we borrowed dogs from the host club to round out the teams…. 2 each day.. 4 different dogs in total.  Region 7 flyballers are awesome… they bend over backwards to help each other out.   All 4 green dogs performed well after the first jitters got out of the way.. they earned their first titles and the new handlers saw what it’s all about.   We kept pretty busy so not much time for photos;   pro photographers got the ones with the watermark.

Arizona Tournaments

January 27/28  and February 17/18, 2024

Two more Arizona tournaments for the snow dogs.   Misty really is becoming a Surf City dog down here… she ran with them in both.   Stormy had to sit out again, but is looking forward to getting home and running with her own club.   Misty did well… any errors were usually mine, not her’s.  She reached another milestone in her career;    she earned the needed points to get her ONYX title.    Really looking forward to running with our own dogs in the next tournament we go to.

Christmas Party, 2023

Sid and Janet opened their home  (beautifully decorated) once again to the Barn Stormers for the Christmas party.   Despite the promise of Rumchatas, not everyone was able to attend, but those who did had a good time.   The crazy gift exchange caused a few laughs as usual, as gifts get exchanged and traded!

Woodstock, November 2023

The snow dog girls are in Arizona again, practicing with the Arizona Supercharged club, and Misty got to run in the annual Woodstock tournament held in Chandler.  She seems to becoming an almost permanent member of the Surf City team from California at tournaments.    Nice bunch of people so it’s good.   The tournament had a very delayed start on Saturday because of rain;  the run lanes were covered with tarps which had to be carefully moved to avoid flooding the lanes.   Because of the late start, the finish was under floodlights… a first for us.

Fair Demo

September 2, 3, and 4, 2023

The annual Saanich Fall Fair was the site of demonstrations each day by a small group of the Barn Stormers .   We had a slightly different gang each time, as some people were only able to be there on certain days.  The following dogs entertained the quite large audiences…. Lea, Charlie, Dixie, Bailey, Misty, Stormy, Reese, Hazel, Stella, Blue and Pilot.   The dogs were great.. there might have been some missed jumps here and there, but the spectators cheered them on anyway!   We showed that we don’t have to have perfection to have fun, and that all dogs are welcome.

Summer BBQ

August 19, 2023

Party time for Barn Stormers once again.    We might not be able to get everyone there, but those who do come always seem to have a good time… The normal view was somewhat diffused by the hazy smoke from all the wildfires but at least, no ash falling.   The bbq added to the smoke and set the smoke alarm off and that caused  Stormy to panic, breaking out of the xpen, and making a dash for who knows where…. safely caught and returned home.  Just all part of being a Barn Stormer.

Sid manned the bbq

Matsqui Summer Classic Flyball Tournament

June 24/25, 2023

We did it again… a second tournament for this year.    A slightly different team as Hazel (Jason & Sara) joined Odie (Jo & Jon), Lea (Jill), Dixie (Sid & Janet), Misty and Stormy (Marg & Tony) and newcomer Charlie (Cindy & Kevin).    Charlie was dog #7, which meant he could use the warm up time … he was pretty shellshocked to start with, but as the day went on he got more confident.  The team did themselves proud… second place both days.   A really high point for us all was Odie and Joanne getting a perfect start!    0.000 on the start clock.   So very hard to get.. not many people do.    It’s taken a lot of hard work for all these dogs and people to get to this point… and they’re eager for more of the club to be able to join them next time!

Run Free Tournament

June 3 & 4, 2023

The first tournament of 2023 for Barn Stormers.   A team made up of Odie (Jon & Joanne),  Archer (Lisa & Adam),  Lea (Jill),  Dixie (Sid & Janet) and Misty & Stormy (Marg & Tony) made the trip to Chilliwack on the mainland.   We had a great time… Archer debuted and got his first titles, and the others all ran well, getting new titles as well.   We came in first in our division on the Saturday, but didn’t do as well on the Sunday.   It didn’t matter… we had fun.   The decision for a restaurant meal on Saturday was a good one.. lots of laughs and no clean up!    The run to the ferry on Sunday was more of a crawl for some of us… and full ferries meant the 9:00 pm for some and the 10:00 pm for the rest.