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Editors note:- When it comes to talking about you own dog there tends to be a bias - expect no exception here!
Darwin has turned out to be everything I ever wanted in a dog, he has a superb temperament, obedient, good with other animals (except Rogan), loves people including children and has an almost human sense of humour. He works with me all day in my Book and Card shop as the PR man and has a large following of supporters who bring him gifts and treats. One customer even had his picture printed on a T shirt. Each evening when I go home the first thing he does is to search out my wife Gwen who hides somewhere in the house (only in play of course - not from me!). He then wants to play all night and if you do not play with him he will sit and stare at you until you feel guilty. This side of him is rarely seen at flyball however, as like so many of the Molten Magnets dogs they simply want to play the game.
From an early age we have always excercised him with a tennis racquet and ball which has made him a fast sprinter and good catcher. When we heard of Flyball we knew it was for him and have never looked back, he is probably the most focused flyballer around. At just 18 months he qualified with the Northampton Dragonflies team for Crufts 2001 (a last minute team put together for the experience) who were the runners up. During the racing he was placed at the back as last dog and time after time pulled back from a losing position to win the races. He then qualified for Crufts 2002 with the Northants Dogmatics who went on to be the winning team. He also qualified for the 2003 Crufts Tournament with the Northants K9's Team who blew it in the semi finals. For the 2004 Crufts tournament he was with the runner up Northants Borders team.
He joined the Podlets during the Summer Championship of 2000 and was then promoted to the PODS 1st team which is a great honour considering they were the winning team anyway and joint winners in 2001. In July 2002 he won his Silver Flyball Award, during 2003 he achieved both GOLD and ICE BLUE MOON AWARDS before his fifth birthday and has become the seventh only dog to reach Platinum award Standard. He is a rather muscular dog with a large frame that makes him quite a heavy dog yet he has great power as any box loader will tell you! On the Crufts box he hits it so hard that the ball launches skyward so he has to jump high to catch it, yet this makes him one of the fastest dogs around on this box. He has also trained for Obedience and Agility but Flyball is too much fun and unlikely now to follow these possible careers.
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YOU CAN FIND OUT MORE ABOUT DARWIN ON HIS OWNERS WEBSITE.
CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW
www.s-james.co.uk