Caroway's Ragtime Gal, FDCh, CGC

"Rags"

2/19/1994 - 8/31/2006

Rags never ran with Lickety Splits but her sister Anna does. Rags was a member of the Woof Gang flyball team. When she retired from flyball because of an illness in March, 2002. I wanted to continue to play flyball so I became a perminate boxloader and began my researched of three years to find another dog for our family. If it wasn't for Rags finding flyball there never would have been an Anna in our home or on Lickety Splits.

I first met Rags in Lake Forrest, IL when she was seven weeks old. I flew to Illinois to spend three days with Rags and her nine siblings just one week before she flew to California to live with our family. At eight weeks of age Rags was out in the fields of Prado Dam training to retrieve birds. She continued to field train for the first three years of her life. Rags earned a Canine Good Citizen (CGC) title and she had some Canine Freestyle lessons. Rags and I took agility classes from the local Parks and Recreation Department and it was there that we were introduced to Flyball. Rags loved Flyball more than agility and she would often finish an agility run and then head straight for the Flyball jumps.

I met Lisa Heitmiller (the Woof Gang) and her dog Vanna at a Chesapeake team obedience practice in 1998. When I heard that Lisa played Flyball with her dog, Keeper, I asked if there was a place that I could have Rags participate in the sport. She told me to go to the practice and introduce myself and see if Rags could tryout for the team. Rags played Flyball for over four years and earned her FDCh. Rags had a short Flyball career. She was diagnosed with OCD in 2002. Rags was in pain for most of her life and as she got older she became very stiff after each race. Since her Flyball retirement she worked the Demos and sold raffle tickets. She was best known as the dog that carried her purse.

Before Rags retired she had one great adventure. The following is her story:

The Big Break
By Caroway's Ragtime Gal (Rags)

We woke up early Saturday morning and drove to Ventura with Peach and her mom. My master plan was already in the works. I was a good little dog and didn't bark at humans on motorcycles, bicycles, or skateboards. And when we approached the tournament site at the Ventura Harbor Village I didn't tell anyone that Peach informed me that we would be surrounded by water. Nobody knew of my big plan and things just seem to be falling in place. We were not in the first race of the day that gave me more time to plot my big break.

When it was almost time for the race my mom and I walked over to ring one. Mom was so busy dancing like Groucho Marx to the funny music of the silent movie era that she didn't notice me whispering to Rio . I think she thought that we were kissing like we usually do. Rio and I worked out a great diversion for my plan. Then to my delight, we had a rather long break while we waited for the other team to finish racing in ring two. Mom made me dance some more to this goofy 60's rock-n-roll music. The whole time I was pulling her toward the box so she would think all I wanted to do was play flyball. Wiz and I did a little dancing and kissing while Maggie wiggled in her mom's arms. The plan was working the humans were distracted. Then it was time to warm-up. Rio went into action. He sat in front of the box and waited for his mom's recall. I knew if my mom saw him being so good it would remind her of how I used to do that too. It worked and I gained her trust. She told me to sit and then she walked away. I waited until she was at the other end and then I took off down the lane. I ran full steam toward her and grabbed the ball running as fast as I could. Mom watched me run. I knew that she was thinking that I would turn to the left and come back to play tug-of-war like I always did….…….NOT!

This was my big break. I ran all the way to the end and made a sharp turn to the right heading full speed towards the bay. She couldn't have caught me even if she was Wilma Rudolph (That tells you how old my mom is). I could hear her screaming my name but I pretended not to hear because the music was so loud and all the other dogs were cheering me on. I could see them with paws in the air and hear them chanting "Woof, woof, woof" just like Julia Roberts in "Pretty woman". Max and Sophie were screaming, "Go for it Rags". Rocket yelled, "Rags, you are the bomb" and Tess shouted, "Brown dogs rule!"

I made it to the edge of the sidewalk and could see that the ten-foot cliff was steep and there were large rocks at the bottom. It was just like Molly and Daisy said it would be. Within seconds I was at the bottom and made a flying leap into the bay. My form was a perfect 10. You know the kind that only Chessies can do. Water splashed up on both sides. I was in heaven. There were commercial fishing boats to my right and left but open water straight ahead. I was on my way out to sea when I faintly heard my mom's voice calling my name. I was going to ignore her until I heard those bone chilling words. "Okay Rags, I'm leaving. Good-bye, I'm getting in the car". I turned around just in time to see her disappear over the cliff.

I was alone. I hate when that happens. I could see a crowd of people standing on cliff laughing. Were they laughing at me because my mommy left me, or were they laughing at me because I was a "brown clown"? I couldn't take it. I love the water more than anything, but not more than my mommy. I climbed out of the bay and scampered up the cliff searching for my mom. I remember one day a few years ago I swam in the bay at home, mom ran away from me and when I reached the top, she came back to get me. That time I waited until she almost reached me and then jumped back into the water. That was a really neat trick. I wonder if I would be able to pull it off again?

When I finally arrive at the top of the cliff, I couldn't see mom through all the laughing-humans. All I could see were legs. Then suddenly I heard mom's voice yelling out to someone in the crowd, "Grab her". I turned to leap back in the water, but it was too late. Someone grabbed my harness and I was hooked like a fish on a gaff. She tricked me again.

Mom took a hold of my harness and marched me back to the starting line. She was so relieved that we didn't miss the start she didn't seem to care that she was as wet as I was. She must have worried about me because the rest of the day she greeted me with open arms and treats at the end each races. She looked like a Greco Roman wrestler, there was no way I could have gone around her. Rodi later told me that her mom and the rest of the team's humans didn't even notice that I was AWOL, but when they found out they were all put on "Grab the Rags" alert.

The first ten races I ran down to the box got the ball but on my return I would glance over at the bay. It was so tempting. Maybe if I was racing in ring two I might have tried it again. That ring was much closer to the bay. But I had it pretty good the way it was, mom was hugging me and feeding me all day long.

Later that day while we were getting ready to race another race a big loud voice called my name (I think humans call it a PA system). It said that I had just earned my FDCH title. That must be a big deal because my mom was petting my head, kissing my ears, and rubbing my belly. All the humans were yelling my name as they clapped and cheered. My mom was so nervous that she let me go too soon on the next race and I almost bumped into my good bud Rio . I could see him coming and realized that there would not be enough room for both of us to go through the jump together so I went around and let him finish. I was proud of my new title and glad I decided to play flyball that day. I can always try swimming another day.

Rags

Anna misses her sister Rags but now she has her brother Luke to keep her very busy.  We are not sure but we think that Rags spirit has come back to us in the form of Luke and that makes us all very happy!  You can see Anna's tribute to Rags here (make sure that you have your sound turned on).

Too Long Tongue, Rags...