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About Lickety Splits Flyball Team

Flyball it is the fastest growing dog sport in the US, and there are teams all over the country and Canada.  There are two sanctioning bodies for flyball; the United Flyball League International (U-FLI™) and the North American Flyball Association (NAFA).  Lickety Splits competes in both leagues however, we do run primarily with U-FLI™ since our team has made a commitment to racing on mats and at indoor facilities since we feel it is safer for the dogs.  We are the only team in San Diego county to have made this commitment and it means we are the only team also to have permanent site for our equipment and practices as well as all of our tournaments.  Mats mean a lot more time to set up and take down, but provide a completely consistent racing and training surface for both human and canine competitors.  

Flyball is a relay race for two teams of 4 dogs each.  The dogs run a straight course over 4 low hurdles towards a spring loaded box. They make a 180 degree turn on the box face and catch a tennis ball as it is propelled out of the box, then they return over the same hurdles to their handler. As the cross the finish line, the next dog on that team goes.  The fastest team with no errors wins the race.  read more...

There are many flyball teams in the US and Southern California is host to 7 teams.  Lickety Splits is one of the oldest and most successful teams.  We are the fastest team in California and are ranked 7th in U-FLI™.  We have competed successfully in 3 of the last 4 international championships and have always placed in the top 3 teams across North America for our division.  We have the highest point earning dog in all of U-FLI™ and also held the world record for Pairs racing for a few years.  Our winning pair of dogs is still the fastest pair of rescued dogs in all of flyball.  Lickety Splits was originally part of the Aztec Doberman Pinscher Club and still supports their rescue with money we earn from our tournaments and raffles.

Lickety Splits also has a small rescue called Second Wind Athlete Rescue and works with the San Diego County Animal Control, San Diego Humane Society and the Escondido Humane Society to help assess and place high energy athletic dogs into sports homes.  

We host 4 tournaments each year and we also sponsor one or two training weekends each year.  The training weekends are low cost events to help other teams to improve their training and competitive strategies.  We also have teams from Nevada, California and Arizona come to our practices on occasion to train with us.  Since we have a fairly large membership of 13 people and such a nice training facility we are able to do some kinds of training that other teams just don't have the membership to do at their own practices.  Because we have made a serious commitment to training and competing, we also have a lot of knowledge and expertise to share with other teams.  We welcome the chance to give back to the flyball community and hope that dogs and handlers everywhere share a closer bond, have more fun,and have more successful and safe racing because we are able to help them. 

Val Pearson,

Lickety Splits Flyball Organization, Pres.


2006 Division 2 U-FLI™ Champions

November 11th, 2006 the Stealth Squad took first place in Division 2 in the U-FLI Championship tournament in Mesquite.

Anna and SallyIt was a complete team effort to accomplish this wonderful feat. The competing dogs were Twister, handled by Jack Cameron, Holly, handled by Eunice Ciaccio, Vengeance, handled by Val Pearson, and Spirit handled by Peggy Knapp.  Backing up the team were Crack and Anna. The pass caller was Lynda Beck-Smith, box loader Kathy Daniels, timer Sally Frankel, field marshal Alan Daniels, and Chris Davis handling props and flags.

We are very proud of our whole team and had a wonderful time racing all the other teams in Dallas.  The competition was fierce and every team there had obviously earned their seed times. Thank you all for some GREAT racing.

Team History

The Lickety Splits Flyball Team was created when a number of Aztec Doberman Pinscher Club members, led by Trudy Morgan and her dog Jetta, decided that Flyball would be a terrific outlet for their Dobermans, and would showcase the breed in a positive light. This was important because of all the negative publicity Dobermans had received (undeservedly) over the years. Initially, Lickety Splits was an independent team, but was later adopted and sponsored by Aztec DPC to ensure that Lickety Splits remained as a viable outlet for showcasing of Dobies in Flyball.

Original team members were Dobies Jetta, Shermie, Roonie, and Miss Bud. They were joined by Bryson (Belgian Malinois), and height dogs Becky (Pembroke Welsh Corgi), and Cozy (Border Terrier). Soon the team expanded its Dobie population with Lux, Sunny, Nugget, and Jade. Then came Bruiser and Kari. The team also added a number of other breeds. We have one Doberman currently running with the team -- Bruiser.

Lickety Splits has evolved into a fun and competitive team with an emphasis on training for speed, accuracy, and dog safety. Our 4 different breed squad's time puts us among the top multibreed (NAFA) and variety (U-FLI™) squads in North America.

The team is now independent from Aztec DPC, but we still support their award-winning rescue work.