Friday, August 18, 2006

Baby Update August 18th

Currently we are about 33 weeks pregnant! Not a whole lot to report other than mom-to-be is getting increasingly uncomfortable...all the experts agree that is right on target for now. Baby Egg is very active, hiccuping, kicking, somersaulting...practicing frisbee throws...at least that is what Danny is hoping :). Keeping praying that the baby doesn't appear until after the world championships! Our doctor says it should be just fine for Danny to go - but we have a check up right before Danny leaves, just to make sure!



I thought I would include the ultrasound picture (from around 20 weeks) for those of you who haven't seen it yet, look at that cute little nose!

More "NEWS"!

Yep! I have a newsworthy family! Danny and Guinan were interviewed by the other local paper, The Elkhart Truth, on wednesday and the article came out today (read below).
Elkhart Truth:
    THIS DOG'S QUARRY: DISCS!
    Osceola man's dog wins state Disc Dog award
    Published: Friday, August 18, 2006 By Jeffrey Burton




    Truth Photos By Larry Tebo


    OSCEOLA -- Guinan doesn't have to jump through hoops to get people's attention. But the possibility hasn't exactly been ruled out.

    "There's nothing she couldn't do with practice," said Danny Eggleston of Osceola.

    On Sunday, Eggleston and Guinan, his 2 1/2-year-old black-and-white border collie, won the Disc Dog Indiana state championship in Delphi.

    Disc Dog, for those unaware, is the official term for dogs catching flying discs. These, though, aren't the ordinary catch-and-release type activities people are used to seeing at parks.

    Disc Dog involves rather elaborate stunts with dogs vaulting off their handlers and catching multiple discs in a single leap.

    While many competitors have to go through rigorous training, Eggleston noticed a sort of magnetism between Guinan and flying discs at a very young age.

    "With most dogs it doesn't come completely naturally," Eggleston said. "I play Ultimate Frisbee, and one day I took a Frisbee, tossed it up and caught it. This little 10-week-old dog tried to jump up over the coffee table and catch it."

    Suddenly the gears started spinning, and the discs started flying. They started out with simple catching and ground maneuvers. Once Guinan reached 1 year of age and her bones had hardened, they began working on their vaults.

    "By then we already had a good understanding that she loved Frisbees," Eggleston said.

    Eggleston hoped all along, though, that Guinan would be attracted to life as a disc dog. His interest was piqued by watching clips on the Internet. His wife, Jamie, was willing, but unaware of what it would become.

    "My thought was that if we got a high-energy dog (Danny's doing disc dog with it) was cool because I'm not very athletic, and I can't chase it around all the time," Jamie said. "I had no idea that it would become an obsession. Every weekend it's something."

    Being the flying disc equivalent of a "golf widow" doesn't bother Jamie, though. She and the couple's first-born dog, Frodo, a Jack Russell Terrier and the family's "goodwill ambassador," enjoy sitting on the sidelines and cheering for Danny and Guinan with the rest of the spectators.

    "Everyone is cheering for everyone else," she said. "It's an awesome community."

    Their unusual activity also has been embraced in their own community. Danny and Guinan have performed at Jimtown High School football and basketball games, and they've even participated in half-time shows at Steelers and Colts games. And like a football coach, Danny plans and plots new maneuvers and routines in the off-season.

    "We have a dry-erase board and he comes up with new things to do," Jamie said.

    One aspect of the competition Danny never planned was Guinan's speed. She excels in distance and accuracy events, so much so that she is currently considered the world's fastest disc dog.

    "She likes to run fast," Danny said. " She's running so fast that I have to slow her down."

    Since winning their first competition in May 2005 in Kalamazoo, their trophies have been getting bigger and the awards more prestigious, leading Danny to conjure up an idea Jamie isn't exactly buying, at least not yet.

    "He wants another dog," Jamie said. "My request is one family member at a time."

    Jamie is expecting the couple's first child on Oct. 6, just two short weeks after the world championship in Atlanta. While she's not exactly worried about her husband missing their child's birth, she is a little leery of the other lass in his life.

    "I think they have a communication between the two of them," Jamie said. "If I ask her to do something, it's like, 'You're a nice lady, I guess I'll do what you want.' But, if he says something, she'll jump and be like 'Whatever you want.'"

    Jamie does, though, enjoy watching "Team Eggstream" run and jump toward the world championship. And while it is considered a sport, for her, it's really entertaining.

    "It's the sort of thing you'd expect to see at the circus," Jamie said. "It's pretty cool."

    Guinan refused comment, although she did lick, often.

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

New State Champions get published!




Yep! That's Danny with a beauty of a new trophy! He and Guinan took 3rd in freestyle and 1st in distance this last weekend at the Indiana State Championships in Delphi, IN. These scores combined earned him the top ranking and made them the new Indiana State Champions!!!

In other disc-dog news...Danny and Guinan have an article about them in the local paper today (The South Bend Tribune).
The article follows (since it would only be on their website for a few days):
Article published Aug 16, 2006

    BORDER COLLIE IS ONE HIGH-FLYING POOCH!

    BILL MOOR
    Tribune Columnist

    Danny Eggleston, a longtime Ultimate Frisbee competitor, was tossing one of his discs up in the air in his living room when he thought a rocket had gone off in his house.

    Guinan, his 10-week-old border collie pup, tried to jump over the coffee table to down the disc.

    "Just 10 weeks old," Danny says. "I think at that point I knew I might have a pretty good disc dog competitor."

    Oh, yeah.

    Guinan, a girl and now 2 1/2, and Danny, a computer programmer at Manhattan Associates in Mishawaka, just won the overall title at the Disc Dog Indiana state championships over the weekend in Delphi.A few weeks earlier at a 12-state regional competition in New Castle, they won four titles ... set a world record in the time trial ... and qualified for three events at the Hyperflight Skyhoundz World Championships in Atlanta.

    Like their Frisbees, they are flying high right now.

    "I'm looking forward to seeing how well we can do at Worlds," says Danny, 29, a Jimtown native.

    What can stop them from doing well?

    "Well, maybe me," Danny says. "Last year at the regional, I threw a disc right into the ground."Guinan still loved him.

    "I had 365 days to think about that one," he says.

    And both he and Guinan have risen to the occasion -- and often above the competition -- ever since.But something else could ground them, too.

    The Worlds are scheduled for Sept. 23-24, and Danny and his wife, Jamie, are expecting their first child on Oct. 6.

    "The baby comes first," Danny says.

    "I won't be able to go to the Worlds regardless, but I so want Danny and Guinan to go," Jamie says.

    Like her hubby and their disc-defying doggie, she needs to go the distance for that to happen."Both Danny and Guinan are high energy, and they really are enjoyable to watch," says Jamie who usually is cheering from the sidelines with their other dog, a Jack Russell terrier named Frodo.

    They both have a little ham in them, too.

    They got a head start on most rookies last year when well-known disc dog showman Bill Camp, of Niles, mentored them and even took them with him to perform at a couple halftimes at NFL football games.

    "Bill was really helpful," Danny says. "In fact, the whole disc dog culture is that of cooperation and friendliness. It's like people are taken aback when someone even yells at their dog."

    That can cause a little bit of a problem for Danny."It seems the louder I am, the faster Guinan runs," he says.

    And Guinan is about as quick as a dog gets.

    When they took first place in the time trial event at the regional in New Castle, Guinan set a world record by catching and retrieving two 20-yard-plus throws in 14.78 seconds.

    No performance enhancement drugs, either. Just a few doggie power bars called Zukes.

    At the Worlds, Danny and Guinan will compete in three events -- distance and accuracy in which dogs catch as many discs as they can in 60 seconds along with the freestyle and team freestyle competitions (with fellow competitor Christina Curtis, of Indianapolis) in which they do a 90-second routine of throws and vaults and other acrobatic stuff."We usually start out with Guinan and me doing a conga line in the freestyle event," Danny says.

    They are quite a pair and practice in their Osceola neighborhood almost every night.

    "If I had to break it down, I would say that Guinan is about 60 percent of our success with me about 40 percent of it," Danny says.

    That breakdown isn't enough to call their act "Guinan and a Guy," but Danny knows he has a special dog.

    "She definitely has the knack," he says.The world -- and the Worlds -- await.

Friday, August 04, 2006

Skyhoundz North Central Regionals - WHAT A WEEKEND!

Wait 'til you read this!! Danny is still a bit shell shocked, but he and Guinan have been working SOOOOO hard, they deserve it all! Danny is disc dog obsessed and practicing constantly! Anyway, here's a big Danny and Guinan update!

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This last weekend, July 29th and 30th, in New Castle Indiana there was the North Central Regional Qualifier for Skyhoundz (event hosted by IDDC Indianapolis Disc Dog Club www.d-dog.com), a prestigious disc dog competitive organization that has competitions all over the world (for more info http://www.skyhoundz.com). The qualifier this year had over 240 teams competing! The top winners from this weekend qualified to go on to this years World Finals in Atlanta, GA Sept. 23-24th.

Overall this weekend Danny took an amazing FOUR first place titles, a Second place and a Third place! Qualifying to go to the World Championships in not one but THREE. events!! : Distance and Accuracy, Freestyle, and Pairs Freestyle! And Danny and Guinan also set a new World Record in Time Trial as well as lots of other records! The first place spots make Danny the Regional Champion in Freestyle and in Distance and Accuracy (in a region of 12 states).

Here is a little about each type of event where Danny and Guinan placed!

-1st place in Freestyle: The dog/handler team have two 90 second rounds to do a routine, often set to music, of various throws and catches, including exciting vaults -- where the dog jumps off its owner. They can use up to 5 discs.

-1st Place in Distance and Accuracy: The dog/handler team has two 60 second rounds to get as many throws caught as possible (dog returns each throw - allows only one disc) gaining points for distance and bonus points if the dog is in the air for the catch.

-1st Place in Time Trial (and a World Record 14.78 sec): Try to get the dog to catch and return two 20 yard throws as fast as possible.

-1st Place in Team Time Trial: Try to get the dog to catch and return two 20 yard throws as fast as possible while alternating between two handlers. (This award was won by Danny Eggleston, his doubles partner Christina Curtis and our dog Guinan)

-3rd Place in Team Time Trial: Try to get the dog to catch and return two 20 yard throws as fast as possible while alternating between two handlers. (This award was won by Danny Eggleston, his doubles partner Christina Curtis and her dog Nitro)

-2nd Place in Pairs Freestyle: The dog/ double handler team have 90 seconds to do a routinue of various throws and catches, including exciting vaults -- where the dog jumps off the handlers. They can use up to 10 discs. (This award was won by Danny Eggleston, his doubles partner Christina Curtis and our dog Guinan)



Danny and Guinan get ready to rock!

Here are some links to video clips. They were taped mainly so Danny can go through and know what to do different next time--- so the video quality isn't perfect

Danny's round one single freestyle routine -- unfortunately a cameraman was in the way for the end of it -- but at least you could see it! If your computer lets you! Single Freestyle Routine

Double Freestyle Routine (small on screen so hard to see) Doubles Freestyle Routine

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Now the special request here is to pray that I don't go into labor early because then Danny won't go to World's and I want him to be able to! In fact we are due 2 weeks after the World Championships -- here's hoping and praying that I don't deliver early!!!