I earned my FCAT2 Title last weekend! We did three days of FastCAT at the Isanti County Fairgrounds. I needed two runs to earn my title and I did that on Friday. Now I’m working on my FCAT3 Title, but there is no rush.
Because I know a lot of people don’t know much about FastCAT, I thought I would explain it a little bit for you today. Mom calls it our mindless sport because we don’t train for it, dogs either like it or they don’t. Someone releases us, we run, Mom catches us and that is it. It is basically a one hundred yard dash for dogs. The course, above, has a fence around it with a start area, and a run off area. There are two sets of timer eyes, one at the start and one at the hundred yard point (seen in the photo). The string like thing is the rope for the lure. It runs back and forth with the plastic bag on it.
There is a score person the tent putting all the scores into the software and printing out labels for competitor ribbons. On the other side is the lure operator who stands on a ladder so he can see what is going on down the whole track. A dog needs a releaser and a catcher, two leashes, and must run naked or wear a collar without tags. Most hosts have releasers if you need one. The dog is taken to the start line on leash, the starter holds up a flag and says, “tally ho”, and the dog is released from the leash to run to the end. Mom uses our slip leads at the catch end and we have a quick release leash for the starting end. It works really well for wild and crazy dogs like me and Nelson.
The sport is based on points. Points are determined by the dog’s mph. Dogs under twelve inches get a 2 handicap, twelve to eighteen inches, 1.5, and over eighteen is 1. Me and Bailie get our mph as points, Madison and Nelson both get 1.5 times their mph. For the BCAT Title, a dog needs 150 points, DCAT is 500 points, FCAT is 1000. Points are cumulative. Once you have an FCAT, you get another FCATX for every next 500 points. I have my 1500 points and am now working towards my FCAT3 which means I will need a total of 2000 points.
Madison and I are running randomly since we both have FCAT Titles, there is no need to rush. Nelson is running all the time since he is working towards his first FCAT. Since we all love it so much, why not keep running here and there?
I’m super happy to be the first GBGV to earn an FCAT2. You may remember I was the first GBGV to earn and FCAT. Only two GBGV’s have FCAT Titles and they are me and Madison. It’s so fun to be able to be the first of our breed to earn titles. This ribbon is awesome and probably the prettiest one I’ve earned out of all my sports!
Mom is happy for me too because I am her sports dog. She and I have so much fun together doing all the different sports and it is even better when we are successful! We have a couple more FastCAT weekends this fall and then we will be done with it until late spring.
My GBGV Life is happy, so we’re joining Comedy Plus for Happy Tuesday!
What a beautiful ribbon, Olivia! Congratulations to you and your mom and we love that last photo of you and your mom together!
Thank you. I love the ribbon and Mom and I are happy I have my new FastCAT Title because I do love to run.
You are one amazing and special “super girl” … congratulations Miss Olivia (and Mom) on being not just the only
GBGV winner, but obviously the best and happiest one. Keep on runnin’ …
I love my sports and I love to win. Mom says I am her dream sports hound 🙂
wowo the fastest gbgv of the whole planet earth… congrats sporty olivia… super sonic can go home now…
I’m way ahead of the competition and I love it that way. Running is fun.
Congrats Olivia! And to your Mom too! That’s great!! And that really is a pretty ribbon!!
It is probably the prettiest one we have ever earned.
That is the prettiest ribbon I’ve ever seen too. Beautiful. I love your fun weekends.
Thank you for joining the Happy Tuesday Blog Hop.
Have a fabulous Happy Tuesday. Scritches all around and a hug to mom. ♥
We love them too 🙂 Hope you all are doing okay in CA with the storm.
You guys are a great team. So impressive!
Mom and I have a blast doing sports together.
Beaaautiful Ribbon! Tell your mom I LOVE her tee shirt! This is a very timely post, because we will be running in September (I hope). I have my first title, but Jimmy has never run, and my mom has never done FASTCAT either. I hope we do her proud! We are waiting to hear if we got chosen and what time we will run. THANK YOU!!!
Olive
Thank you. You will love it. Just make sure your mom is the catcher, not the releaser and have patience as the first run or two is where you figure out the game and then you will be in love and not want to stop. We can’t wait to hear how you guys do.
WTG Olivia. you are Queen of FastCAT series. Very nice ribbons and I LOVE Mom’s tshirt
we run on dog hair and caffeine.
Hugs Cecilia
We bought her that shirt for mom’s day since it is pink and orange for me and Madison and it is true, she loves her diet coke and is always covered in dog hair, LOL!
Congrats to you and Mom ~ beautiful ribbon and you are one smart doggie ~ Xo
Wishing you good health, laugther and love in your days,
A ShutterBug Explores,
aka (A Creative Harbor)
I’m a fast girl, built to run 🙂
I can feel the joy coming from your words. You are awesome!
I’m super happy and so is Mom. We love our dog sports as a team.
Congratulations! We are slowly finding a few Fastcat events near us. And, we love your Mom’s T-shirt!!!!!
Thank you. We got Mom the t-shirt for mom’s day. It is orange and pink for me and Madison and Mom always wears dog hair and drinks diet coke, so it is perfect. I hope you guys get to run some day, it is fun.
Woot! Woot!!
Go Olivia!!!
xoxo,
Rosy and Sunny
I love to run, that is for sure and I love titles and pretty ribbons.
Well done! To be the first is so exciting and so impressive. We are so glad you love this sport so much. run, run, run!! Have a great day. your friends Chester and Lilly
Good job Olivia !
Thank you.
WeeeeOoooo, that ribbon is beautiful and it’s almost as big as you are. Congratulations, we’re all proud of you too!
I need to be taller for these big ribbons I’m starting to get.
Congratulations Olivia!!!
Thank you.
Woohoo! Well done. Congratulations of being a supurb FastCat-er, Olivia. 🥇🏆🥇
Thank you. I love to race and chase.