Jim thanks for that - look forward to seeing them, it's probably worrying me out of proportion.  The Santa is a dog person, but not a photographer.
And Julie, thanks for putting Sony into a corner of my mind years ago.  And JimG, thanks for words way back on shooting one-handed and throwing an 'ears up' toy with the other.  I found the Nikon just too heavy for me single-handed, so have invested in one of the new Sony A55 cameras for the purpose.  Just an amazing small DSLR, I am smitten with its new-tech features.   
We have only taken on two events for November: but one is a two-day flyball tournament, so I'm going to call it three.