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FLYBALL |
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| If you've walked into an arena somewhere in North America and found yourself among hundreds of barking crazy dogs and people who seem to be encouraging this behaviour, you must have been to a flyball tournament! |
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The Sport of Flyball is just like this teams name implies, Fast and Furious. Not for the faint of heart. This is a fast paced relay race for those who like a good adrenalin rush. |
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Flyball was invented in the late 1970's. It became a popular canine sport in the early 1980's across North America. Now it's one of the largest organised dog sports around. |
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Flyball is a team sport consisting of a minimum of 4 and a mazimum 6 dogs per team. Each line up can only have 4 dogs running. If you have a regular division team you can run any four dogs you choose, however if you are running in the muti breed division, each of the four dogs running must be a different breed with only one dog allowed to be a mixed breed. |
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The set up for flyball is a start/finish line, 4 hurdles, and a spring loaded box which holds tennis balls. The first hurdle is 6 feet from the start line. The hurdles are 10 feet apart, and the box is 15 feet from the last jump, making for a total of 51 feet for overall length. Since the dog runs there and back, each dog runs 102 feet every heat. Some dogs can run the course in just under 4 seconds. Don't blink, you'll miss the action. |
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Each dog is lined up and ready to go. The electronic laser timer is set to time the race. The lights go off Yellow, Yellow, Green. Once the light is green it is safe for the dog to cross the line, he jumps the hurdles, steps on the box releasing the tennis ball, he catches the ball, and turns, running back over all the jumps holding the ball until he crosses the line. Once he is across the line, the next dog is off and running. The first team to have all four dogs complete the race without error wins the heat. Races are usually won best 3 out of 5 heats. |
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| The height of the hurles depends on the size of your smallest dog running. Jumps are a maximum of 16 inches and a minimum of 8 inches. The height is measured 4 inches below the shoulder of your smallest dog. |
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| Each dog earns points for every clean heat run. The points are based on how fast the team runs. In 2002 a mixed breed dog named Hobbes, from Ontario, was the first dog to earn 100,000 points. The 100,000 point award has been honorably named the hobbes award. |
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When you sit and think about how your going to get all four dogs running a flyball course as fast as you can it's hard to imagine what times you may be able to come up with. Some teams are happy running in the 20 second range. When you finally break into the 19 second or even 18 second bracket it's time for celebration. Now try to think about how fast each dog must be running and how perfect their passes must be to get the world records. |
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| On 08/18/02, The team Rocket Relay from Ontario had crowds screaming in delight as they hit 15.83 seconds. That still stands as the Canadian record. However a team from Michigan came up on July 19 2003 and took our time away by running 15.54 seconds. Think about it, to run that time, all four dogs has to be running under 4 seconds. And they are each running 102 feet minimum ( since most handlers release their dogs from 30 feet before the start line). |
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It's fast, it's fun. Ask any flyball dog ( or handler). The barking, frothing at the mouth and pulling should all be pretty good indicators that a flyball dog wouldn't have it any other way! |
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Remember, flyball is a sport, and sports are not for every dog. Dog's should not be encouraged to jump until they are a year old so as not to hurt their developing bones. Dogs who are overweight should not start a sport like this without consulting a veterinarian. Any sport dog should be kept in good shape and exercised appropriatly for their sport every day. Remember an athlete is an athlete whether they have 2 legs or 4. |
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For more information about flyball or to find a team near you please follow this link to the flyball home page. |
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