Flyball

[grillywarren]

just got my latest DogFancy (had to order to get the cute cairn issue!)

saw an article on Flyball. It looks like Madison would love it. She is obsessed with

fetch. Anyone ever tr it? Grilly has done agility and he likes that ver much.

Just curious!

Ellie

[kayharley]

Pardon my ignorance but what exactly is flyball? Elliott also enjoys fetch although his version consists of me chasing him for the object.

[grillywarren]

Kay....

No pardons needed. I have only heard of it once or twice before. Then I read the article

yesterday. I took this off flyballdogs.com.

It looks just perfect for Madison.

ellie

Flyball is a relay race with 4 dogs on a team. The course consists of a starting line, 4 hurdles spaced 10 feet apart and a box. The first hurdle is 6 feet from the start line and the box is 15 feet from the last hurdle for a 51 foot overall length. The dogs jump the hurdles and steps on a spring loaded box that shoots out a tennis ball. The dog catches the tennis ball and then runs back over the 4 hurdles. When the dog crosses the starting line the next dog goes. The first team to have all 4 dogs run without errors wins the heat. Tournaments are usually organized in either a double elimination or round robin foramt. Double elimination is usually best of 3 or best of 5. Round robin is usually best 3 out of 5 and the first team to win 3 heats receives 1 point towards their standing in the tournament.

The hurdles' height are dependent on the height of the dogs in the team -- 4" below the shoulder height of the shortest dog. 8" is the minimum height and 16" is the maximum height.