Flyball

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About Flyball

Flyball is for People to share picures's and talk about the world of Flyball.

Please feel free to add photos and post messages about your Dogs, Teammates,and other Canine sports. Please share this group.

If you don't know what Flyball is-

Flyball is a team relay race for dogs, governed(US and Canada) by the North American Flyball Association (NAFA www.flyball.org) and now U-Fli (United Flyball League International www.u-fli.com).
Flyball is also the fastest growing dog sport in the UK - it reached here in the early 1990s, and though they don't quite match the North American speeds, their getting close.
There is a short video about BFA flyball [British Flyball Association - the UK Kennel Club has a different variation, but BFA is the big one. If anyone is interested in seeing the video, (www.flyball.org.uk/)on the home page.

This competition consists of 2 teams of 4 dogs racing against each other. The course is 30 feet x 100 feet with 44feet of runback area, 4 jumps spaced 10 feet apart, with a start line 6 feet in front of the first jump and flyball box 15 feet from the last jump. The jumps are set at 4 inches smaller than the smallest dog on the team, with the highest possible jumps being 16 inches and the lowest 8.
U-Fli, has only a few changes. The most significant are the Jump heights and the way dogs are measured for height. The lowest jump is set at 6 inches and the highest jump is 12 inches. The dogs are measured by the legs rather the there standing height.

Starting lights similar to those used in drag racing begin the race- no dog may cross the start line until the green light goes on! The first dog must race over all four hurdles to the box and trigger the box with its paws. The box then releases a tennis ball, which the dog must catch and bring back over all four jumps.
As the first dog returns, the second dog starts running. Ideally, the dogs pass nose-to-nose at the start line. The dog is faulted if it passes too early.

The race continues until all four dogs have finished. If a dog or handler makes an error (such as dropping a ball, going around a jump, or passing too early), that dog must rerun. The first team that finishes running all dogs wins. However, both winning and losing teams gain points towards their NAFA and U-Fli titles, depending on how fast they finish the race!