What is Flyball?
Flyball
is a team sport for dogs that was invented in California in the
late 70's. Legend has it that Herbert Wagner first showed it on
the Johnny Carson Show to millions of Americans. Soon afterwards,
dog trainers and dog clubs were making and using Flyball Boxes.
In the early 80's the sport became so popular that the North American
Flyball Association (NAFA) was formed. (U.S. and Canada) Flyball
is actually now played around the world, in countries including
Britain, Belgium, Austrailia & New Zealand, South Africa, Germany,
and Finland.
Flyball is a relay race with 4 dogs on a team. The racing "course"
consists of a starting line, 4 hurdles spaced 10 feet apart, and
a flyball 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 hurdles' height are dependent on the height of the
dogs in the team — 4" below the shoulder height of the shortest
dog on the team determines the jump height for all the dogs on
that team. 7" is the minimum jump height and 14" is the maximum
height.
The
dogs jump the hurdles and step on a spring loaded plate on the
box front, which 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 on the team runs the course.
The first team to have all 4 dogs run up & back without errors
wins the heat.
Tournaments are usually organized in either a double elimination
or round robin format. Double elimination is usually best of 3
or best of 5 heats. 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. Teams can place overall in the tournament by
accrueing tournament points, by speed, or some combination of
the two, depending on the structure of the tournament. Depending
on how they place at a tournament, teams can also accrue points
towards regional championship titles.
To date, the world's fastest time is 15.22 seconds by Springloaded
from Michigan, United States.
Titles
Individual dogs earn points towards flyball titles based on
the team's racing time per heat. For heat runs in:
- less than 32 secs: each dog on team receives 1 point
- less than 28 secs: each dog on team receives 5 points
- less than 24 secs: each dog on team receives 25 points
The titles the dogs can earn are:
| Abbr |
Title |
Points |
Award |
| FD |
Flyball Dog |
20 |
Certificate |
| FDX |
Flyball Dog
Excellent |
100 |
Certificate |
| FDCh |
Flyball Dog
Champion |
500 |
Certificate |
| FDCh Silver |
Flyball Dog Champion |
1,000 |
Certificate |
| FDCh Gold |
Flyball Dog Champion |
2,500 |
Certificate |
| FM |
Flyball Master |
5,000 |
Pin |
| FMX |
Flyball Master
Excellent |
10,000 |
Pin |
| FMCh |
Flyball Master
Champion |
15,000 |
Pin |
| Onyx |
Onyx |
20,000 |
Plaque |
| FGDCh |
Flyball Grand
Champion |
30,000 |
Plaque |
| FG40-90K |
Flyball Grand
Champion 40k, 50k, etc. |
40k, 50k, etc. |
Plaque |
Hobbes |
Hobbes Award |
100,000 |
Plaque |
|
How can I get more information?
- Flyball
Homepage
- i-Flyball
- Flyball.com
- NAFA
