Flyball
Both dogs, their owners and the crowd share the excitement of this fast moving sport - but what is it?

History
Flyball is a relay race for teams of four dogs and was started in California sometime in the 1970s, reputedly by Herbert Wagner who invented a ball launcher. It was so much fun that he demonstrated it on US national television. After that the sport took off in America. In the early 1980s, the North American Flyball Association (NAFA) was formed. It reached Britain in the early 1990s where it spread quickly leading to the formation of the British Flyball Association.

Rules

• Each race has two teams of four dogs running side by side, first up then back along a course of 51ft.
• The course has 4 hurdles, the first one is 6 feet from the start line and then they are 10 feet apart.
• The height of the hurdles depends on the size of the smallest dog in the team. They are set 4 inches below the withers (highest part of the back at the base of the neck). In the UK, the minimum height is 8 inches and the maximum 14 inches. In the USA, the minimum is the same but the maximum is 16 inches.
• At the end of the course, there is a box 15 feet from the final hurdle.
• The first hurdle is 6 feet from the start line and the spring loadedbox is 15 feet from the last hurdle.
• Each dog on a team runs the course, jumping the hurdles and, when he reaches the other end, he steps on the box which shoots out a tennis ball. The dog should catch it then runs and jumps back along the course to the starting line.
• As soon as a dog gets back across the start line, the next dog in the team runs and jumps the course. This continues until all four dogs have completed the course.
• The winning team is the first where all four dogs run without faults.

Copyright © 2006 - Carol Fisher