How to Get Your Dog Started in Flyball

One of many exciting dog sports, flyball is a relay race – where the dogs are the racers! It’s easy to get started in flyball and lots of fun for your dog.

As people become with their dogs and in their training, many discover the fun of dog sports. Flyball is one of dozens of sports that owners and dogs can participate in, while also making new friends.

What is Flyball

Flyball is a relay race, run by four dog and handler teams who race against another flyball team. The dogs must go over four hurdles and collect a tennis ball at the end of the line, then return the ball to their handler.

It started in the late 1960s and early 1970s in southern California when a few dog trainers combined scent hurdle racing with retrieving a tennis ball. Interest in the sport grew quickly after Herbert Wagner demonstrated flyball on the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.

How to Start Your Dog’s Flyball Training

The first and possibly the most important step in flyball, or anything you ever want to do with your dog is basic obedience! Flyball dogs can’t be aggressive and must have exceptional recall. There are no fences between the race lanes, so a dog that decides to go off its own can be a danger to itself and others.

Here are a few things you can do to get their flyball training started:

Basic Obedience

We really do mean basic here. They don’t have to do anything fancy, but a few things are vital:

• Recall. Your flyball dog must come back to you the first time they’re called.
• Retrieving. The whole goal is to bring back a tennis ball. If they don’t bring toys back, why would they bring back a tennis ball?

As with any activity, the more your dog knows, the better. It makes learning new things easier and makes your dog even more fun to be around.

Flyball is an intense, high-octane sport that requires dogs to pass by each other without snapping or snarling. They must be able to focus on their job and not care what’s going on around them. Here are a couple more skills that will help your dog focus:

• Look/Focus. This cue is useful for keeping your dog’s focus where it needs to be.
• Drop it/Out. Sort of obvious, but you have to get the tennis ball back from your dog.

Play Drive

We left this for last because it may seem a bit obvious. Your dog must want to play – flyball uses tennis balls for the retrieve, but handlers often use tugs as a reward. If your dog isn’t interested in toys, flyball may be tough to get into. While your dog is learning how to use the flyball box, treats are helpful, but after that, you won’t use as many treats as toys.

Tug toys are really popular with flyball families. They’re interactive, getting dogs excited about playing; they are also a fantastic reward at the end of a race.

Do Some Breeds Do Better in Flyball?

Fortunately, your dog’s breed isn’t very important to flyball. Drive, speed, behavior, and body type are more important for highly competitive teams. However, any dog with an appropriate drive level, excellent recall, and good behavior around other off-leash dogs can have fun in this fast-paced sport.

Some of the most common breeds on competitive flyball teams are:

• Border collies
• Whippets
• Smaller terriers
• Belgian Malinois

What is a Flyball Team?

A flyball team is more than just the four dog-handler teams. Every flyball team has at least one substitute team, but usually two. Here’s what a typical flyball team looks like:

• 4 running dogs and 2 substitutes with their handlers
• 1-2 ball runners
• 1 box loader

How High are Flyball Hurdles?

Because this sport is high-speed and is a relay race, teams can’t have their hurdle height changed between each dog. Instead, they base their hurdle height on the shortest dog, within certain limits.

Judges measure the shortest dog’s height (called the height dog) at the withers and subtract five inches from that number. The minimum hurdle height is seven inches, and the maximum is 14.

What is the Box at the End?

That box is specially designed for flyball. It holds a tennis ball that the dog retrieves when they run. It’s spring-loaded so the ball can pop into the dog’s mouth when it hits the angled platform.

Dogs perform the canine equivalent of a swimmer’s turn when they run into the box – their front feet hit the spring-loaded board, grab the ball, and flip around to race back over the hurdles. That turn is vital to a flyball race, and dogs that drop the ball or sit there playing with it interfere in the flow of the relay.

Where to Train Your Dog for Flyball

Think flyball might be your thing? Find a club! The North American Flyball Association (NAFA) sanctions events in the U.S. and Canada and keeps a list of active clubs. However, flyball clubs are active worldwide. We’ve listed a few for you, but even if your area isn’t listed, a Google search may reveal some local clubs.

• UK Flyball League
• British Flyball Association
• Australian Flyball Association
• North American Flyball Association
• United Flyball League International

The photo featured at the top of this post is © Julia Zavalishina/Shutterstock.com