What is Flyball?
Photo: Dave Mills
Flyball is a relay race for dogs, a team sport 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. In the early 80's the sport became so popular that the North American Flyball Association (NAFA) was formed in 1985. Another organization, the United Flyball League International was formed in 2004. Flyball is played all over the world and continues to grow in popularity.
Farmdogs, by nature, are extremely playful. They love to run and jump and play with balls and other toys. It is no wonder that this playful working breed excels in a variety of dog sports which incorporate the inborn talents of the breed. Flyball is a particularly good sport for Farmdogs because it is a team sport where dogs and people play together. Flyball dogs adapt to many social situations and learn to be good canine citizens. Photo: Dave Mills
Flyball is a relay race between two teams of four dogs each. Each dog is released in turn and must jump four hurdles to reach the flyball box. The dog then hits the flyball box with his paws to eject a ball, which he must catch. The dog then returns over the four hurdles to his handler while the next dog is released to run the course. The fastest team without any fouls wins the race.
Photo: Dave Mills
The average time for each dog to run the complete course is between about 4 to 6 seconds, which makes an entire heat of one race between 16 - 24 seconds in length.
Each flyball team will typically have 6 dogs. Even though only 4 dogs will race at any given time, having 6 dogs allows a team to rotate the dogs that need rest or are not running well. An ideal team would be composed of 4 very fast medium-sized to larger breed dogs and 2 very fast smaller breed dogs known as the height dogs.
Photo: Dave Mills
Jack Russell Terriers are commonly found on many teams as height dogs because of their small size and fast speed. However, with the introduction of the Danish-Swedish Farmdog to America, and more recently to flyball, there will most likely be more demand for this breed in the flyball community in the coming years. There are many Farmdogs running flyball today.
Photo: Dave Mills
The farm dog offers the sport of flyball everything that a Jack Russell offers. Farmdogs have an even temperament in general, and because they are very smart and motivated to please their human, they are easy to train. The height dog is very important to the team because it is the smallest dog on the team and it determines the hurdle height for the whole team. The lower the hurdle height is, the faster the larger dogs can run over the hurdles.
Photo: Dave Mills
Farmdogs generally measure for 7-inch to 10-inch hurdles in NAFA, and 6-inch to 9-inch in U-fli. Because Farmdogs are very good jumpers in general, these heights do little to affect their speed, but allow the larger dogs on the team to enhance their speed. Speed is very important in flyball. A decent height dog typically runs the course in less than 6 seconds. A very good height dog runs the course in the low 5-second range. A near perfect height dog will run the course in less than 5 seconds.
Farmdogs, because of their speed, agility and train-ability, are well suited for this sport, and playing flyball regularly helps to keep them in top physical shape. Flyball allows them the opportunity to do many of the things they naturally love to do -- running, jumping, catching balls, socializing with other dogs and playing with people. But, what they love most about flyball is being the center of attention with their human and being praised for doing a good job.
Photo: Dave Mills (Flora -- 12 years old and still playing)
Flyball seems to be as good for the human as it is for the dog. Because for a little while, during practice, or in a tournament, the human forgets his or her worries and the outside influences of the world and is completely absorbed in his relationship with his dog. Now, that just has to be a good thing for dog and man alike!