About Flyball
What is Flyball?
Flyball is a fun sport for you and your dog and is the fastest growing dog sport in the UK.
Flyball is a relay race for dogs. You can have up to 6 dogs in a squad and 4 are selected to race in each leg or heat. The course consists of a starting line, 4 hurdles spaced 10 feet apart and a box. The hurdle height is dependent on the height of the dogs in the team -- 5" below the shoulder height of the shortest dog. 7" is the minimum height and 14" is the maximum height. The first hurdle is 6 feet from the start line and the box is 15 feet from the last hurdle making a 51 foot run in length. The dogs jump the hurdles and step on a spring-loaded box that releases 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 goes. Teams race against each other at the same time and the first team to have all 4 dogs run without faults wins the heat.
Who Can Take Part?
Dogs of any size or breed can take part in flyball. We accept dogs over the age of 12 months for training. Dogs can take part in starters competitions from 12 months and they can compete in sanctioned open tournaments from 18 months.
Tornaments
Tournaments in the UK are organised on a round robin format where teams are placed in a division - usually 6 teams per division, they then race each team in that division. Each race is usually best of 5 legs and the first team to win 3 legs receives 1 point towards their standing in the tournament; the final placings within the division are decided by the total number of points each team achieves. In the event of a 2-way tie the placing is decided by which team won the race between the two, in a 3-way tie you can sometimes get a run-off or usually it is decided on the fastest times each team has run that day.
