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Flyball
What is flyball?
In flyball two teams of four dogs each race side-byside over a 51 foot long course. Each dog runs in a relay down the four jumps, triggers a flyball box that releases the ball, they retrieve the ball and return over the jumps.Then the next dog is release to run the course. Subsequent dogs can't cross the start/finish line until the previous dog has returned over all four jumps and reached the start/finish line.The first team with all 4 dogs finishing the course without error wins the heat.
Jump height is determined by the smallest dog on the team. This dog, called the "height dog", is measured at the withers, then that number is rounded down to the nearest inch and another 4" is subtracted to get the jump height (with the minimum jump height being 7"). So a 13 1/4" dog would round down to 13", minus 4", would jump 9". Maximum jump height is 14".
With the onset of the Electronic Judging System (EJS), which uses lights and infrared timing sensors, competitors are able to track their starts, passes, finishes, and individual dogs' times to the thousandth of a second.
It's hard to imagine racing without an EJS in this day and age. Many teams run all 4 dogs through the course in less than 20 seconds. The NAFA World Record is now under 16.0 seconds (and closing in on 15.0). NAFA tournaments are divided into divisions so that teams compete against other teams of equal abilities. All dogs including mixed breeds are eligible to compete and earn titles in NAFA sanctioned tournaments.
Titles are earned via a point system based on the time it takes a dog's team to complete each heat race. NAFA currently has over 700 registered clubs with more than 16,000 registered dogs. Thanks for the photo by RingoCalamity on Flickr!
The history of flyball!
According to the North American Flyball Assocation, flyball got its start in the late 1960's and early 1970's, when a group of dog trainers in Southern California created scent discrimination hurdle racing, then put a guy at the end to throw tennis balls to the dogs when they finished the jump line.It didn't take long for the group to decide to build some sort of tennis ball-launching apparatus, and the first flyball box was born.
Herbert Wagner is credited with developing the first flyball box, and apparently he did a flyball demo on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson that got a lot of peoples attention.
Subsequently, the new dog sport for dog enthusiasts was introduced in the Toronto-Detroit area by several dog training clubs. After a few small tournaments were held in conjunction with dog shows, the first ever flyball tournament was held in 1983.
In November, 1984, twelve teams from the Toronto-Detroit area formed the North American Flyball Association (NAFA). Mike Randall wrote the first NAFA rulebook in 1985, and was also the first NAFA Executive Director. The first head judge was Dave Samuels.
And thanks for the photo, www.bordertwins.faithweb.com.
Flyball governing bodies!
Here is a listing of the various governing bodies for flyball around the world.
- North American Flyball Association Governing body for flyball throughout North America.
- British Flyball Association The governing body for flyball in the UK.
- Belgian Flyball Federation In Belguim, flyball is governed by the Belgian Flyball Federation.
- Australian Flyball Association The Australian Flyball Association governs flyball in Australia.
A great intro to flyball!
British Flyball varies to US Flyball in how the dog catches the ball from the flyball box. But many of the other rules remain the same. This is a great intro to the workings of flyball.
How do you get all those titles?
The dogs earn points towards flyball titles based on the teams time:
* less than 32 secs: Each dog receives 1 point
* less than 28 secs: Each dog receives 5 points
* less than 24 secs: Each dog receives 25 points
The titles the dogs can earn are:
* less than 32 secs: Each dog receives 1 point
* less than 28 secs: Each dog receives 5 points
* less than 24 secs: Each dog receives 25 points
The titles the dogs can earn are:
- FD Flyball Dog 20 points required
- FDX Flyball Dog Excellent 100 points required
- FDCh Flyball Dog Champion 500 points required
- FDCh Silver Flyball Dog Champion 1000 points required
- FDCh Gold Flyball Dog Champion 2500 points required
- FM Flyball Master 5000 points required
- FMX Flyball Master Excellent 10000 points required
- FMCh Flyball Master Champion 15000 points required
- ONYX ONYX Award 20000 points required
- FGDCh Flyball Grand Champion 30000 points required
- FGDCh 40k, 50k,... Flyball Grand Champion 40k, 50k, ... 40000, 50000, ...points required
- Hobbes Hobbes Award 100,000 points required
Great flyball links!
Thanks for the photo by RingoCalamity on Flickr!
- All about the history of flyball. Compiled by Jim Sova, this is an excellent link detailing and chronicling the history of flyball.
- The rules! NAFA's rules and regs.
- Find a team. A great resource for locating a flyball team to participate with.
- The NAFA Database. Here's where it all is - find all the dog and team rankings, registered clubs, best times, regional standings, seeding list and events throughout the country. All thanks to Dale Smith.
- Who's the fastest? You can find out here. A link to the top dogs - the NAFA World Records.
- Looking for a tournament? Here's the place to final all the tournaments coming up this year.
- World Cynosport Flyball Championship A link to the 2006 World Cynosport Flyball Championships, coming up in November.
- The Mighty Mite Small Dog Sports Forum for "Height" dogs - the smallest members of a flyball team!
- Flyball.com on Yahoo Groups. The official Email list of Flyball.com, the largest Flyball destination on the Internet.
- Flyball List Server A great email list server for flyball fanatics.
- More flyball on Yahoo Groups. Flyball · A place to exchange tips on flyball!
Thanks for the photo by RingoCalamity on Flickr!
You're gonna need equipment!
- Jump plans. Thanks to The Willoughby Workshop, www.flyballequip.com for these equipment plans.
- Flyball box plans. These plans are offered as Shareware. If you use the plans, build a box and like it, then send them $15. Don't want to build a box yourself? Check out Chakotay's Flyball Box page and purchase one of your choice!
- Flyball equipment. A great source for all flyball equipment!
- Other equipment sources. Flyball dogs has a great listing of equipment resources! Check 'em out!
Ohhh - can't have a Wiki without BLOOPERS!!!
JohannTheDog |
Latest page update: made by JohannTheDog
, Jul 7 2007, 5:03 PM EDT
(about this update
About This Update
Edited by JohannTheDog
2 words added 1 word deleted view changes - complete history) |
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Keyword tags:
dog
Dog sports
dogs
flyball
More Info: links to this page
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| Started By | Thread Subject | Replies | Last Post | |
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| Me12345 | Cool! | 0 | Jul 2 2007, 2:20 PM EDT by Me12345 | |
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Thread started: Jul 2 2007, 2:20 PM EDT
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Great!!! You did a wonderful job, I can't believe this is only the second comment. You should have millions of comments! I saw this dog sport on animal planet! It's so fun to watch!!
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| DoggyGal | Way to Go Johann! | 0 | May 10 2007, 11:26 AM EDT by DoggyGal | |
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Thread started: May 10 2007, 11:26 AM EDT
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AWESOME JOB!!! Great page, Johann! The content that you created was absolutely wonderful! Covered all the relevant topics and gave such great information! Thanks so much for contributing!!! YOU ROCK!!!!
DG |
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