Flyball

[Mak]

Hi! My little Bichon Frise, Charlie, who is now 8 months old would like to start flyball ( I think ). Anyway, I'm just wondering some information:

• Where is the nearest flyball organization near Petersham, Sydney
  
• Is training my dog to this hard? Does a dog need to know how to do flyball before he enters a team?
  
• How are groups sorted (eg, age, size, etc)?
  
• Cost? How much does it cost to participate in flyball?
  

Well, thanks everyone!

Mak

[TigerJack]

Hello Mak

go to www.flyball.org.au and go to the menu on the left side. Search for 'whats going on' then 'clubs' then 'nsw.' This will show you where they are all located. Petersham is probably closest to either the Leaps and Bounds club at Bankstown or the St George Club. Every club has thier own training methods and different beginner intakes.

Dogs can take anywhere up to a year or so to 'get' flyball. It is a whole lot of skills that work together. You join a club to learn the skills and if you and the dog learn it all then you might be part of a team that runs in competition. It takes alot of work and alot of homework but it is fun.

Your dog is still quite young but some skills can be started. Jumping is usually left till the dog is one year old and most of their growing is done to avoid causing injuries. Flyball is for all sized dogs, as long as they are healthy. A racing team will jump the height of the shortest dog on the team so you will often see very big dogs racing with little ones.

Cost - each club has its own charges for membership and often ground fees each week. You can join the AFA (Australian Flyball Association) too and that is $20 for starters for one dog. You have to be a member of the AFA to compete. Other costs, depends on how much you participate. Entry fees, harnesses, crates, uniforms etc.

give it a go, you'll enjoy it

Jo

[Guest Clover]

A word of warning though it gets pretty addictive . I started out training my Rottie cross, then got a Border Collie then fostered his Sister and decided to keep her for Flyball (and as a companion) then most recently got my little JRT man .

It is great fun and the dogs have a ball .

[Guest Piximatosis]

Sorry to jump on your thread Mak but I have some Flyball questions too

For those that have done it before - would you start taking a young puppy to club to learn basic skills etc before they were old enough to jump, OR would you wait until they were older (say 10 - 12 months) and spend their younger months working on things at home like retrieving, building interest in the ball etc?

How exactly do you train a Swimmer's Turn?? Or is that something you really need to have explained visually at a club?

[Sayreovi]

With my second flyball dog i didnt really do any flyball basic work, just worked on usual obedience things. Doing it again i would do the latter, focus on driving to the ball and driving back to me as well for a tug toy.

Swimmers turn, both of my dogs had different training for turns. First dog was trained going around a pole, it is quick but not always great method as it tends (for me) to make the dog go out wide. For him his back end doesnt really get on the box as much as i would like and as a result doesnt get the extra oomf to push him back faster over the jumps. The good thing about this is he does come in at an angle to the box rather then straight on.

My other dog i taught by placing a white board (2 jumps each with an opposite end removed to create one long white board) in front of the box and getting him to jump up and push off with his back legs in one clean motion.

The only problem with this method is the dog has to be athletic and built to do sharp turns. My older boy is longer backed and just cant seem to physically pull it off.

If you go to a comp you will notice which teams train with the board as the box tends to have a white bottom

It is hard to explain and IMO best be viewed in person what each method produces and how it is trained.

[Guest Clover]

We teach the swimmers turn with the 2 jumps in front of the box aswell, i will try and find some photos & information for you. Some dogs 'get it' and some dont, Tinny is slowly getting better and can sometime fluke all four feet but most of the time she only gets three on ;).

Idealy you want the dog to have all four feet on the box as they are turning.

I have taken both Elvis and Harri to Flyball training and to comps from a young age and started foundation work with them with no problems. Just little exercises, like working on recalls and fetching balls etc whilst they are still babies.

ETA: A YouTube link for teaching/ improving swimmers turns....

Edited September 11, 2007 by Clover

[Sayreovi]

Ahh see its easier to explain when you have pictures!!

Nice turn on Elvis

[Guest Clover]

Ok i remembered to take some photos of Miss Stampy yesterday at training .

TO thanks, he does turn nicely when he wants to .

[wherezaball]

I taught Cooper a swimmers turn using the method on this website http://bcsportdogs.com/Turns.html using the tug toy as a reward. You can use food however if the dog is well motivated by the tug toy it work very well.

Cooper is my third flyball dog and I have taught it many ways and found this to be the best for a quick and effecient turn.

[Guest Clover]

wherezaball, thanks for the link it was an interesting read and i might give that method a go with my little BC girl and see if it helps her turns .