Flyball Height Restriction?

[mixeduppup]

Heya,

Just had a chat to someone yesterday who is considering setting up a flyball club here and asked me to join. I've only ever watched it and don't know much about it but have a ball obsessed kelpie that would love to do it. I mentioned my kelpie and she told me that a kelpie is too big and only little dogs can go in it and told me I should bring my JRT instead. My JRT has nil interest in chasing toys or balls so I was disappointed. However, I watched a video today though and it showed border collies and aussies doing it. Was that a special case and is there a height restriction or was she incorrect and I can take my kelpie?

[Sayreovi]

Load of BS.

ANY dog can do flyball, the sport is mostly dominated by the herding breeds, I would say 90% are a herding breed!

Little dogs are generally sought after as it brings down the height for the whole team but not essential as long as a dog is taught to jump height. I have an 11inch height dog so height dogs don't even have to be tiny.

Our club has tiny little 7inch dogs as well as the biggest dog in Victoria doing it and she is a Maremma cross BC (at a guess, she is the height of a Maremma!), with all different sizes and breeds in the middle :)

Edited March 29, 2013 by tollersowned

[Jumabaar]

Perhaps look at some training video on youtube of "Swimmers turns" so that when you go to training you have a bit of an idea of what you are doing (so you know the person is training your dog safely). There are a number of different methods but the aim is to get all 4 feet up on the box as the dog turns to minimise any joint trauma that may happen if the dog "slams" into the box instead.

Good luck- My Kelpies LOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE flyball!!!!

[DeltaCharlie]

Yep, most common flyball dogs are kelpies and border collies. Tigerjack used to have a Ridgie cross (I think) and he was a great dog, certainly much bigger than a kelpie LOL

[LisaCC]

I can't help with your question but if this isn't too far from me I have a ball crazy ACD laying next to me that would love to have a go once she has recovered!

[mixeduppup]

No worries lisa, the lady is just getting it started so once it's a definite go I will let you know. I'll tell her you're interested though. it'll be in Coota most likely.

And thanks everyone else. My kelpie is an insane jumper, I'm taking her in the kelpie dash and high jump next year at Casterton hopefully, so I thought flyball would be right up her alley since, she jumps, has speed and likes balls. I was quite surprised when the lady said she was too big.

Edited March 29, 2013 by mixeduppup

[Guest Clover]

The lady had no idea what she was talking about ;). My Clover (rest her dear soul) was a 30 kilo rottie x who did Flyball for years. Friends Am Bulldog, and Rottie x also competed for years, both who were and are not little dogs. Oh and both my older BC's and JRT competed for years. So definitely a sport for all sizes if taught correctly.

[Sayreovi]

No worries lisa, the lady is just getting it started so once it's a definite go I will let you know. I'll tell her you're interested though. it'll be in Coota most likely.

And thanks everyone else. My kelpie is an insane jumper, I'm taking her in the kelpie dash and high jump next year at Casterton hopefully, so I thought flyball would be right up her alley since, she jumps, has speed and likes balls. I was quite surprised when the lady said she was too big.

What dogs does this lady have then? I would be very curious to know where she got the idea that only little dogs compete? She is going to be in for a massive shock if she ever goes to a flyball comp :laugh:

[mixeduppup]

No worries lisa, the lady is just getting it started so once it's a definite go I will let you know. I'll tell her you're interested though. it'll be in Coota most likely.

And thanks everyone else. My kelpie is an insane jumper, I'm taking her in the kelpie dash and high jump next year at Casterton hopefully, so I thought flyball would be right up her alley since, she jumps, has speed and likes balls. I was quite surprised when the lady said she was too big.

What dogs does this lady have then? I would be very curious to know where she got the idea that only little dogs compete? She is going to be in for a massive shock if she ever goes to a flyball comp :laugh:

She has borders (on the smaller side), which is what confused me.

[mixeduppup]

My kelpie is quite a bit taller than the dog she had in mind to do it though, so maybe she needed dogs under that to make a team? I have no idea how flyball works lol

[Sayreovi]

Sounds like she is trying to get a smaller height dog.

A team can be made of any combination, you can have a team full of BCs/Kelpies so they jump full height or you can have a full team of 7inch height dogs. Or a mix of different sized dogs.

[mixeduppup]

Possibly doing that. I guess I'll have to get my own team of mix sizes lol

[Remarkabull]

Years ago I did flyball with my old Dobe. He was fantastic at it and speed wise he was not that far behind the fastest of the BC's. we competed at the Sydney Royal and also did demos at the Pet Expo etc. he was the biggest dog in our club but certainly not the biggest dog we saw competing. A Kelpie is a great size and would be great at flyball :)

[cali]

the smallest dog on the team set the jump height, which can equate to a faster team, this means that many teams consist of a bunch of medium to big dogs and 1 height dog to drop the jump height for the whole team. so for example if you have a team of 4 border collies, you have a jump height of 14-16", this can slow the whole team down, so if you take away one of those BCs and replace it with a JRT suddenly the whole team is jumping 8" shaving precious seconds off the teams time. "only small dogs can play" is just a bunch of malarkey lol, fast small dogs are sought after but hardly required lol

[mixeduppup]

Oh I see, now it all become clear.

[emilyons]

The person trying to get you to join probably didn't want her dogs to be jumping at their full height

[Paulp]

No worries lisa, the lady is just getting it started so once it's a definite go I will let you know. I'll tell her you're interested though. it'll be in Coota most likely.

And thanks everyone else. My kelpie is an insane jumper, I'm taking her in the kelpie dash and high jump next year at Casterton hopefully, so I thought flyball would be right up her alley since, she jumps, has speed and likes balls. I was quite surprised when the lady said she was too big.

What dogs does this lady have then? I would be very curious to know where she got the idea that only little dogs compete? She is going to be in for a massive shock if she ever goes to a flyball comp :laugh:

There are plenty of dogs over 30 kgs in flyball, way bigger than even a large kelpie and some are very fast. My dog is a 32kg lab/golden retriever that our box loader looks like she is sitting on like a pony when holding him for a recall and can manage 4.6sec when in the mood. There is even a Briard racing in NSW.

[Dogsfevr]

A tad scary that someone wants to set a club up but doesn't have a no clue .

[Salukifan]

A tad scary that someone wants to set a club up but doesn't have a no clue .

I'd not jump to that conclusion yet. Perhaps there was no room for a larger dog on a team looking for a height dog

We've only got one version of what was said.

[mixeduppup]

She was getting a team together, I was the first person she asked. I think most of the other people she knew only had larger dogs so perhaps she was after a height dog. Who knows.