FLYBALL RACING!

Flyball is a relay racing game for teams of four dogs, racing against each other in parallel lanes over four jumps to a ball in a spring loaded box. Each dog runs in a flying pass to the start line and finish line, with mere centimetres separating the returning and advancing dogs. The fastest team to get four dogs back to their handlers without faulting, wins!

It’s FAST, it’s LOUD, and it’s a pile of fun for everyone.

While flyball may seem chaotic on the surface, it’s truly a dance with the handlers, teammates, and dogs all working in concert with each other to complete each race. Approximately 2 years of training goes into each flyball dog in order to train them to do the basic pattern of jump-jump-jumpjump BALL! jump-jump-jump-jump, as well as, learn to pass their teammate dogs and avoid all other distractions. Remember: there is an entire team of dogs only a few metres away doing the exact same thing at the exact same time!

Invented in the late 1960’s in California as a demonstration sport, flyball was first organized into a competition sport via the North American Flyball Association (NAFA) in the late 1980’s. Once timed and judged by hand, starts and passes are now judged by laser timing equipment; and the boxes that once used catapults are now far safer and more efficient, allowing for blazing speeds.

The sport’s growth has been exponential since the early 1990’s, and flyball is now played worldwide with clubs on every continent save for Antarctica. Any breed or mixed breed of dog may play provided they are physically capable. In fact, “mix” is the number two registered breed in the NAFA database with over 7200 mixed breed dogs registered in Canada and the United States!

Midwestern Canada is a hotbed for flyball, with 19 clubs active in SK, MB and AB. If you are interested in more information, navigate to http://flyball. org , then go invest in some earplugs.

GOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!