Flyball for your dog!!!
A dog playing flyball!!!
So what is flyball actually? The relay is really interesting and works like this! Flyball is a relay race with 4 dogs on a team. “The course consists of a starting line, 4 hurdles spaced 10 feet apart and a box. The first hurdle is 6 feet from the start line and the box is 15 feet from the last hurdle for a 51 foot overall length. The dogs jump the hurdles and steps on a spring loaded box that shoots out 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. The first team to have all 4 dogs run without errors wins the heat.” I am not well versed in the “heat” and the and scoring of the sport. It doesn’t seem awfully complex, but there is more to it than just keeping score of the times. Dogs can earn titles based on the number of points they accumulate and Certificate awards start as low as 20 points and the highest award is known as the Hobbes Award, which requires 100,000 points.
According to the literature I have read, dogs love the sport and enjoy the team concept. It is great exercise and a challenge for them to get better and better time. The fastest time recorded for the race has been 15.43 seconds from a team in Michigan!!!
There is probably a local chapter of the NAFA in your neighborhood. Check out the web address by clicking here to read more about it!!!
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