About Flyball
Flyball is the fastest growing dog sport in the UK; it is very addictive and dogs love it! Not only played here, but popular throughout the USA, Canada, Japan, Australia and many other European countries. Competitions take place every weekend throughout the summer, up and down the country, and slightly less often throughout the winter season.
Flyball involves 2 teams of 4 dogs and handlers, racing against each other in separate lanes. Each dog on the team must jump 4 hurdles and retrieve a tennis ball from a spring-loaded device called the "box", and return back over the hurdles again. The dogs must pass with each other as close as possible on the start line, this is referred to as a "changeover", "cross" or "pass". The winning team is the first one to get all four dogs over the course and back again with no faults or early changeovers. There are five types of competition, see below.
For the long term health of the dogs, they must be 18months old before they can compete in open flyball tournaments, and many are still racing aged 10 and over. Many clubs will allow dogs to start training from 10months onwards, or let younger dogs attend for socialisation and to soak up the atmosphere.
Although border collies are very popular in the sport, any dog can compete in flyball as long as they are fit enough. Dogs under 18inches at the withers are called “height dogs” and lower the jumps for the team they are racing with. Speed isn't necessarily everything, as teams are grouped into different divisions depending on times they have set together in the past.
A Brief History
Flyball began in the United States in the 1970's.
In the UK, flyball is governed by the British Flyball Association, formed in 1994.
The sport has progressed hugely in the last 15 years, now with more teams and a wider range of breeds than ever. All timing is now electronic, accurate to the nearest 1/100th of a second. A system of lights is used, both to start the race and to indicate if a dog has faults. Slightly different styles of boxes have become popular, many now similar to those used in the USA.
Team times have become faster on the whole throughout the world, the British record was held by The Jets from 1997, running 4 dogs in a time of 16.75s, until July 2009 when Bassets Hotdogs ran 16.70s. In September 2009 High Flyers hit the fastest ever british time of 16.66s. Due to the run not being filmed they cannot be the British record holders but are the fastest BFA team. The world record is an amazing 14.96s, and is held by Touch N Go A of the USA, set in May 2009.
The largest event in the BFA calendar is the British Flyball Championships, popularly known amongst flyballers as "the champs". It is held at a fantastic venue in Southam, Warwickshire in August. This event has no upper limit on entries, and sees nearly every team in the country take part in an event that spans 3days and utilises 3 arenas. Teams battle it out to win their respective divisions, and everyone gathers to watch division 1, to see who will get the coveted title of "British Flyball Champions" for that year. Basset Hotdogs are the current BFA Champions.
There is also a European Flyball Championships that involves many countries across the continent. The venue changes every year, and was held in the UK in 2007, where the division 1 title was taken by the Jolly Jumpers of Belgium. In 2009, the event is being held in Belgium and the UK are taking upwards of 20 teams. To learn more, visit the efc2009 website.
The Kennel Club run a separate flyball competition, which is the version most people are familiar with due to the televised Finals at Crufts. For many years, this style of flyball used a "slingshot" style box which is no longer allowed under the BFA, however in 2010, they will be changing over to a BFA style box. However, there will still be several major differences; hurdle heights are fixed at 12" and starts are done on a countdown and whistle-blow from the judge. There is no electronic timing or extended runback. There are not regular competitions, but a handful of qualifiers to get through to Crufts; the teams placed 1st and 2nd at a qualifier will go through.
Types of competition
There are five primary types of flyball competition.
1. Starters or Non-Sanctioned tournaments are intended for dogs at the beginning of their flyball career. As these tournaments are Non-Sanctioned by the BFA, the tournament hosts set the regulations, and dogs cannot earn points from racing. Many people also run older dogs or dogs recovering from injury in Starter tournaments. Although there are no official BFA regulations, it is generally assumed that dogs must be 12months old before they can race here, and that they should not enter again once they have earned 200points. Starters competitions have netting up along the lanes and around the box, they run over 7" jumps unless the team decides otherwise.
2. Open or Sanctioned tournaments are the main competition. Any team of up to 6 dogs and handlers can enter, but only 4 dogs running at one time. Races are best of 5, and typically dogs will have 5 or 6 races in one day. The team's fastest time of the day is recorded and added to the Seedings list (find this on the BFA website). The seeding list is used to form divisions for tournaments to ensure fair and close racing.
Dogs can earn points in open for every leg the team completes successfully:
- Under 30seconds = 5points
- Under 26seconds = 10points
- Under 22seconds = 25points
These points then accumulate, and the dogs earn titles when they reach certain amounts of points. For these awards they are given certificates, or for milestone awards, they get glassware.
The awards are as follows:
- Flyball Dog = 200 pts
- Flyball Dog Intermediate = 1,000 pts
- Flyball Dog Graduate = 3,000 pts
- Flyball Dog Advanced = 5,000 pts
- Silver Award = 10,000 pts
- Gold Award = 15,000 pts
- Ice Blue Moon = 20,000 pts
This continues in a similar pattern up to 70,000points.
3. Multibreed is restricted to teams consisting of 4 separate breeds of dogs. Dogs can earn points in a similar way to open, in a Multibreed tournament. There are not as many of these events, and generally they are held on a bank holiday after the open tournament. The BFA gives an award for the "Multibreed Team Of The Year", which is given to the team who gets the fastest time in the season. For this competition, open teams will often merge together to get enough breeds. Popular "other" breed dogs that will often join in a team with a collie include; labradors, JRTs, crossbreeds, bearded collies and golden retrievers, to name but a few.
4. Singles is a competition of a single dog and is usually decided on the times produced rather than by knockout or round robin formats. Dogs can't earn points, there are no official results and are completely separate from normal racing. These aren't held at every show, but are often grouped into starters singles, open singles and ABC (anything but collies) singles. The fastest dogs in the UK run 3.8-4.0s, and the world record is held by a whippet who completed a run in 3.59s. Here on Fever we have a league for UK singles and pairs.
5. Pairs this is similar to singles, except there are two dogs running not one. The fastest dogs in the country will run 8.5s or less in pairs. Like singles, this can be split into multibreed, starters or open pairs.
Flyball News
- 12/06/10:EFC divisions published
- 10/05/10: The bar is raised in Europe
- 23/04/10:Latest updates!
- 27/01/10: New national record for Poland
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