About Flyball

What is flyball?  

A brief introduction to flyball

Many people search the internet for "What is flyball?" or "how do I get involved with flyball?".To summarise everything you could wish to know about flyball in a few paragraphs is near-on impossible, but we have tried our best! For more information, or if you have any questions then please don't hesitate to contact us. 

Flyball is the fastest growing dog sport in Great Britain! Not only played here, but popular throughout the USA, Canada, Belgium, Germany, Australia and many other European countries. Competitions take place every weekend throughout the summer, and slightly less often throughout the winter season. There are several major annual events throughout the world including; the British Flyball Championships, the European Flyball Championships & the CanAm Classic (USA).

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; starters, intermediate, open, multibreed and pairs/singles. Teams aim to go as fast as possible, with some organisations (including here in Great Britain) offering a points-based reward system.

Flyball in GB is governed by the British Flyball Association (BFA) - see the Flyball Fever homepage for links to organisations throughout the world.  

Current Flyball Records

The following are the respective flyball records for each country for four dogs to complete the course:

Great Britain (BFA) - Bassett Hotdogs 16.59s

USA (NAFA) - Spring Loaded 15.21s

USA (U-FLI) - Touch N Go A 14.86s

Belgium (BFB) - Jolly Jumpers 16.12s

Belgium (KKUSH) - Bandits 16.55s

Europe - Jolly Jumpers (BFB) 16.12s    

How do I get involved with flyball?

Firstly you need to find a club to train with, we have lists of teams by region and county. If you cannot find a team, please contact us and we will try to help.

Most clubs will start training new dogs at around 10months old, many running starters courses for a set period of time and then dogs progressing to competition. There is a lot of low-impact training that can be carried out with puppies to help them take to flyball better in the future rather than starting them on full runs at a very young age; socialisation is also very important and the majority of clubs are happy for you to take your pup along for socialisation before formal training.

All breeds and ages of dog play flyball, it is just important that they are fit and healthy.