This a very fast, fun and exciting sport, that both dogs and handlers really love. If your dog loves tennis balls then this is the sport for you.
Flyball is a relay race with 4 dogs on a team. The course consists of a starting line, 4 hurdles spaced 3 metres apart and a box. The first hurdle is 1.8 metres from the start line and the box is 4.5 metres from the last hurdle for a 15.3 metres 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.
Learning flyball is not easy as your dog is expected to go away from you over the 4 jumps, release the tennis ball from the box and return it to you, without dropping the ball or missing out any jumps and all this is done at great speed...or so you hope!
The vast majority of people recommend teaching flyball by using the backward chaining technique, as such it is best to think of flyball as the following chain of events:
1. Release the dog
2. Jump over first hurdle
3. Jump over second hurdle
4. Jump over third hurdle
5. Jump over fourth hurdle
6. Approach box
7. Hit box to release tennis ball
8. Catch tennis ball
9. Turn
10. Return over fourth hurdle
11. Return over third hurdle
12. Return over second hurdle
13. Return over first hurdle
14. Cross finish line
