Hi

I have been thinking of doing flyball with my dog, she does agility and loves that.

But I have spoken about flyball with a couple of people, one who does agility and she said she wouldnt do flyball as she thinks that when the dogs have to hit the part to release the ball it is very high impact and would cause joint problems in later life for the dog.

I have never seen it done in the real, only on TV although I am now hoping to go to a class to see all about it.

Does anyone else have the view of the dogs doing themselves harm and damaging their joints when doing flyball.

Thanks

I have done both flyball and agility and have never had any problems with joint troubles with my mob my old collie is now 17yrs and runs around like a youngster. I never start training until they are a year old if a heavy dog i wait until 15 months or older.You can work on obedience or ground work.When i first started agility dogs were allowed in the ring at a year old and there was a lot of shoulder troubles which is why they made it 18months before you can enter a show and you cant train until a year and the bones are fully formed.Flyball is great fun so if you want to go for it bu
t also make sure that you let him warm his muscles up before he does his first run usually clubs mkes sure they do a couple of recalls then run back from the box. Find your local team and have a talk with them and go and watch a training session. Take ear plugs its really noisey the dogs love it and you dont have to be as fit as you do in agility!

Hi

I think that if your dog enjoys agility they will likely love flyball too!

I regularly compete in flyball with my collie cross saluki and she adores it !

If you join a flyball club your dog should be taught to do a 'swimmers turn' . This is where the dogs puts all four feet on the box and pushes off with their back feet rather than slamming the box with just their front feet. This turn is designed both for speed and to reduce impact on your dogs joints. Many flyball dogs are still flyballing well into old age with no detrimental effects to their joints.

Flyball is a very friendly sport for all ages, shapes and sizes of both dogs and people.

Try British Flyball Association to find a club near you, i'm sure they'll be happy to talk through any concerns you may have and you can also ask me questions if you have any more !

Kim

HI

Thank you for your replies, it is reassuring to know that its not so damaging to the dogs joints.

Yes, she truly loves the Agility and is doing very well, but being a collie she thinks it is better to fly around instead of run, lol. My mobility is not so good but thankfully I have a young girl who does agility with her which is great, they make a great team.

So doing the flyball will be something I could probably do with her.

I have looked on the link, but there are no clubs near me, I am near 'Norwich'. I did find one earlier that was local but upon contacting the lady, she no longer does it.

I keep googling but nothing comes up, but will keep searching.

I did flyball very briefly, (about a month) with two of mine, they LOVED it, trouble was it was a bit to far, ill have a look on the link to see if there are any closer.

__________________
Tiggy, 13 yr old Collie x Alsation, Lucy 11 yr old epileptic cross breed, Kara, collie x whippet

All of the posts above are quite correct. Flyball does not have to be a high impact sport if boxwork is taught correctly, however this is not always something clubs concentrate. Some clubs are happy if the dog goes overthe jumps and gets the ball, this is when hitting the box becomes a problem. However it is something you can train at home if your local club doesn't do enough of it. Have a look on youtube to see the difference between a low impact hit e.g a swimmers turn and a high impact turn when the dog runs straight at the box/ball and hits with the front 2 feet, instead of on and off with all 4 feet!

Thanks.

Will have a look on youtube as I am very interested in learning more about the flyball.