Hi all,

As I'm sure many of you know myself and husband recently set up our own flyball club for fun or competitions and unfortunately are finding that not many people are interested.
We started off well with four new dogs, our Duke and Duke's old team mate Jack but unfortunately three of the dogs have decided that it's too cold on the rugby pitch as it's too open and the weather's too cold so aren't coming anymore

So we have ordered flyers and have business cards and oh yes now have a facebook site.

I have put pictures of Clover's first session on the flyball part if anyone's interested and how much she loved it even in her hoodie, which she later did a strip tease with.

So please can you spread the word and support us as we really want to make a go of it as there's no other team/club in Stoke-On-Trent.

Sorry for the long thread

Will do from another flyballer ...

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If i lived closer i would be more than happy to join your team! (when floof is old enough of course)

Unfortunately, all my doggy friends are from here so theres no real point of me sharing because youve already told everyone i know. I dont have many friends.

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Once You Think You Know It All, give Up, Because You Will Stop Trying To Learn....
Blue-Border Collie
Maple (Ginger)-Greyhound

I don't believe that for a minute.

Well I'm sure Blue has many friends

Well theres my other dogs, phoebe from a member on here, and murphy the sausage dog who i see sometimes at the park.
Other than that....i dont think theres anyone else

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Once You Think You Know It All, give Up, Because You Will Stop Trying To Learn....
Blue-Border Collie
Maple (Ginger)-Greyhound

We tend to find that we get lots of enquiries after Crufts once people have seen flyball there, so hopefully you will find the same in a few months...

Have you spoken to local obedience trainers? It might be worth asking if they have any dogs and handlers they think might be interested, for example those who are coming to the end of an obedience course and looking for something else to try. The other thing that always gets us interest is doing demos at local events, country shows, Lions fundraisers etc. We tend to do a couple of demos and in the middle run a 'have a go' session for members of the public to try flyball out (funds go to the club!) and then if we are recruiting we give them a card/details after their go and try to encourage those with promise One other thing you could do is get in touch with the local newspaper - they will often run a press release for you especially if you give them the material so they have very little work to do themselves...

All the best

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www.k925petservices.co.uk

[QUOTE=WarFlyball;1061781674]We tend to find that we get lots of enquiries after Crufts once people have seen flyball there, so hopefully you will find the same in a few months...

Have you spoken to local obedience trainers? It might be worth asking if they have any dogs and handlers they think might be interested, for example those who are coming to the end of an obedience course and looking for something else to try. The other thing that always gets us interest is doing demos at local events, country shows, Lions fundraisers etc. We tend to do a couple of demos and in the middle run a 'have a go' session for members of the public to try flyball out (funds go to the club!) and then if we are recruiting we give them a card/details after their go and try to encourage those with promise One other thing you could do is get in touch with the local newspaper - they will often run a press release for you especially if you give them the material so they have very little work to do themselves...

Never thought of Crufts so that may hopefully work in our favour.

We have got contacts with an obedience trainer who has got a flyball team owner also getting us dogs as they are too far away for local people but will definitely look into that as well so thanks for that.

Our local newspaper are quite expensive so not really wanting to spend that kind of money but hey will try anything.

Demo's are a good idea but need more dogs first and the local doggy fashions shop who used to do a fun dog day have stopped doing them now...typical.

Thanks for the advice though.

Oh, in terms of the newspaper we never paid anything - if you go to them with a 'story' then you can often get free publicity Ok so I'm not in creative mode atm but I know another team did something about dogs and owners keeping fit together in the new year. In terms of demos we have done them combined with other teams too, and if you didn't feel confident enough to do a demo with limited numbers you could perhaps approach a local country fair and put on a 'have a go' stand - money raised could go to charity (often they have one for the event, so are very happy for something a bit different on offer to raise more). Even if people don't happen to have their dog with them if you have a very steady dog then you could 'loan a dog'. We've done this with our dogs who run for kids/often get given to random people to run and who we know are bomb proof...

'Taster days' are also popular - you could put flyers for them in vets, pet shops and let the local obedience and agility clubs know. When we have done them we have booked places out in advance and run a couple of group sessions with refreshments so people can also socialise.

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www.k925petservices.co.uk

For those who know nothing about it (like me ) can you tell us a bit more. Is it just collies, where do you meet, what makes a good flyball dog?

Whats the link to your facebook page..?

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