Entries from September 2007 ↓

I am so glad that the NAFA delegates voted to allow the NAFA board to “…explore the pick-up team concept further.” The voting results show that 773 (71.2%) delegate votes were in favor of the board developing rules for pick-up teams, while 291 (26.8%) where not in favor of the proposal.

While I completely support the addition of these two concepts, I have some problems with the way they are being implemented during this trial period. I am sure the rules committee tried to do the right thing when creating these rules but in my opinion they have old NAFA ideas and they are stuck in this mindset.

Open Class

If you have not read the rules for this new class, I will try to give you a quick overview. This class allows dogs from other clubs/teams to run together as a team. The 87-day rule does not apply to the dogs racing on an Open Class team and therefore the dog’s club affiliation is not affected by running on an Open Class team. The dogs on the team still earn racing points, but an Open Class team cannot set a world record and no regional placement points are awarded. It seems that Open Class teams can only compete against other Open Class teams or a Veteran Class team but no other team. When an Open Class team competes against a Veteran Class team, the rules governing the Veteran Class team take precedence. Dogs running on an Open Class team can run on one other team from a different class.

The highlighted area is where I have a problem. Since an Open Class team is no different from a Regular Class team, why can’t they run against other like teams in the same division? What fun is that if you cannot run in a division with like teams? Why did we need another class? It could have been called Regular Open with the team seeded and raced against other teams in the same division.

Performance Teams

Most of the same rules apply to Performance Teams as in the Open Class i.e. the dogs running on the team earn racing points, the 87-day rule does not apply and the dog’s club affiliation status is not affect for dogs running on a Performance Team, and Performance Teams cannot set a world record and no regional placement points are awarded.

The Performance Team was created to allow a team that has entered a tournament and then finds that they cannot field a team because of extenuating circumstances. The rules give some examples of these circumstances such as dog injury, illness, or other unforeseen situations. However, in order to change the team status to Performance Team the unforeseen situation must be brought to the attentions of the Tournament Director before the start of racing. The rules do not cover dogs that are injured or become sick during the tournament.

I my opinion this is a good rule but it could have gone one-step further and allowed for sick or injured dogs during the tournament. If something happens to a team dog during the tournament the team is no better off than it was before. If they only have four dogs on the team and one goes down, they just have to sit out the rest of the tournament just as they do now.

Conclusion

I suppose the delegates that voted in favor of this should be happy because it is a step in the right direction. However, it does leave me wondering about the leadership on the board and the rules committee. If you read my last post, Technically Legal, and are of the opinion that the box should not be legal, you may, as I do, start to question the thinking of this committee and the board. My information is that one person from the rules committee and one board member approved the box. Maybe it is time for the people that have served the longest in these positions step down so that newer fresher blood can serve in these positions. What do you think?

Larry

Addendum

I was just reading the board minutes from the Board of Directors meeting in Detroit, MI on August 25th and find that in section 11 of the minutes the box in question was discussed at some length. To see who voted against rule changes that would have corrected this problem, please see the board minutes. I see that two people on the board that voted against rule changes are up for reelection. Additionally, the person that owns the box is running for the board. Please let your future votes reflect how you feel about this and other issues.

You Make the Call

Click on photo for larger view.

Someone sent me this photo of a flyball box that is used during flyball tournaments. They did not specify in which organization this box is used, NAFA or U-FLI, but I have to assume it is NAFA, because in my view of the rules this would not fly (pardon the pun) in U-FLI. I guess it is technically legal based on the current NAFA rules but might be on the verge of stretching them a bit.

This is what the NAFA rulebook says about the flyball box in Chapter 1, Section 1.1 (e):

(e) Boxes:
(i) Shall not exceed 24 inches in width, nor 18 inches in height from the bottom surface of the box excluding mat grabbing devices/materials and outdoor staking devices;
(ii) The body of the box shall not exceed 30 inches in depth;
(iii) The base of the box upon which the boxloader stands may exceed 30 inches in depth;
(iv) Mat grabbing devices/materials shall not raise the box by more than one half inch;
(v) The box shall not exceed these dimensions at any time during racing (including any permanent attachments to the box, i.e. carrying handles, cocking devices).

I think the subparagraph that makes this technically legal is (iii) because the part where the boxloader stands can exceed the 30 inch depth of the overall box. Nothing in the rulebook says where the 30 inch depth begins or ends.

The U-FLI rulebook would not allow this box because the overall depth of the box cannot exceed 30 inches and the 30 inch depth includes the part where the boxloader stands.

Clarification on the Poll question and answers:

Should NAFA change the rules on flyball boxes?

1. Yes
2. No
3. Based on the current rules the box is illegal
4. Not Sure

You Make the Call - Would you like to have your questions or problems answered in the poll? Just send me the all the details using the contact form and I will do the rest.

Larry

Every team that I have been on has discussed the structuring of flyball practice sessions. I know for me it has been a long process that has evolved with time and I think there is still room for improvement.

A little history

The first team I was on was a very green team; in fact, it was the only team within 250 miles of my home. In reality, an obedience training business was trying to train dogs to play flyball. When I started, the people doing the training had only ever attended one tournament. Everyone doing the training was involved in one way or another with the training of dogs for obedience, agility, or other dog activities, but no one had flyball training experience. Additionally, back when I started in 1999, there just was not much available on the Internet about flyball training.

Looking back, I wish that we had more contact with people that had flyball training experience because our dogs suffered for it. No one knew anything about box turns, passing, or even how to start. We were the typical all green team, happy to just get our dogs to run the course.

The second team I was on was a lot better at training but still lacked some of the structure needed at flyball practice. We talked about it a lot and got somewhat better at it over time, but never perfected our sessions.

With my own team now, we pretty much know what we are going to focus on beforehand. We have a good idea of each dog’s needs and focus on those things. We may just do box work with one dog, or it might just be passing with two others, or we may just do conditioning work, but it is usually very specific.

So what is the best way?

I know that this is a very open question and I hope that it will draw comments on how others do it. I do not have all of the answers by any means but I will try to offer some suggestions for things that can be done during flyball practice. Since there may be different things worked on to prepare for a tournament, I will break my suggestions down into General and Before Tournament even though some of the same things may be done in both areas:

General - Things that can be worked on all the time

• Pick someone on the team that has the most training knowledge as the trainer. This may not be possible with new start up teams, but there is help out there for the asking. Just contact a team in your area and I am sure they would be glad to help. Additionally, there is now good help on the Internet, and this blog is just one of many sources.

• Whoever is selected as the flyball trainer should look at each dog on the team and compile a list of the dog’s strengths and weaknesses.

• The weaknesses of each dog needs to be assessed and a plan put in place to correct each problem. Set aside time during each practice session for correcting problems. It should be a team effort in correcting each of the problems, as this is a good way for everyone to feel a part of the team.

• The strengths of each dog should then be looked at because dogs will run better in one position versus another. The trainer should select dogs based on their strengths for starting, running in the last position, or running in the pack. A good way to do this is with a good old fashioned stopwatch. Time each dog over a period of several sessions as they run in different positions or passing different dogs.

• Training new dogs - just as with correcting weaknesses or problems, time should be set a side for training new dogs. If you are training new handlers and their dogs it may be best to set aside time before or after practice for this training. It is usually better to train new dogs before the start of regular practice, that way the new people can stay and help with regular practice. This is a good way for you to get to know the new people and will give you some insight into what kind of teammate they would be if invited to join the team. It also gives the new people a chance to see other training techniques and will give them a better overall view of flyball.

Before Tournament – Things that need to be done before tournament closing

• Select a captain for each of the teams that will attend the tournament. The captain should be familiar with all of the dogs and should work with the trainer to select the dogs for each team. If you only have one team, the captain should probably be the trainer, or someone with a good knowledge of each of the dogs. The selection of the dogs for the team or teams may be based on the team philosophy, i.e. fastest dogs on the first team, fastest dogs spread out to achieve 25 points per heat, etc.

• Once the dogs have been selected for the team or teams, they should be run together during practice sessions leading up to the tournament. The trainer and captain should note any problems and try to work on them before the tournament.

• After the team(s) is set, run your fastest lineup together to come up with seeding for the team. Please note that all of this needs to be done at least a month before the tournament, because you will need to know the speed of the team before entering the tournament. If the same dogs have run together before, you should have a very good idea of what speed they will run. Alternatively, if you know the speed of each dog you can come up with a good estimate for your seeding. Use realistic seeding because it is better to be in a faster division and take last place, than to be in a slower division and break out. You will never get better running in a slower division and taking first place in that division at every tournament. The only way to get better is to be challenged.

• In the weeks leading up to the tournament, after the closing, you should practice passing and everyone should be comfortable in his or her position, including the dogs.

I hope that you will find these suggestions helpful, and it would help everyone to know how other teams use their practice time.

Larry

I see people re-running their dogs all the time during a tournament and for the life of me, I cannot figure out why. In my opinion you should never re-run a dog unless both teams, i.e. your team and the team you are running against, has a fault and you are trying to win the heat.

Do not get me wrong, you should practice re-running all of the dogs because you just never know when you will need to re-run to win a heat. However, as a rule re-runs are a waste of time and energy for little gain. It wastes energy because just think of how many times your dog runs in a weekend so why waste his energy re-running. There is little to be gained by re-running because most of the time you will be running your dog for no points. Even if you are able to re-run and get under 32 seconds the point(s) gained is not worth the waste of energy.

If you are re-running to correct a problem with the dog dropping the ball or going around jumps, the ring is not the place to correct such behavior. If you are re-running to get the dog back on track I can see it, but if the dog continues such bad behavior you are just reinforcing it by continuing to let him do it.

Other Things to Consider About Re-runs

• Re-runs are more dangerous than regular racing for the dog and the people. They are usually in a different position from where they normally are during a re-run. The last dog and person in the lineup may not be prepared for you or your dog and could get in the way. I have seen dogs crash into other dogs or people because they were not expecting a dog or another person to be there.

• Sometimes dogs that are running last are in that position for a reason. You should take that into consideration before you re-run even if you are trying to win the heat. You could unintentionally cause harm to the dog you are passing.

You should all discuss these points about re-runs with your teammates in hopes they will agree that re-runs accomplish very little besides extending ring time and tournament length.

Larry