Comments on: Flyball, a four letter word?

By: Jackie Gillies

Jackie Gillies — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 15:38:31 +0000

Jamie, get your ESS in flyball! I have a retired ESS – that at one time was the # 3 pointed ESS in NAFA; and I have the fastest ESS in U-FLI 4.2 seconds. Ranger is one of the rare ESS’s that runs for a tug and not food! We know how they love food! There are a few clubs in Atlanta…I know the Gamblers and they are great, but, all the other teams in the area are also super great. Mine are also both field bred ESS’s.

Good luck!

Jackie

By: Jamie D.

Jamie D. — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 01:47:11 +0000

I live in Montgomery, and found your blog because I am looking for agility and/or flyball training that is not run by MADOC for my dog. She is a field-bred springer spaniel, tons of energy, and our 2-mile daily walks are not enough. Plus, she is extremely agile and flat out fast. I know she would love it. Please email me with info about demos, classes, etc. So glad I found you!

By: Jayne

Jayne — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 19:13:37 +0000

I’ve definitely encountered that locally, some of it is due to the attitude of the original folks playing flyball in the area many years ago, when training was nil. Also as some people left flyball due to team conflicts they were bitter & told others, and it tainted some people’s view of flyball. Other obed/agil. people see it as dogs out of control and can’t imagine that their dogs could do it, and the barking…that clearly means dogs are outta control!
I have had a more recent upsurge in interest from people just getting involved in dog sports. I more recently started teaching agility and when I tell students about my background they are intrigued. I can also point to some great skills that cross over from flyball to agility & vice versa. Hum, let’s see we work on speed, recall to owner, working at a distance from the handler, toy drive…all of the things I see agility folks clamoring for too. Oddly enough many of the agility old timers have no clue how to train that stuff either. I still hear murmurings from agility old timers that flyball will ruin your agility dog, they’ll learn to jump flat, they’ll speed up & you won’t be able to control them. Bunch of BS if you ask me, our team has lots of very competitive agility dogs on it and they are the dogs that people watch at agility trials and ohh & ahh over, so I guess flyball ruined them. In any case, just be aware that those sentiments are out there. So sometimes it’s a lot easier to concentrate on new to dog sport folks, do demos & show TRAINING during the demos too. Some folks see only the end product & can’t think of how you get a dog to that point. You might want to offer a flyball seminar for people to come try out some basics with their dog, no committment, but if they see some success & get personal encouragement, you might reel ‘em on in.

By: Melanie

Melanie — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 19:14:26 +0000

This may sound very… ignorant, but have you tried to demo or coach 4-H clubs? It would have to be a long term commitment, but because it’s a team sport you might not get as much resistance. Plus, you’ll be coaching the next generation of Flyball handlers.

I think it’s been done in WI, but I’m not sure.

PS – I know nothing about 4-H!

By: Larry

Larry — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 15:53:20 +0000

We have done many demonstrations and put posters and flyers out.

By: bcollie

bcollie — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 15:36:07 +0000

I’ve also encountered flyball hostility. One of my disc friends said “so what you just do flyball for the exercise . . .” I think most people don’t realize all the training involved and just assume it’s not hard to teach a dog to go get the ball. I train in herding, disc, and flyball, and my dog enjoys flyball the most. I enjoy the team aspect of the sport and feel that no other dog activity can offer that. As for trying to start a club, we get lots of interest when we do demostrations. Would your current club be willing to do a demostration in your area? It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, just contact a local store, county fair, or dog event and see if they would like to have a demo. Put up some posters to advertise and hope you get some interest. When people see how much the dogs love it they get more interested. GOOD LUCK!