I know from experience that it is very hard starting new teams in areas where no other teams exist. Being from a flyball growth area like Alabama, I have seen my share of all green teams. As I have mentioned before on other posts, when I started in flyball there was only one team within 250 miles of my home. It is quite a bit better now, but back in 1999, we had to travel for help and training. Having an all green team has many drawbacks, for one, just trying to put together four dogs that can complete the course can be a problem.
Of the six dogs on our all green team, we only had four dogs that could complete the course. Additionally, we had a severe shortage of height dogs, so if the height dog decided not to run or some other problem occurred with the height dog our team was not able to run. Back then, with 16-inch jump heights our large dogs would just go around the jumps if they were too high, so without a height dog, we did not run.
Ready to run
As with many all green teams, you are going to have your share of problems. Things that were not a problem in practice will be a problem in a tournament situation. It is very important that you do everything possible to test your dogs before entering them in a tournament. Finding a team that you can practice with is probably the most helpful. Even if you need to travel a distance to the closest team, testing your green team in a tournament like environment will tell you if you are ready for a real tournament.
Crossovers are the main concern and other teams running in your division will not look too kindly on your team if they are crossed over on. If you know that crossovers are going to be a problem with a dog(s) on your team, you should tell the team you are running that you will be warming-up a green dog(s) that may have a crossover problem. That way they will be prepared and may let you have the lane. If they have green dogs too, it would be common courtesy to share your warm-up time with them.
Other things to consider
It may actually be a little easier now for the all green teams to get started with the advent of the Open Class and Pickup team. Another option is Singles and Pairs in U-FLI. If you do not have a complete team that can run together, Singles and Pairs are a great way to give your green dogs some lane time. Additionally, if you know that you cannot field a complete team entering your team as an Open Class or Pickup team may be the answer. Query teams in your area or put something out on the Flyball Email List and ask if there are dogs that would like to run on your Open Class or Pickup team. Conversely, you may be able to add a couple of your green dogs to an Open Class or Pickup team. Either way, the experience you gain by doing so will be invaluable.
If anyone has other suggestions for the all green teams out there just starting in the sport, please post your comments. I am sure that any information you provide will be helpful in expanding our sport.
Larry
How do you run an all green team? I received this question from someone and I want to thank everyone that has written to me; your questions and suggestions for future post are greatly appreciated. Without your continued support, it would be hard for me to continue writing on these diverse subjects. If you would like to make suggestions or if you have a question please use the Contact form.
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9 comments ↓
A mixture of veterans and green dogs is important. The green dogs learn to be focused and reliable from the veterans while injecting some enthusiasm and promise into the lineup. You see the way the dogs look at each other before a race. The puppies are taking their queue from the dogs that look like they are out there with a purpose. Running more than two green dogs in a lineup is asking for trouble. You just don’t have enough warmup time to give the green dogs the proper attention. We do boxwork with our green dogs every time they come out to race for probably their first six months and sometimes longer. Don’t push too hard and ruin all your training but don’t be afraid to give the green dogs a chance to race.
I also like to only plan on running a green dog one day and don’t push for that second day of racing. With my dog she did great her first tournament dropping her time substanstially and really getting competitive. Day two however was a different story and was just to much for her and she started dropping ( a bad habit to pattern!). Luckily all of the other dogs on the team were solid so it was no problem to pull her, but I learned a good lesson. Every dog is different, but most the dogs I’ve seen don’t do well on day two in there first tourn and I think it’s best just to avoid a bad experience.
In regards to u-fli singles I get really annoyed by the dogs that can’t run that are there for practice. It’s leaves no competition for the people who are there to run singles seriously. I hope u-fli makes disqualification rules for dogs unable to complete a certain amount of heats so we don’t have to wait 15min for someone whos dog is obviously not ready, and who is not courteous enough to forfiet the rest of their heats.
I think a major point is being missed. If you are on a team that is just starting then there are no dogs with experience. When I started, the dogs we had were it and they were all green with no experience. The people on the team had zero experience.
In our region, there are still teams like this. Just look at Mississippi because there are no teams! Unless someone moves there from some other region of the country and their dogs have flyball experience, there will be no other dogs to fall back on.
With regards to U-FLI singles, something persons may not have considered…if you have a green dog, and unknown factor…I ALWAYS have that dog race a solid dog from our own team. This way, we are not causing problems with another persons dogs…if I have to hold my green dog, or hold our other dog…it is not an issue for another team.
I wish I had thought of this when I debuted one of my green dogs – who did great, but got crossed over on his first two times. Now he runs looking over his shoulder to see if he is being chased or make sure the other dog is in their lane. We are working to overcome this, but, only time on the course will help him overcome this and gain confidence back.
Recently, I had a green dog entered in singles, first time – and I train by myself, no teams close, and my team is in IL – I entered her to race only against one of my dogs, she did box/jump/box great; then pulled her back to start/finish line and her ears where everywhere, her focus just went out the window. So, I held her while the other team dog ran; and then pulled that them from the second go round. Just that little but fried her wee brain.
Larry, I did get your point. And the truth is, you can do it if you have to, but you aren’t going to get very good results. There will be a lot of frustration. But sometimes you have to start somewhere and you do what you can do and make the most out of it. Don’t look back and don’t get frustrated. Then in another year or two, you’ll have learned your lesson and can do it right next time.
Who of us does not wish we could go back and start over with our very first Flyball dog?
I have a couple like that. Pioneers in any area pay a price.
I do think it is somewhat better now with so much information available.
We recently went through restructuring on our team and ran in our first tournament of the year this past weekend. We went into team racing w/2 solid dogs and 3 newbies (2 ran singles last year for the first time and the other this was her very first tournment). Instead of pushing our newbies to their edge we decided to run team racing plus one single slot and one pairs slot on Saturday. The single and pairs slots gave our newbies extra experience w/out the pressure of the team racing. On Sunday, we ran singles/pairs only, no team racing.
When we went into our team racing, we broke our newbie team dogs up according to their personalities, we knew we couldn’t throw the crazy Boxer and the crazy BJ in the line up together until they had both had a few races to warm up so we put our poodle mix (the calmest of the 3 newbies)in the line up with each of these two first. By the last race of the day on Saturday the crazy boxer and the whacked out BJ both lined up side x side in a line up and rocked it!
Sunday morning was another story- our lil BJ had to have a jack moment here and there but overall did well. If we had relied on her to be on a team the 2nd day – we would have just set ourselves up to fail.
When a new team goes into a tournament most are eager to get out there and run their dogs as much as they can. My advice – take a step back and really look at what your team can do successfully and build up. We gave our dogs what they needed for that first tournament and we came out w/an overall successful weekend! Next tournament is on the horizon and we’re looking forward to building these newbies up to solid racing dogs, one step at a time.
My team just went through this a couple months ago. We only had one dog who had ever run flyball before, but he was a senior and only able to run a maximum of 5 heats for the day. Since it was a NAFA event, singles or doubles weren’t an option.
Basically, we all fell apart. Our dogs skipped jumps, some crossed over, dropped balls, and more. But we had no other options on how to get ready for a tourney other than showing up and doing our best.
[A mixture of veterans and green dogs is important.]
[Unless someone moves there from some other region of the country and their dogs have flyball experience…]
In our area, this is how we started. We started with 3 people and 4 dogs with previous flyball experience. From the time we formed the first club, it took roughly 1-1/2 years until we were able to hold our first tourney. I think we were able to field 2 of our own lineups that first time (and a few dogs ran on other teams who entered).
[If you are on a team that is just starting then there are no dogs with experience. When I started, the dogs we had were it and they were all green with no experience. The people on the team had zero experience.]
[Finding a team that you can practice with is probably the most helpful.]
I think these two things represent the biggest challenges for an area that is brand new to flyball.
Even though we had (a few) experienced dogs, I think what actually held us together the first few years was the sense of pioneering and camaraderie. If you are just starting flyball in an area, this is probably the most important thing to (if you can) keep in mind.
When more and more folks learn flyball, some will begin to forge their own way. They may either start out wanting to form their own club or after being in the same club you may all choose to form different clubs among yourselves. But, being able to hang onto a sense of camaraderie despite differing views can make or break flyball in a brand new area. Without it, you will probably be able to attract new folks to flyball, but they may not stick around. For most folks, I think the friendships and how they are treated are what keep them interested and coming back.
Linda
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