The North American Flyball Association (NAFA) has all kinds of information about Flyball. Including videos. Come back whenever you're ready.
Our team accepts any size, any breed, either gender. However, dogs must be at least 12 months old before beginning any serious training for this sport. We play for fun and we do not want to see any dogs injured; dogs younger than 12 months old are still growing puppies and are not yet physically or mentally ready for this kind of training. For larger breeds you may want to wait until your dog is 18 months old. Have no fear that you'll be bored though, see below for a list of skills you can start teaching your dog immediately.
In order to begin teaching your dog this sport he must have learned these three prerequisite skills:
- Recall - your dog must come to you when called in a relatively distracting environment.
- Have a stranger hold his collar - part of teaching your dog this sport will mean that someone else, possibly a complete stranger, will have to hold onto your dog's collar.
- Stay - your dog should be able to hold a sit, stand, or down stay for about 30 seconds. If your dog does not have a problem with strangers holding his collar this may not be as critical.
It helps if your dog has ball-focus, if your dog loves tennis balls this definitely a sport he might like. If he doesn't have ball-focus it is possible to build it in your dog. Be careful though, you don't want "focus" to become "obsession".
If you are uncertain about teaching your dog these skills, or are concerned about obsession in your dog, please contact a qualified dog trainer for assistance.
None of this is written in stone, if your dog is struggling with one or more of these skills you can still begin training, it might even give you both some incentive to practice boring things like stays.
If you are uncertain about teaching your dog these skills, or are concerned about obsession in your dog, please contact a qualified dog trainer for assistance.
None of this is written in stone, if your dog is struggling with one or more of these skills you can still begin training, it might even give you both some incentive to practice boring things like stays.
Skills your dog will learn, in no particular order:
- Over - your dog will learn to come to you while jumping over four jumps.
- Go to the box - your dog will learn to go away from you and over the jumps to the Flyball box.
- Trigger the box - your dog will learn to trigger the Flyball box and release the ball.
- Retrieve - your dog will learn to pickup his ball and bring it to you.
- Passing - your dog will learn to enter the race course while another dog is exiting the course and exit the course while another dog is entering.
- The other lane - your dog will learn to play the game with another team running next to him.
- Focus in unusual environments - your dog will learn to play the game no matter where he is.
Don't be intimidated by this list, everything will be broken down in to simple steps and tailored for you and your dog so that by the time you put it all together it seems easy. Once you get to your first tournament be prepared for some adrenaline!
Upcoming Classes
We do not have any upcoming Flyball training classes at this time.
Watch this space as we could announce one at any time!
A note about children:
We encourage children to participate in the training of the family dog. However, children under 16 years old must have a parent or guardian present during all training classes and at all tournaments. We have no problems with children participating in training the dog, or being the primary trainer, if that is what the child wants to do but a parent or guardian must be present during all classes and tournaments. We expect children to understand that they are there to train their dog and that they MUST NOT play on any equipment in the room, there may be agility equipment or other things present and none of it is safe for children to play on nor is it intended to be a playground. Very young children must be supervised by a parent or guardian at all times and must never interfere with the dogs while they are training.
If you are interested in attending a class please contact us at k9.calgarylongshots at gmail daht com. Make the usual substitutions for an email address. The more interest we have the more likely a class will be held.
Please note that if you are not in or near Calgary, Alberta, Canada you will want to look for a team closer to your location.
Watch this space as we could announce one at any time!
A note about children:
We encourage children to participate in the training of the family dog. However, children under 16 years old must have a parent or guardian present during all training classes and at all tournaments. We have no problems with children participating in training the dog, or being the primary trainer, if that is what the child wants to do but a parent or guardian must be present during all classes and tournaments. We expect children to understand that they are there to train their dog and that they MUST NOT play on any equipment in the room, there may be agility equipment or other things present and none of it is safe for children to play on nor is it intended to be a playground. Very young children must be supervised by a parent or guardian at all times and must never interfere with the dogs while they are training.
If you are interested in attending a class please contact us at k9.calgarylongshots at gmail daht com. Make the usual substitutions for an email address. The more interest we have the more likely a class will be held.
Please note that if you are not in or near Calgary, Alberta, Canada you will want to look for a team closer to your location.
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