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Flyball

Flyball is a fast action sport for dogs and in fact is the only actual team sport for dogs that you can accumilate titles in. lt is a 4 dog relay race, over hurdles to the box, where the dog gets a tennis ball then races back. The objective is for your team of dogs to complete the course correctly before the team you are racing does. The word "Flyball" came from the early beginnings of the sport where the box actually had an arm that catapulted the tennis ball into the air. Now the boxes are designed to be much safer and the arm was elimated.

Each Team consists of 4 to 6 dogs. Any breed and mixed breed is allowed. Only 4 dogs race at one time while the other team dogs are resting. The course consists of a starting line, 4 hurdles spaced 10 feet apart and a box. The first hurdle is 6 feet from the start line and the box is 15 feet from the last hurdle for a 51 foot overall length. The minumum height of the hurdles is 8" and the maximum is 16" ( all hurdles are the same height in a race ). The height your dog will jump is based on the whither height of the smallest dog on your team that is racing in that particular race.

The first team to have all 4 dogs complete the course correctly wins the heat. The team that wins the most heats in that race wins the race. Races are usually the best 3 of 5 heats. Flyball points are earned by how fast your dogs can do the course. A run under 24 seconds is worth 25 points, 24 seconds to under 28 seconds is a 5 point run, 28 seconds to under 32 seconds is a 1 point run and anything over 32 seconds is a no-pointer. Even if your team loses every heat you still get the appropriate Flyball Title points. Dogs can earn from 0 points to 1,000 points at a Tournament.

Tournaments are usually organized in either a double elimination or round robin format. Each team submits a "Seed Time" ( how fast you think your dogs can run the course ) and your team is placed into the appropriate division for that Tournament. This allows your team to be competative in the division. Otherwise you might be racing a team whos dogs race about 19 seconds where your team can only complete the course in 24 seconds. Titles are awarded for the following point accumulations

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