has anyone done flyball?

[Ben's mum]

they are starting a flyball course this summer at our agility class - not sure whether to have a go with Ben or not?
He is already quite hyped up - but some people have told me that it might help as he can burn off some energy??

has anyone had a go ?

Bens mum 

[mentalcat]

Hello Ben's mum,


Is Ben toy oriented? My Labs both love flyball, but my working cocker couldn't give a stuff! (If it was squirrel ball or even pigeon ball it would be a different matter)

If he does love a toy, then its great fun and will wear him out - i've heard that there is also a new version called flymouse which uses small soft toys instead of balls - not sure about that one.

Give it a go and let us know how you get on..

Ali

[Cob-Web]

Perhaps it would be better to resolve his self control issues first?

Putting him into a flyball environment at the moment may be too much for him and might set him up to fail, as it is faster and more furious than agility.......and may well lead him to biting you more frequently 

[silke]

I've done flyball with my first cocker, Bobby, and our Border Collie, Jessie, is still doing it. Bobby wasn't too bothered about balls and really just did it to please me 

Jessie loves balls, though, and adores flyball. It has never hyped her up. She is really calm, but knows when she goes to the flyball. She is really excited as we draw into the carpark, but once she is at the start is totally focused. 

Charlie, our cocker puppy, loves playing with balls, so once he is old enough, I'm going to let him have a go!

Silke

[Ben's mum]

Perhaps it would be better to resolve his self control issues first?

Putting him into a flyball environment at the moment may be too much for him and might set him up to fail, as it is faster and more furious than agility.......and may well lead him to biting you more frequently 

Yup thats my worry, what I don't want to end up with is a completly hyped up manic cocker!! when i've seen flyball on TV the collies look really fizzed up, and really I know that is not what Ben needs at the moment (or me!) 

Bens mum 

[Spangle]

We tried flyball briefly.  Billy, although normally a total obsessive spherical object freak, was scared of the box unleashing the balls and wanted nothing to do with it.  Sophie, not normally a ball enthusiast, was quite interested in getting the ball, but not quite so interested in bringing it back (her game - her rules)

We may have continued with it, but to be honest I found the manic atmosphere and noise of the other dogs (and handlers) so unbearable that it put me right off! 

[jackiespanielfan]

Hi Bens mum,

I have done flyball with Megan - we started learning it with Deeside Dog agility club in Aberdeen using the Crufts flyball box and then took part in classes run by the Irish kennel club using British flyball Association boxes when we moved to Ireland.  I really started taking her as an extra fun thing to do and she loved (loves!) it.  However, I did start to ease off after a while - it is very repetitive and i was worried about injury as she would get so excited about getting the ball that the force she would be hitting the box with was extreme to say the least.  The other problem i found was that yes, she did get hyper at flyball and when she realised what was going on, it also started to impact on our agility and she would switch off on a row of jumps and occasionally go scatty.  So, i guess it depends on a lot of things - it does tire them out for sure though!

Enjoy - best of luck

Jackie