Crufts 2019, Flyball..

Not a sport I would enjoy but is it really any less interesting to watch than any relay race or any other race for that matter. People love all sorts of racing it is the noise I don't like. I cartainly wouldn't participate in a sport that encouraged my dog to bark as that is one thing that gets on my nerves
 
windand rain said:
Not a sport I would enjoy but is it really any less interesting to watch than any relay race or any other race for that matter. People love all sorts of racing it is the noise I don't like. I cartainly wouldn't participate in a sport that encouraged my dog to bark as that is one thing that gets on my nerves
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Sorry - lost ability to multiquote on phone. I will admit Mrs Spaniel barks when at a comp, but knows she isn't to bark in house apart from the warning wuff at door knockers and when (valiantly in her eyes) defending my aviary from cats/foxes.
She also knows difference between comps and training as is rather silent then too.
 
I love the flyball! It's massively exciting when you're there. I did notice this year how many more whippets and lurchers there were and they went like the wind. I agree that I did worry a bit about the injury potential when they slam into the ball launcher now they go so much faster. But I've never seen topline like I did on one of those whippets!
 
blodwyn1 said:
When did they stop pressing a lever for the ball to spring out and why did they change?
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Risk of injury on the old boxes when the dogs jumped forwards towards the box to catch the ball. I think it changed about 10 years ago for KC, I think the BFA was already using them then.
 
Guessing dog welfare as well. They're going full pelt and then skidding to halt to trigger the ball, cant be good for joints. A decent turn is so important to keep them safe. You can really feel the impact when dogs don't turn correctly on the box and slam into it when triggering
 
Watching the final, never seen fly ball before, the dogs have bandaged legs ! The barking would drive me insane and on a frivolous note, do you have to be overweight to have a fly ball team ?
 
A lot lurchers with a bit of bull in them - I wouldn’t fancy the chances of a whippet coming away with no injuries. Agree with Bonny, some of the owners could do with exercising the flyball way......
 
ester said:
The two finalist teams were mostly whippets I think?

I'm sure it attracts a lot of people who have active dogs but can't physically do agility and alike. I don't see that as a bad thing.
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They were lurchers on the whole - the BC cocked it up & lost time. The owners all looked able bodied to my eye.
 
Interestingly the GSD world champion in 2009 had bandages/straps and again when he turned up in 2010 and came second.
Bandages were banned the next year by the organisers and have been ever since (apart from the funny little coloured legwarmer things they can wear during opening and closing ceremonies).
He never competed in that competition since, but got third at the FCI WCs (all breeds) in 2011.
 
lol, I was watching some open earlier and even watching I couldn't remember which way they were supposed to do two of the jumps on the way out and the way back as the loop was so shallow between them!
 
You wouldn't believe how many times I stand on the start line and think, oh gawd I have no idea where to go, and thats after walking the course about 20 times. I have also finished what I have thought was a lovely clear round and wondered why the judge hadn't clapped, to be told that the course I had run wasn't actually the one the judge had set :)
 
It's not my thing either, i find watching quite boring, but i get that it may be exciting when you're involved, & the dogs do seem to love it. A friend of mine does it, & i had no idea the amount of training that goes into running up over some jump, grabbing a ball, & running back - it's quite interesting how they train & piece it all together - i had no idea! Apparently a lot of the dogs are Staffie x whippet.
 
We once sat down and broke down a basic flat dumbbell retrieve from start to finish into 12 or 13 separate elements, so I'm not surprised that flyball is trained in elements!
 
It's not my thing but then I have no interest in most of what happens at Crufts. I am also of the view that far better dogs are given something to do - whether that be flyball, agility, working trials, tracking etc than sitting on the sofa getting bored and fat. The noise would definitely put me off but the dogs do seem to really enjoy it.
 
It's not my cup of tea, purely because of the noise! They do flyball at the dog training club locally and when they are practicing it sounds like slaughterhouse!! However it's great to see the dogs enjoying themselves and having a job to do that keeps them fit physically and mentally.
 
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