Flyball is a fun fast paced dog sport, merging of obedience and agility-type skills. It is a timed relay race between two teams of dogs and handlers. There are four dogs per team. Each Flyball dog on the team is released by his handler, must go over four Jumps in a row, trigger a Flyball box which ejects a tennis ball, grab the ball, and return over the four jumps carrying the ball. Then the next dog on the team can run. 

The Jumps are 10 feet apart from each other. The first is 6 feet from the start line and the box is 15 feet from the last jump for a 51 foot overall length. The jump height is dependent on the smallest dog on the team. Depending on the organization, the shortest hurdle can be set at 7” and tallest at 14”. Every team needs a little dog, commonly referred to as the “height dog”

The Flyball box is a spring loaded box that shoots out a tennis ball when the front pedal is pushed by the dog.

The Flyball dog must learn to perform its tasks while there is another dog in an adjoining lane doing the same thing at the same time, making its own decisions while running at top speeds! This requires the ultimate in focus and concentration in the face of major distractions.

The Objective: The first team to run each flyball dog without error, with the fastest time, wins! 

FLYBALL ORGANIZATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES

FLYBALL TITLES

How are NAFA titles earned?

Each dog in a team participating in a NAFA sanctioned Flyball tournament has a chance to earn points toward a NAFA title. For each heat (or run), if the recorded time is under 24 seconds, each racing dog will receive 25 NAFA points. If the recorded time is 24 or more seconds but under 28 seconds each racing dog will receive 5 points; 28 or more seconds but under 32 seconds will receive 1 point for each racing dog.

NAFA titles and the required points are listed below: