I can't sleep for some reason or another and was browsing a few agility vids on youtube.. Well, one link led to another and I found out about Flyball. Does anyone on the forum does flyball runs with their dogs? It looks like a lot of fun!
I was thinking about it for Beebe. There are 3 clubs in my area, none have any Shiba team mates. The dog needs to have a solid recall, and have a hard core mega death love of tennis balls or of retreiving. Being food motivated really helps in the training I guess. They told me any dog can do it, but having some basic obedience and the ability to naivigate the jumps is also part of the game. It's a relay race, so the dogs need to be ok running alongside other dogs, or being in close proximity to other dogs. There are barriers that seperate the individual relay teams. Most of the dogs are border collies, aussies, (sigh), and some pitties in my area (yay!) It really sounds like fun though. It would be cool to have an all spitzy flyball team.
I'm positive that Shibas could easily excel at the athletic part of flyball, however not many I have met have that kind of focus for a tennis ball. I know that Nemo would loose interest quickly, and all of the people and noise would overwhelm him. Most Shibas I know would probably prefer lure coursing, or eating small animals.
Yes, agreed. I forgot to add after my last post, that although I had thought about it for Beebe, it is for all the above reasons that I don't think a Shiba would really excell at Flyball. The dog would have to have incredible ball drive and focus in order to ignore all the other barking, racing dogs. I suppose you could pay for individual sessions, that may be more productive. I ended up signing up for agility instead.
I'm not sure about the crowds, but Sasuke might be able to do it without any distractions... The crowd just gets me so pumped when I was watching the championships.
I don't do flyball with Shibas but have observed. The dog whatever breed has to have a really nice retrieve instinct and be willing to bring the item to humans and or learn to drop at a contact point and (here is the biggie) not challenge other dogs over the items. The dog also must be well socialized and non noise sensitive. Many dogs have a hard time with a dog barreling directly at them full force and this is where it is critical that they do not feel threatened where other dogs are concerned during the event.
Joe, I do flyball with my Dutchie and Border Collie. I have tried doing it with my Shiba, but she is too fearful and I haven't put in the time and effort to properly train her for that particular sport. A Shiba would be great at flyball because they have the competitive spirit that would make them want to beat the dog in the other lane, plus their small size and speed is really beneficial too. I would suggest finding a good trainer and going and watching a few flyball classes before bringing your pup so you can see how the trainer works with the people and their dogs and experience how CHAOTIC it is(it's nuts, for real, no joke.)
Your dog needs to learn how to retrieve a ball(small, soft, squeaky, or a tennis ball) and preferably tug on a toy of some kind(anything will do, I've seen people use stuffed chickens, frogs, or just a piece of rope even). It's best to start bringing a puppy to classes every week so they can get used to the sounds and smells from an early age, but you can easily train an adult dog to do it too. I've seen it take anywhere from a few weeks to a few years to train a dog to do it. Flyball is a great sport because your dog gets to release a lot of pent up energy, and can basically go buck wild for a few hours. Where do you live?
Shibas look like foxes when they run... I wonder how many comments like that the crowd would say!
I was very pumped when I was watching the tournaments online... they were so awesome! I'm not sure if I can get Sasuke to return when another dog is running right next to him O.O
We'll see after his agility classes. Thanks for all the input!
Just reread this while I'm getting the dogs ready for Flyball practice. I have to eat my words, lol. Shibas can do just fine at Flyball if you put the training into them. I'm hoping that one of Farrah's puppies will carry on her drive and workability (at least that's what I am aiming for).
Haha I was going to say "Doesn't Farrah do flyball, and even did it in a sports arena?". Farrah's quite the little badass, especially with those intense eyebrow markings
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Your dog needs to learn how to retrieve a ball(small, soft, squeaky, or a tennis ball) and preferably tug on a toy of some kind(anything will do, I've seen people use stuffed chickens, frogs, or just a piece of rope even). It's best to start bringing a puppy to classes every week so they can get used to the sounds and smells from an early age, but you can easily train an adult dog to do it too. I've seen it take anywhere from a few weeks to a few years to train a dog to do it. Flyball is a great sport because your dog gets to release a lot of pent up energy, and can basically go buck wild for a few hours. Where do you live?
These are some links that will fill you in on the rules, regs, etc.
http://www.u-fli.com/
http://www.flyball.org/
I was very pumped when I was watching the tournaments online... they were so awesome! I'm not sure if I can get Sasuke to return when another dog is running right next to him O.O
We'll see after his agility classes. Thanks for all the input!