Flyball Box Designs

The following box styles are available

Al Champlain Curved Front
BFA Curved Front
Belgian Curved Front
Springback by Jim Sova
Vertical Front
K9 Kannon
Wedge
Quick Draw
Sure Shot
Catapault
Kennel Club (UK) Monstrosity

Al Champlain Curved Front

This box was introduced by Al Champlain of the Happy Hurdlers. They were first used on October, 1995 at Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Al's curved box More photos of Al's Original Curve

Al has been busy tweaking the design and is now producing the Sprig-Curve box. It was first used in Cedar Rapids, Iowa at the Hawkeye Hustler's tournament in September, 1996. It is a direct descendent of the Original Al Curved box but the curve is deeper and steeper and the ball hole is lower.

Photos of Sprig-Curve More photos of the Sprig-Curve

Mo van Mokum's team from the Netherlands has built boxes from Al's plans with a few variations. The box was built by Mo's teammate an co-trainer Ruud Elsgeest.

Mo's dutch variant More Dutch photos

BFA Curved Front

These boxes were introduced to the British Flyball Association (BFA), in March, 1995 by the Jets team. They are made of polymar and metal with three holes and feature a slow sleek curved front to improve turning.

Nigel Bouckley reports that within two weeks, most BFA teams were using this style box with outstanding results.

British Curved Box More photos

Belgian Curved

Patrick Belis from the Sloeber Flyball Team in Hoboken, Belgium develops the Belgian Curved Box (aka Belgian Boomerang Box). It is easily recognized as being based on the British Boomerang Box.

Springback

The Springback box is designed and built by Jim Sova of the Hawkeye Hustlers. It's main feature differentiating it from other boxes is the spring mechanism used to reduce stress and return some energy for the turn.

[Spingback Box Page] The Springback Box Page

Vertical Front

These are probably the most popular style of box in use. It's main features that the ball comes out in a flatter trajectory and the ball is sitting right out front.

3 Hole More photos

K9 Kannon

More Photos

Quick Draw

The Quick Draw Flyball Box provided an extremely large surface for the dog to run on and reminds many people of a putting green.

Wedge

The wedge style sports a large front pedal. For most dogs, it takes the "fly" out of flyball.

Sure Shot

The Sure Shot box designed by Mark Jacobson was the first totally enclosed Flyball box.

Sure Shot More Photos

Catapault

This box is the granddaddy of them all! The original Flyball boxes were styled like a catapault with the ball placed in cup at the end of a long arm.

duncan More photos

Kennel Club Monstrosity

The British Flyball Association has been in conflict with the Kennel Club over Flyball. The Kennel Club has devised their own set of rules for Flyball and has manadated use of boxes like this. These boxes require the dog to jump up to catch the ball. This is generally considered unsafe and likely to cause injury.

Don't ever use a box like this!

More Photos