What Is Flyball?
Flyball races match two teams of four dogs each, racing side-by-side over a 51 foot long course. Each dog must run
in relay fashion down the jumps, trigger a flyball box, releasing the ball, retrieve the ball, and return over the
jumps. The next dog is released to run the course but can't cross the start/finish line until the previous dog has
returned over all 4 jumps and reached the start/finish line. The first team to have all 4 dogs finish the course
without error wins the heat.
Jump height is determined by the smallest dog on the team - this dog, called the "height dog", is measured at
the withers, then that number is rounded down to the nearest inch and another 5" is subtracted to get the jump
height (with the minimum jump height being 7"). So a 13 1/4" dog would round down to 13", minus 5", would
jump 8". Maximum jump height is 14".
An Electronic Judging System (EJS), which uses lights and infrared timing sensors, allows competitors to track their starts, passes, finishes, and individual dogs' times to the thousandth of a second. Many teams run all 4 dogs through the course in less than 20 seconds. The NAFA World Record is now 15.22.
NAFA tournaments are divided into divisions so that teams compete against other teams of equal abilities.
All dogs including mixed breeds are eligible to compete and earn titles in NAFA sanctioned tournaments.
Titles are earned via a point system based on the time it takes a dog's team to complete each heat race.
NAFA sanctions over 300 tournaments a year across North America.