Flyball is a dog team relay race between two teams that was invented in California in the late 70's. Each Flyball team consists of 4 dogs, 4 handlers and a Boxloader. A team can also have two alternates. The objective of the race is to have each dog jump the hurdles, get the ball and return over the hurdles faster than the other team. The first team to send and return all four dogs, without error, wins the heat. Each race consists of 4 or 5 heats.

• correct entry into the course (crossing the start line without getting an error flag)
• jumping over every hurdle going to and from the box
• triggering the release of a tennis ball from the box
• carrying the ball past the finish line

Missed jumps, dropped balls, bad entry, etc. would all require the dog to rerun the course after the remainder of the dogs on the team have finished.

Course technical information:

• each racing lane is 2 feet wide, and 51 feet long
• there are 4 hurdles spaced at 10 foot intervals, the first being 6 feet from the start line
• hurdle height is calculated on the smallest dog running on the team (referred to as the 'height dog')
• the Flyball Box is placed 15 feet after the 4th hurdle

Flyball dogs are registered with the North American Flyball Association (NAFA), and accumulate points that earn them titles. All breeds and mixed breeds are welcome in Flyball!

The number of points earned depends on how fast your team finishes the race.

• 32 seconds: each dog earns 1 point
• 28 seconds: each dog earns 5 points
• 24 seconds: each dog earns 25 points

The number of points needed to earn each Flyball Title are:

Tournaments are usually organized in either a double elimination or round-robin format. Each team has a seed time, and the tournament is divided into several divisions, with the teams in each division having similar seed times.

For more information on Flyball history and rules, please visit the North American Flyball Association (NAFA) website at: http://www.flyball.org