cwb3 Posted October 30, 2013 Report Share Posted October 30, 2013 Yup that is a very good point! Stockwork, Agility, Obedience etc. . .it all comes down to your dog and you. Flyball is definately a team sport and it is so important to like and get along with fellow teammates, cause you spend a lot of time with them and you and your dog rely on thier dogs and handling skills, to make it all work. I find the team aspect appealing, because I grew up on team sports I guess. One nice thing about Flyball is that while you are competing against other teams, by and large all teams pull for each other and help each other out. It is competitive without being at all hyper competitive. If a team is short a body or a dog, you can pitch in. Help other teams by boxloading or shagging balls. It is a nice and friendly environment. Agility people are mostly friendly as well, but the atmosphere seems to me a bit more reserved. Another reason why I chose not get involved with flyball has nothing to do with dogs but they way the sport is structured. It is a team sport, so first you have to find a team (which in my area can be a little poltical) and then of course you have to compete with them. Because of my work committing to weekends away is very hard, I enter agility as late as possible and if I can't go then it's only me that's bummed and if I am being truthful team sports are not my thing I am a little to independent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Root Beer Posted October 30, 2013 Report Share Posted October 30, 2013 Very seldom do I hear anyone talking about other activities amongst my agility circle although I know they happen and some like flyball are very popular. I've turned up to obedience shows and been surprised how many people I meet who I know and who have never mentioned that they do obedience as well and I wouldn't be surprised if the same happened if I were to go to a flyball competition. I think the number of people I know who do HTM, gun dog trials, sheepdog trials and working trials can each be counted on the fingers of one hand but who knows? Yeah, we tend to be chatterboxes. I had to chuckle the day someone told me, very excited, that there is a new sport that combines Rally and Freestyle. By that point, Dean and Tessa both had their Novice titles in it! A lot of people in my area seem to be very excited about the new sport opportunities that are gaining popularity and are becoming more readily available. In spite of that, I still hear people talking about many of the standards (Agility, Freestyle, Obedience, Rally, different working disciplines, etc.). Just not so much about flyball . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dana Nichols Posted October 30, 2013 Report Share Posted October 30, 2013 Kristine, It may just be a different circle of dog folks. I just checked our database and there were 14 weekends of flyball tournaments in Pennsylvania last year and there are over a dozen active clubs in PA. There are also competitions in many nearby states. It's a hotbed for flyball back in that area. : ) I know several folks from there who are very active in flyball & also compete in agility. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alligande Posted October 30, 2013 Report Share Posted October 30, 2013 I know a lot of people that do flyball and frisbee. The activities that I hear the most about are flyball, frisbee, herding and a few who do obedience. I rarely hear of freestyle or rally. I chat to anyone at agility trials so never found them reserved and I do my best to avoid noticing cliques etc, if you have a dog I will start a conversation, which is a good job as I knew no one at my first trial. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GentleLake Posted October 30, 2013 Report Share Posted October 30, 2013 Kristine, It may just be a different circle of dog folks. I just checked our database and there were 14 weekends of flyball tournaments in Pennsylvania last year and there are over a dozen active clubs in PA. There are also competitions in many nearby states. It's a hotbed for flyball back in that area. : ) PA's a pretty big state geographically . . . . depending on where those clubs are located, you could live in parts of PA and have to drive hours to get to any of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mum24dog Posted November 1, 2013 Report Share Posted November 1, 2013 Yeah, we tend to be chatterboxes.Oh we talk - a lot. Just not always about dogs. Our dog activities here aren't as fragmented as yours seem to be and there doesn't seem to be much call for something purporting to be new on a regular basis. Even Rally which virtually any reasonably trained dog with a handler that can read can do straight off (as we have proved) was really struggling to get off the ground until the KC took it over. Flyball though does seem to be popular, although no one would know if they didn't look into it. I couldn't tell you offhand where the nearest competitions take place. I do know where the nearest classes are but only because a friend and fellow club member has started them recently. Same as Agility really. We manage to hide a 10 day 10 ring agility show on 65 acres in full sight. A traffic policeman stationed half a mile from the site had no idea what was going on each year at the same time. He only found out when he came to check out our training with a view to starting training his own dog. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrSnappy Posted November 2, 2013 Report Share Posted November 2, 2013 I used to do flyball, but don't for many reasons - the biggest one is that I work in an animal shelter and listen to manic barking ALL DAY LONG and the last thing I want to hear in my leisure time is an arena full of manic barking dogs. My dogs were not crazy about flyball, possibly because I was not either. It was fun in its way, but it didn't compel me. Tweed was slow, and Piper was fast like the dickens, until she got jumped at the box twice by a dog on another team that just seemed obsessed with her. The second time he hit her square in the ribs with his big stupid Lab head and sent her ass over tea kettle over the box just as she was doing her turn. After that, she would no longer run, or she would run down, grab the ball and then go hide. That was when we retired from the sport. That and when I heard about a border collie on another team that ran 4 heats on a broken leg before anyone noticed. I just didn't want to own THAT dog. Having said that, I have many friends who do both agility and flyball with their dogs and the dogs seem to have absolutely no problem changing sport venues and adjusting to expectations from each. Neither did mine - Tweed was a Regional Champion in agility, and Piper managed to get her MAD, so clearly the experience did them no harm in our other chosen sport. She sliced and broke open her sheep, but she did that long before she ever started flyball. And Tweed never did want to work stock. And I have other friends who have working/herding dogs that also do flyball and some of them do agility too, and they seem all be decent at everything. Again, the dogs have no difficulty adjusting to the change in venue. We recently started to do lure coursing, and it has not adversely affected by agility dogs' ability to focus on a course rather than looking for a plastic bag. The folks who run lure coursing have Afghans that also do agility successfully. And someone mentioned Barn Hunt - my whipjacks are signed up for their first Barn Hunt seminar in November. We are excited about that! Since they spend most of their time hunting rat-type things around the property, I think they will enjoy/excel at it. Some friends expressed concern that my little agility whipjack will become too focused on hunting, but I tend to think it will just give her an appropriate outlet for her desire to critter hunt, and she won't have any difficulty understanding the difference between haybales and A-Frames. RDM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mum24dog Posted November 3, 2013 Report Share Posted November 3, 2013 And someone mentioned Barn Hunt - my whipjacks are signed up for their first Barn Hunt seminar in November. We are excited about that! Since they spend most of their time hunting rat-type things around the property, I think they will enjoy/excel at it. Some friends expressed concern that my little agility whipjack will become too focused on hunting, but I tend to think it will just give her an appropriate outlet for her desire to critter hunt, and she won't have any difficulty understanding the difference between haybales and A-Frames. RDM We train agility in a barn complete with haybales and rats. Terriers (especially BTs) and spaniels in general are the worst to keep focussed on agility but those with good recalls and/or which are really into agility are usually OK. If our dogs can train in those conditions I don't see why yours wouldn't be able to differentiate between the two activities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Root Beer Posted November 4, 2013 Report Share Posted November 4, 2013 I'm thinking about letting my old boy try Barn Hunt, just for kicks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cwb3 Posted November 4, 2013 Report Share Posted November 4, 2013 Ahh haybales. . .natures own A-Frame! And someone mentioned Barn Hunt - my whipjacks are signed up for their first Barn Hunt seminar in November. We are excited about that! Since they spend most of their time hunting rat-type things around the property, I think they will enjoy/excel at it. Some friends expressed concern that my little agility whipjack will become too focused on hunting, but I tend to think it will just give her an appropriate outlet for her desire to critter hunt, and she won't have any difficulty understanding the difference between haybales and A-Frames. RDM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.