Tassie Flying Paws

Flyball is conducted by the Australian Flyball Association. Competitions are usually hosted by a specific local flyball club but under the sanction of the national governing body.
The height of the hurdles is determined by the shoulder height of the smallest dog in the team. Jump heights for each team are set at 5 inches (12.7cm) lower than the shoulder height of the smallest dog in the team. The minimum height is 7 inches (17.8cm) and the maximum 14 inches (35.6cm).
Each dog must return its ball all the way across the start line before the next dog crosses. Ideal running is nose-to-nose at the start line. The first team to have all four dogs cross the finish line error free wins the heat. Penalties are applied to teams if the ball is dropped or if the next relay dog is released early.
Competitions are run in divisions, based on their seed times. The fastest teams are put in Division 1 and the slower teams in Division 2 etc. This enables every team to have a fair go and be competitive in their division. The overall winner is the team with the most wins.
In competitions all teams will also be trying to improve their own individual team's best race time. Teams that underestimate their speed may "break out" of their division in competition. The break-out time for a division is typically set at 1 second faster than the top seeded team in each division. The break-out rule is intended to encourage teams to seed themselves accurately, as any heats where a team breaks out do not count and are recorded as losses.
Flyball is a game of tactics with decisions to be made by the team captain on the best running order and release place to achieve the fastest speed at the start line.
The earliest known Australian flyball activity was in 1982 in Perth (WA). Flyball was a demonstration-only activity until 1996, when the Australian Flyball Association was formed. The AFA grew out of Queanbeyan in New South Wales, and competitions rapidly spread from New South Wales to the Australian Capital Territory and Victoria. Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia have more recently held competitions.
Hobart currently has two flyball clubs with a dedicated group Hobart K9iners training most Sunday mornings at the Domain Crossroads Oval. The Tassie Flying Paws train on the main arena of the Royal Show Grounds at Glenorchy on Sunday mornings and have competed at two Nationals, Sydney and Melbourne and one Victorian two day event.
Flyball training strengthens a dog’s recall (the dog returning to you when called) amidst much distraction, so is a fun way of training in a social atmosphere.
Further information on flyball can be obtained from the AFA www.flyball.org.au
Tassie Flying Paws
The Hobart K-Ninershttp://www.hdtc.org

FlyballFacts
The first Flyball tournament was held in 1983 in the USA. Flyball has now expanded into many countries including Australia, Canada and South Africa, and in Europe countries such as Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and the United Kingdom have National flyball tournaments and also hold joint annual European championships. The European championships were held in the United Kingdom in 2007 the Czech Republic in 2008, Belgium in 2009 and 2010 and Germany in 2011.
The current World Record is 14.690 seconds and is held by Touch N Go of Las Vegas, NV. Touch N Go posted a 14.860 on March 26, 2011 in Hurricane, Utah and came back to break their own previous world record with a new time of 14.690 seconds on September 10, 2011 at the sanctioned U-FLI event. Touch N Go is the first and only team to have ever broken into the 14-second barrier in any sanctioned flyball competition or league/association in the world. In the UK the current BFA record is 16.37 seconds and is held by Wires A-Live (31st July 2011).Over the years, the best times run by teams have decreased, as training methods and boxes have improved. The first team to break the 20 second barrier in Australia was the Croydon Rocket Launchers in 1999. At that time, the world record was just over 16 secs.