[Mizorie]

Does anyone have or know of any boxers involved with Flyball? My co-worker has a friend who runs a chapter and is willing to talk to her about Vega getting into it. (free training and what not) Vega has to wait till she is a year old but was just wondering if anyone has had experience with this.

http://www.flyball.org/

 

[HannaBanana]

Nope never heard of it, but if its physical you may want to work on foundation to start off with and then get into the hard stuff after she is about 18 months old.  

Reason being is they are still growing (joints) and excessive wear and tear on growing joints may cause injury.

Other than that - looks interesting

 

[samsonsmom]

I've heard of it and it sounds like it's pretty physical, so I would want to wait til Vega is abt 18 mos, like Hanna said..Her bones need to be fully developed before taking that on, but it would be great exercise & fun for both of you  

 

[tootsie]

I've never seen boxers doing flyball. I usually just see a lot of border collies. Seems interesting, but like everyone else has already said, I would definitely wait until vega is at least 18 months before starting.

 

[Barbs2Ks]

I have watched it on tv and it looks like it would be alot of fun.  Very physical, I would wait awhile too.

 

[Mizorie]

Awesome and thanks. I am sure it will be foundation training for awhile. I will talk with the two ladies and see what is involved and let you all know from there and see what my Forum family thinks. I just thought it would be fun and something exciting. Especially since there are not that many boxers involved in the sport. We'll just have to show those border collies up!

 

[lillyzmomma]

Boxers can excell with flyball if they like catching a ball thats flying at them at mach 10.  I have seen it and worked with several dogs that were preparing for it, so it is plausible.  I wouldn't even start training her until she was 18 mths old.  Make sure you get her obedience solid.  A lot of dogs love this sport because it requires a lot of energy from the dog AND HANDLER!!!  Its just fun.

Good luck!!!

Liz and Lilly

 

[pvanrhee]

We've been going through the Flyball training and it's been interesting. Our dog (Chani) is two years old and we went through all the obedience training first and then when she was old enough we started with Flyball. Backchaining the steps has sometimes been challenging - if we don't keep it interesting and moving quick she will go crazy, zooming around, trying to play with the other dogs (all non-boxers). But when it works, it is amazing! Don't plan on having your boxer win speed awards, but I have seen other boxers (and ours) do fairly well on the course, holding their own on a team. They'll never beat some of those border collies or jack russells, but man do they have fun!

As some people have said here, make sure your dog has a great recall with all kinds of distractions. I would also suggest having a great sit-stay. And then if you dog loves chasing the ball, learning how to hit the box with a swimmers' turn, going over jumps, passing, etc will be fun. Just change it up way more than the other dogs can handle. I don't know about your boxer, but mine gets bored easy once she gets it.

You can see video of her on a recall practice on our web site, with more videos being loaded (of our boxer and other dogs) this week.

Pol

Does anyone have or know of any boxers involved with Flyball? My co-worker has a friend who runs a chapter and is willing to talk to her about Vega getting into it. (free training and what not) Vega has to wait till she is a year old but was just wondering if anyone has had experience with this.

http://www.flyball.org/

 

[heather-mumofdaisy]

At Crufts alls we saw competing in flyball was border collies, border collies and more border collies! I would love to see boxers competing at that level in flyball and agility! I know they can do it! Our boxers can show those collies what they are made of I'm sure! LOL!

Heather