Corgi Forums

herdingdogs · **Flyball -** 03-07-2006, 06:57 AM

Does anyone here do flyball with their corgi? Zoe and Tab love it. Zoe has been retired for a while now, but Tab still plays. It's his favorite game.

Linda

Jane Austen · 03-07-2006, 09:25 AM

Ok Linda, what is fly ball?

herdingdogs · 03-07-2006, 10:47 AM

Flyball is a relay race with the dogs. The racing lane is 51 feet long with 4 jumps spread out and a flyball box at one end. The dogs race down one at a time, jump on the box which releases a tennis ball; the dog catches it and brings it back to the owner. It's a race of a team of 4 dogs against another team of 4 dogs. Most of the events are run by the North American Flyball Association. The teams can earn placements at the tournaments and the dogs earn points for titles.

For more information check out:

http://nafadb.flyball.org
http://www.flyballdogs.com/
http://www.4dognightflyballclub.org/index.htm (our team web site)

Linda

Michael Romanos · 03-07-2006, 02:14 PM

I'd love Taylor to be involved in flyball but I just don't think he is up to it being a non-fetcher and seemingly glued to where I am. Mind you I didn't think he'd be any good in agility and he's proved me completely wrong.
Flyball in New Zealand is a minor sport with agility dominating - and catching up to the more recreational conformation showing as our top dog interest activity.

herdingdogs · 03-08-2006, 05:00 AM

Hi Michael! I know I've asked you about flyball in New Zealand on the Mighty Mites board.

Agility is a much more popular sport than flyball here in the US. However Flyball is growing. There are now 734 teams in North America and over 16,000 dogs registered with NAFA (North American Flyball Association).

Actually you really don't need to have a great retriever to do flyball. Tab could have cared less about a ball and was not that great of a retriever when I started with him. I acutally was doing it with Zoe (who was a ball retrieving nut) and just brought Tab along for the fun of it. What you really want to do is find something they are willing to do anything for. In Tab's case that was food. As the ever starving corgi he will do anything for food. Once he realized he got to go over jumps (which he likes), got cheered on, was allowed to bark (on the lane only) and got food for bringing that ball back, he became crazy about the game.

While he was trained in obedience and agility, he never loved them as much as he loves flyball.

Zoe on the other hand, loved anything I did with her and did it with gusto. I use to call her my border collie in a corgi suit.

Michael Romanos · 03-08-2006, 04:52 PM

Hi Linda
Your Corgis are really lovely.
You've given me some confidence that Taylor could successfully do flyball.
It only took one proper session Yesterday for him to "fly" onto a table, go in a "down" position on the table at the command. stick there for five-ten seconds and jump off on the word "go." Previously at home or in training on the other contacts, he simply would not do the "down" bit. I still have to say "down' more than once ( I got to saying it twice) but next week, it will a single command.
Why are female dogs more enthusiastic on the whole with agility? Is is because they enjoy a close relationship with their owners more so than the guys?
Taylor only barks when he's doing agility when he feels that I am confused or confusing him. He tells me off - "what are you doing, man," he says.
I'd love to see a really great Corgi agility exponent competing in NZ. Like to come and bring the Corgi?

herdingdogs · 03-09-2006, 04:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michael Romanos

Hi Linda
Your Corgis are really lovely.

Thank you!

Quote:

You've given me some confidence that Taylor could successfully do flyball.

Good. I'm sure he could be successful. Give it time and patience and make it lots of fun.

Quote:

Why are female dogs more enthusiastic on the whole with agility? Is is because they enjoy a close relationship with their owners more so than the guys?

I don't know. Good question. My female was much more enthusiastic about agility than Tab was. Being the food lover that he is, he learned it very quickly, but never really loved it like Zoe did.

Quote:

I'd love to see a really great Corgi agility exponent competing in NZ. Like to come and bring the Corgi?

Oh don't tempt me.

I'd LOVE to visit New Zealand. One of the most beautiful places in the world IMHO. But Zoe has been retired from all sports; Tab is still doing flyball but this may be his last year (or he'll just do it on a limited basis next year). When he was on, he was very good in agility and was really good at the weaves (something that took Zoe forever to master).

There are a lot of very good corgis doing agility in the US.

I don't need to tell everyone here what great dogs we've all got.

Michael Romanos · 03-09-2006, 03:18 PM

Hi Linda
Are there many Corgis of either breed, doing agility and flyball in Aussie?
In NZ, Taylor is the only Corgi involved with agility. And there are none doing flyball. Yet agility has attracted good numbers and is a growing sport.
I don't think it is because all dogs here - micros, minis, midis and maxis - are lumped together in single competitons, though this is a crazy situation and definitely restricts the growth of agility here for owners of the smaller breeds.
It must be that Corgi owners are not been pointed in the direction of agility - they don't know the potential of their (often overweight) dogs - and that the most common denominator of a Corgi owner here, is age - the owners are older in years than in other grouping who participate in agility. The ideal agility handler is an athletic or reasonably athletic person under the age of 60. In the USA, Corgis dominate the minis competition in at least one of their three major organisations.

herdingdogs · 03-14-2006, 08:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michael Romanos

Hi Linda
Are there many Corgis of either breed, doing agility and flyball in Aussie?

Well I pretty much just keep up with the North American Flyball Association so I really don't know if there are any corgis doing flyball in Australia. I do know that flyball is done there but I think it's a pretty small group.

As far as agility I really don't know. I haven't really kept up with agility for several years now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michael Romanos

In NZ, Taylor is the only Corgi involved with agility. And there are none doing flyball. Yet agility has attracted good numbers and is a growing sport.
I don't think it is because all dogs here - micros, minis, midis and maxis - are lumped together in single competitons, though this is a crazy situation and definitely restricts the growth of agility here for owners of the smaller breeds.
It must be that Corgi owners are not been pointed in the direction of agility - they don't know the potential of their (often overweight) dogs - and that the most common denominator of a Corgi owner here, is age - the owners are older in years than in other grouping who participate in agility. The ideal agility handler is an athletic or reasonably athletic person under the age of 60. In the USA, Corgis dominate the minis competition in at least one of their three major organisations.

I agree, a lot of people who aren't into dog sports have very fat corgis. I often would hear wow, your corgi is so fit; how do you keep them that way" and I'd have to explain they are performance dogs and need to be kept in shape. And as you stated it helps to have a relatively young and fit person doing agility although I have seen people of all shapes and sizes and ages and even with handicaps doing agility. Where there is a will there is a way..

Linda

herdingdogs · **A flyball weekend -** 03-14-2006, 08:48 AM

We just got back from a flyball tournament. There were 8 corgis there (all Pems). Six were racing; one one in training and the other had retired.

[the second from the left in the back is Zoe who turned 14 on Sunday; the tri next to her is Tab who turned 11 last Tuesday and is still racing]

Linda

CorgiMum · 06-08-2006, 07:21 PM

Hi Linda!

What a beautiful picture!!

Michael Romanos · 06-09-2006, 04:38 AM

Hi Linda of Herding Dogs - what a remarkable pic and so very foreign to the NZ dog sports scene. Your 14 year old seems in excellent shape and health and it is great that an 11 year old Pem can still foot it in agility/flyball. There is a 13 year old farming type dog here in NZ who still competes at the highest level - but of course she isn't a Corgi. I'm sure Taylor will be hard at it when he is seven or eight - if I'm still going strong! Flyball is a bit bigger here in NZ than I first thought. Taylor and I were recently competing in an agility event and there were 120 entries in the event with 23 minis - good minis numbers considering they must compete against allcomers. In actal fact Taylor finished first among the minis but only 14th overall. There is a Vallhund who regularly competes against Taylor and is generally five seconds faster over a course. She is real quick. Vallhunds are very much like Pems but those legs are longer and they have a more primitive attitude- ie not so refined as Corgis are.