would like your opinion please!i took my year old collie bitch to a flyball class a couple of days ago.i knew she d get exited but thought id see how it went.the actual flyball training went quite well,she quite took to it,butWAS very excited when the others were running,i kept her in a down,sometimes having to hold her in position.id like to go again,if i do,is it likely to wreck the oher training weve already done in some way?thanks for any thoughts or advice!

All dogs get excited at flyball :-) I'd just hold on to her and not bother trying to give commands or keep her in a down when the other dogs are running, that way she's not ignoring any commands and you're not ruining your training.

If you watch this video form Crufts last year you'll see how excited all the dogs are and that the handlers just hold on to them while they leap about barking :-D

edited to add, link is on the dfscruftstv website, you need to register but it's free and a great site.

thanks,that makes sense!will look at wbsite now,thanks again!

its great!thanks!

Ahhhhh flyball...I did it for years and competed at Crufts many times with my collies :)

That's great she was excited...it's what you want :) However, a word of caution. When she is not running...ALWAYS have her on lead or have a hold of her harness. Don't rely on a down command...YOU control the situation 100%.

One year, we were training against a fellow team prior to Crufts. A dog from their team broke their command and ran towards the start line as the other dog was almost completed their back run. They collided. One dog immediately broke their neck and died in front of us.

You must keep in mind that, no matter how solid their down command is, they are in hyper-mode. I could barely control my dogs whilst holding their harness never mind trusting their otherwise solid downs!

I smile when I recall the stewards at Crufts coming over and asking us to keep our dogs quiet as we waited in the gathering ring before going out to compete...were they having a laugh! One glimpse of that flyball bucket and their team mates and all senses took flight!!

> recall the stewards at Crufts coming over and asking us to keep our dogs quiet as we waited in the gathering ring before going out to compete..

:-)  :-)  :-)

My BC would never, ever do quiet with flyball on the cards.

aw,that must have been horrible!i certainly will keep her on the lead,thanks for the warning.

Some dogs can cope with flyball and be obedient, but not all can. My gundogs are fine with responding to commands in between but my collie cannot control her self at all, i can't even get her to lie down whilst she's in flyball mode yet she is a very obedient 8 year old that hardly ever needs a lead outside of flyball (except near roads of course). Needless to say though she is the quickest by far!

shes now running on her own and even hands over the ball nicely!dead proud!on her third go!whoopee!

That's great Pam :)

They pick up flyball VERY quickly...instant reward in getting the ball!