Flyball Or Agility Classes?

[Agility Dogs]

Apologies if this is off topic, but the main thing that puts me off flyball and sends me in the agility direction is the barking. Is the barking avoidable?? Are there teams out there that DON'T encourage barking?? I think it's an awesome sport so it's a pity the barking puts me off it so much.

Two schools of thought - your dog needs to be climbing walls to be fast.

Your dog needs to be focussed and understand the game to be fast.

Unfortunately most flyballers seem to subscribe to the first school. Even if you do find an entire team that don't bark you can't stop the rest of the dogs at comps doing it. In the end you only end up hearing your dog.

[Monah]

Mine never barks, most of the others do though. Whatever works for the dog is fine with me.. funnily enough, mine barks more doing agility... she has to 'communicate' with me the whole time

[TerraNik]

Soaks barks, Jedi doesn't. Aside from Nationals (where I will be wearing ear plugs!), I don't really notice the barking. To me, it's just part and parcel of the sport.

[Max#1]

I would recommend seeing if you can try both. Maybe its possible to go (even without your dog) to a training session for each and see what its about and what the atmosphere is like?

I ended up doing flyball by default, because I met someone, and then got involved. Luckily enough though, my little guy seems to absolutely love it and has picked up the whole thing really quickly (that coming from someone who struggles a lot with general obedience classes). My experience of flyball 'training', was specifically a big emphasis on recall and socializing. Much much much more so than the obedience classes. And it was FUN! And I mean really FUN! Like I'm laughing and Max is laughing and we're giving each other high fives fun.

I would though love to try agility as well. I think Max is a real thinker, and has a lot of energy and enthusiasm. I've never seen an agility training session though.

As for politics, I'm pretty sure you'll get that wherever there's people grouped together for a so-called common purpose.

[wuffles]

For people whose dogs bark at flyball, does it follow over into the rest of their lives? So... every time they are excited about something... do they bark? I am more worried about my own dog barking than the ones around us.

[TerraNik]

For people whose dogs bark at flyball, does it follow over into the rest of their lives? So... every time they are excited about something... do they bark? I am more worried about my own dog barking than the ones around us.

Nope - Ahsoka doesn't bark during our other dog sports (mostly obedience and agility) even when she's equally as excited as she is at flyball and it hasn't increased her tendency to bark on a day-to-day basis. If anything, she barks less

[Guest Clover]

Apologies if this is off topic, but the main thing that puts me off flyball and sends me in the agility direction is the barking. Is the barking avoidable?? Are there teams out there that DON'T encourage barking?? I think it's an awesome sport so it's a pity the barking puts me off it so much.

Dogs bark, after all they are dogs. You tend to not hear it after a while . My 3 that are curently running at Flyball are barkers when lined up ready to run, but at home not so much (they may have a bit of a yodel before going for a walk).

[Sayreovi]

For people whose dogs bark at flyball, does it follow over into the rest of their lives? So... every time they are excited about something... do they bark? I am more worried about my own dog barking than the ones around us.

For my two, what they were like at home carried over. I have one dog that very rarely barks, he screams when really really excited (usually reserved for lure coursing) but in flyball he doesn't make a sound. Just stands there waiting, he was usually the start dog so he focussed on the box and only listened for the beeping

My other one, adored flyball and barked in the ring, never continuous barking though. At home he is definately more vocal than he is in the ring.

I was part of a team where all the dogs were quiet in their crates but it's really hard to keep a dog quiet in the ring with all the other dogs barking and the excitement.

IMO the worst thing about flyball is the dogs that don't shut up when they are in their crates....that and the politics of it all Politics is what made my take a long break and in the process retire a dog.

Give both a go, you and your dog will like one more than the other for sure.

[shoemonster]

Lol not much you van do to get away from the barking at flyball! I tune out to it, there's so many other things you're focussed on at the time

My dogs are screamers at flyball when in the ring, mostly quiet in between races in their crates and extremely quiet couch potatos at home, they don't bother wasting energy when they dont need to

Edited February 3, 2011 by shoemonster

[wuffles]

Mine is not a barker at home but she is a from a barky breed, and she is a follower so will bark if incited by other dogs. I think I'll try agility first

[Bundyburger]

bundy's mum, we chould have a viz only flyball team, give those pesky BCs a run for their money ;) ;)

He would probably love both..

you don't really have to 'choose', I'm sure he'd be very good at both too. They are very different, Monah loves going flat out at flyball and being encouraged to go for it

she also loves really using her brain in agility etc.

I am not good at agility though, I'm a bit of a fumbler... ;)

But Bundy doesn't have a brain... he's speshul I'll see how he goes next Sunday and report back

[Guest Clover]

2 of mine go back to sleep inbetween racing at Flyball, one will carry on if there is no one around to tell him to shut up. There are a couple of clubs where the dogs bark & howl all day. I block it out now, after nearly 10 years of being in the sport not a lot bothers me .

[Paulp]

For people whose dogs bark at flyball, does it follow over into the rest of their lives? So... every time they are excited about something... do they bark? I am more worried about my own dog barking than the ones around us.

Ebon is a very chilled dog most of the time, he has that golden retreiver passiveness. At home he only barks in warning at something approaching his territory or to get my attention. He doesn't generally bark in his crate at flyball or even waiting and entering the ring, he will even lie down in the ring. When we line up to start though he starts barking like all the other dogs. He certainly has the required intensity, his PB is down to 4.6 seconds but only switches on when he lines up to race.

[Kavik]

Yep this thread has reinforced it - Flyball is too noisy for me ;) Having worked in a place where there was barking all day, I know that I don't get used to it, but more sensitised and it starts to really drive me nuts.

[Nicole...]

I too have an English cocker and didn't know what to do with her as a pup. We started puppy school, progressed into obedience and she seemed to really love learning new stuff. We progressed into the trialling obedience classes and she hated it - too boring for my nutso dog (and if I'm honest I had no idea what I was doing so would have made it worse) so we thought we would try agility and it was perfect for us. I can't even begin to tell you how much enjoyment both of us have gotten out of agility. We have been trialling for nearly 2 years now and she just continues to get better and love it more.

Here are a couple of videos of her in action to let you see what they can do. (Don't fret about the complexity, these are masters runs, the novice courses are much more basic to start with).

Most clubs will usually let you start agility training at age 1 - the dogs aren't allowed to compete until 18 months. If you get your name down a few weeks before you shouldn't have a drama getting in. Most clubs need you to have a basic level of obedience in order to join an agility class though so a good idea to keep you obedience up in the meantime.

While I love my agility and know how much cockers can love it, I also know of cockers that thrive on flyball so you should really give both a try and see what she likes the best. ;)