Flyball

Does anyone take part in flyball with a GSD (or other large, heavy breed)? How do they cope with the tight turns etc? Are they more likely to be injured than, say, a border collie?

Having done a bit of googling - seems alot of the flyball teams have GSD's in them - and their sites all say - any dog size from Yorkshire Terrier - GSD

I can't see that they would get any more injured - as long as they weren't suffering from HD. They probably wouldn't look as fast but would cover more ground ?

Are you thinking of having a go?

Lacey used to love flyball, never as quick as the collies but she never was injured

My ex used to run her two GSD's one of which was a BIG GSD, neither suffered any ill effects x

Thanks everyone I don't know if there is a flyball club in the area, but will have a look.

I really wanted to do working trials training with Yogi, but unfortunately I don't think I will have enough spare time to really get stuck into the training just at the moment - as I have a one year old son, three other dogs to exercise etc, and I also help out on the farm I am therefore looking for something fun for us to do, that won't need hours and hours of training in between sessions.

Thanks again for all your experiences.

Moobli - guess you have found this?

http://www.flyball.org.uk/flyball_map.php

there seems to be a lot of flyball websites so hopefully you can find somewhere - bet he would lvoe it - I was told if they love a tennis ball you are halfway there!

Good luck and have fun

p.s. no what you mean about time with kids and dogs!!! poor OH never sees me

We used to compete at BFA flyball.

My mothers Collie Retriever X suffered very badly in later years with shoulder problems. He was very ball obsessed and used to hit the box with all his weight. Hips were never a problem - it was the impact that caused the issue.

I imagine it was not only flyball that caused this damage - he had also competed at agility and done a tiny bit of WT.

I would not be happy doing flyball with a larger dog - mind - I am so phobic about joints at the moment - I would not be happy doing flyball with any dog (or agility at the moment!)

Hi, I run Agility and Flyball classes and have a Rottie and a couple of labs in the teams for both sports. I think that with sensible training, keeping your dogs on the slim side, so as not to put extra pressure on their joints and keeping them fit you will stand less chance of injury. That's not to say if there s a weakness in their construction they won't have any injures but then I have found that with any breed. Working dogs just love to work!!! If you’re at all un sure speak to your vet. A good one will keep you right.

I have a pal does it with his rottie I think but just for fun.

Hi,

I'll be getting Zane and Yiannis involved in flyball and agility this year.

I think with the proper training there's no problem and my dogs love to run (as they all do). It will give them the opportunity to take what they know, get extra training and get involved in what I know they like doing.

I will be speaking to my vet first anyway jsut in case he has any tips re preventative measure but I'm not worried about injury. I'll do my very best to make sure my dogs aren't injured but shoudl it happen, they'll ahve the best care so as to ensure they can continue with the activity once fully recovered.

Laura xx