What age to start?

Chip is exactly a year old and he's been invited to join a beginners fly ball class. I've got him booked in for agility in September but he'd love fly ball. He's so keen to catch balls that he leaps and twists all ways if he gets the chance. Up til now I've been trying to keep him on the ground .So is it better to wait until he's a bit older or can we start now?

I believe 12 months is the usual starting age for jumping etc so I'd say go for it!
Becky

We go to a BFA club rather than the crufts style. That'd probably suit you better if you want to keep your dog jumping low for a bit longer.

For beginners class I think the dogs are only going over 6 inch jumps (8 at most I would say).And the box is different with BFA flyball - it's no different from sticking the ball to the wall with a bit of velcro and getting the dog to grab it and bring it back. The crufts box looks dangerous to me.

Here's a clip of ours in her first class to give you an idea of what's involved:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27172079@N08/3319146305/

(BTW - I think crufts are switching to the BFA box and rules).

Thanks for the clip. I'd heard people at the club say the fly ball box was changing. I just didn't understand how.
I can't imagine the jumps will be any higher than that at first. Dale's agility class didn't raise the jumps until they'd been going for a good few months.
So decision made. Chip can try fly ball and my week will just revolve around dogs

The pedigree crufts box is no longer going to be used, the crufts competition is now going to be run on the standard BFA box instead x