We just started flyball with our dogs this week, so far three of them have had a go and all been praised by the trainers for picking it up quickly.

I was just wondering....

How long did it take your dogs to get the hang of it and to get to competition standard?

waggingd

I think it really depends on your dog and they training you get!

At our club we have had 2 dogs that have done 2-3 training sessions and gone straight into Div 1 and never put a foot wrong(id say this isn't a common thing though - we've just been very lucky), other at our club have been training for over 5 months(all beit the dogs aren't 18months yet) but they aren't anywhere near being ready to run in divison! So it all depends!!

All 3 of my dogs have been through the same training and all 3 have been different.

Tosca took to it from the very first session - a complete natural. Virtually no training required at all. Started training at 10 months old.
Milly took about 4 sessions before picking it up - then Starters for 3 months and full Divisions no problem since then. Started training at 18 months old
Storm is just 1 year old (started at 11 months old) and will struggle (I know she is young yet), as she just gets distracted by all that is going on around her. If she ever makes a Flyball dog in Open divisions - it will be a miracle! rolleyes* , but we got her as a pet - not as a Flyball dog - so we love her just as much! :wub: She has just done her first Starters comp at the weekend and the Team came 1st - so she isn't too bad beersmilie

The amount of time does vary for each dog but don't rush it. Before they go in to competition make sure that they have a good box turn, that they are comfortable with changeovers and that you have worked on drive both to and from the box. These are generally much more difficult to change once the dog is set in its ways. Good luck with your dogs, I'm sure they will be fab and you will enjoy it too :)

I totally agree with Nat :)

Jet picked up the concept of running up the jumps and getting the ball in a couple of sessions, but we did a lot of work with her boxturn, and I still work on it now.

one of mine picked it up very quickly but the other grrr still not even do a run back but will run up and down with one wing in so there is hope :D will keep trying nailbiting

We won't rush it. :D

We went to our first competition yesterday, three of the four we've been training went in starters and they really were starters! rolleyes*

I was proud of them all though, they got better as the day went on and we've done a demo today and they were better yet again.

We're trying to keep them off the box for now, until we've trained them to do it the right way. waggingd

Here they are yesterday: