Tony's Blog

An increasing amount of baby boomers are teaming up with their dogs and heading off to the races. The sport is called Flyball, a relay-type race where two teams of four dogs compete by running a 51 foot course, jumping hurdles along the way. At the end of the first leg of the course, the dogs trigger a "flyball" box. That releases a ball, which the dogs then carry back in their mouths, jumping the hurdles all over again. The first team of four dogs to cross the finish line wins.

Linda Sell, a 51-year-old Michigan baby boomer who participates in Flyball with her dogs Dylan, Rory and Wylee, said for boomers whose children have moved out of the house "dogs can become surrogate children." Ms. Sell also said, "Flyball helps boomers connect with other boomers, share an activity, travel and make friendships."

From the North American Flyball Association's website:
Flyball got its start in the late 1960's and early 1970's, when a group of dog trainers in Southern California created scent discrimination hurdle racing, then put a guy at the end to throw tennis balls to the dogs when they finished the jump line. It didn't take long for the group to decide to build some sort of tennis ball-launching apparatus, and the first flyball box was born. Herbert Wagner is credited with developing the first flyball box, and apparently he did a flyball demo on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson that got a lot of people’s attention. Subsequently, the new dog sport for dog enthusiasts was introduced in the Toronto-Detroit area by several dog training clubs. After a few small tournaments were held in conjunction with dog shows, the first ever flyball tournament was held in 1983.

For information on Flyball tournaments and clubs in your area, click here.