flyball..

Is Maisie the wrong kind of dog for flyball? is there a better sport out there for her?


actualy  there is no type of dog for most flyball teams if she is fast they will love her they like to have a fast short dog on the team it means the jumps are lower.
the sport you pick for your dog is up to you the only real downside to fly ball is the insane barking if you have barking issues it may cause trouble. Terriers can do anything they want to do.

 

Is she too young to even consider starting in training a sport?(she was born this april 11)



absolutly to young a year is the minimum teams around here start training you should have a perliminary check done on her hips and elbows before starting . the training is pretty simple if you have a good recall and good ball drive.  just condition her to loud noises (the box) and maybe surfaces that move.

 

Do they have to be intact for this sport or agility like showing or can they be spayed?



since flyball and agility are not related to breeding (producing more champions) they do not care if your dog is intact infact most venues do not even care what breed or mix you are. 


I want to do whats best for my baby and i want her to have fun! if anyone has any comments/tips/sugesstions it would be greatly appreciated

sorry my answers are in your post and I cant fix it

have fun with your baby now take her places get her socialized to what ever and where ever you might see or do so she has fun  what ever she does and enjoy your puppy

Elaine and Bessie cgc tdi (SMT) and Rockey (2/3 of a MBDCA RN)

She could start some of the basics, retrieving, running ahead on a straight line, small (4") jumps first one, then two etc.  Most teams look for small fast dogs to get the lowest jump height.  I would hold off training anything with the box itself for awhile since the dogs tend to be very hard hitters and young bones and cartilage can be damaged.  Find some knowledgable folks with regard to the sport and dont be in a hurry until she is at least a year old to put it all together.

Is Maisie the wrong kind of dog for flyball?

There is no wrong kind of dog for flyball!  If she is small and fast AND a purebred but not a Jack Russell,  she would be especially sought after both to to lower jump heights and also to offer more options for a multi-breed team. 

is there a better sport out there for her?

Only by trying flyball can you decide that for sure.  However, many people do both agility and flyball - by trying flyball you can meet and talk to these people and find classes for agilty (or freestyle, or rally, or whatever).

Is she too young to even consider starting in training a sport?(she was born this april 11)

You can teach her many things that will be helpful, though I would refrain from jumping until she is MUCH older (I start with elbow-high jumps at twelve months, though lately I've been starting even later since my training has had other priorities).  Teach her to "touch" a target with her paw and put the target on all kinds of surfaces.  I have a friend who has a procedure for shaping the turn on the box, which you can start with a board on the ground. 

Teach her a straight restrained recall - have someone hold her, and you back up several feet and start making happy noises and calling her name.  Get her good and worked up and then give her the recall command while your friend simulaneously lets her go (be sure your partner knows this ahead of time!).  You turn and run the other way, dangling her reward behind you (it's great if she'll chase a dragged tug toy).  Give her a huge reward when she gets to you - letting her tug on a toy and "win" is a great motivator as it all plays into prey drive.  Practice this until she will come full speed from about 75 feet away (assuming you have a safe place to practice this)

Put a ball on the ground (get the teeny balls you can get at pet stores) and, again, restrain her with one hand while you play with the ball with the other.  Or, better yet, have a friend play with the ball like it's the best thing ever.  While she's focused on the ball, start saying in an excited voice, "Ready? Ready?  Where's the ball?"  Then say, "Get the ball!" and release her.  Praise her when she grabs the ball.  Don't back up any more than ten feet for this exercise - focus instead on getting her to return with the ball.  Exchange the ball for a reward - but make sure she knows she only gets the reward if she comes with the ball.

When she's older you can probably enroll her in a "puppy sport" class where she will learn to recall down a lane between the jump uprights, take the ball from the box, and also lay the foundation for agility (cavaletti, work at a distance, crosses, etc). But even if you don't, when she's about a year old you can go to your first flyball class and she will have a good foundation with the above exercises or ones similiar.

Do they have to be intact for this sport or agility like showing or can they be spayed?

Heck no.  Companion dogs who are speutered are still the norm in this sport.

Or maybe is agility a better bet?

Again, only you can tell whether flyball is agreeing with your dog or not (or whether you are having fun yourself, which IS just as important in my thinking).  But you can only try!

I went to watch some Flyball training yesterday and we enrolled CJ (She'll start next week... I'm so excited! ^^).
 
If she's already trained a certain way, you may need to re-train your dog in a way that better works for the sport (I can explain more on this if you like, but I don't know how you have her trained.). They need to be in top shape, so you should be able to feel the ribs and hips with the FLATs of your hands. They should be crate-trained, since a Flyball dog will spend much of their time in a crate while resting.
 
Yes, the dogs do tend to get very excited, and will bark a lot. It's better to have a well-socialized dog, as with almost any sport, to avoid distractions from other dogs as well as humans.
 
Any breed can participate in Flyball, but it's highly preferred to have a fast dog (terriers and border collies work well) and/or a dog with ball drive (retrievers, particularly (Now that CJ's on the team, we have 4 of the 6 retrievers.).
 
For a smaller dog, squishy balls are available, but tennis balls are as well.
 
Training is a long and gruesome process, and you need to be VERY patient. Lures help, and it can be anything. Don't risk it with store-bought treats, bring out the big guns - human food. Tiny bits of cheese are good to use for jump training (cheese sticks can provide up to six or seven hundred tastes.). However, your dog DOES need to let the ball go, so they should probably have a more favorite toy (tugs are preferred 'round these parts.).

highly preferred to have a fast dog (terriers and border collies work well) and/or a dog with ball drive

Unless flyball has changed a lot, really if you are willing to work hard at it and your dog has fun, you can still play regardless of your dog's potential to be a speed demon.  We cheered just as hard for our slower seeded teams when they "got it together" and we cried together even more for the FM that our 10-second dogs finally achieved after years of dedication 

It's all about being on a team, which is what I love the best about the sport.  I'm not active right now anywhere because I know I can't properly contribute to the team effort with our finances being so restricted.  But I really can't wait to get back to it!