The Flyball Book Project: Topic #2 - Flyball Clubs

Hello co-authors!

Thanks for all your insightful comments so far about "What Makes a Good Flyball Dog" (Topic #1) and about the format of the book in general. I have a lot to think about.

The next topic is about finding or starting a flyball club. I actually have this topic split across several chapters, with some info targeted more towards newbies who are looking for a club, and other info targeted towards seasoned competitors who are looking to switch clubs for one reason or another.

I start out the newbie chapter like this:

There are hundreds of flyball clubs all over North America, so chances are there’s at least one near you.

If you find a flyball club in your area, don’t be shy about reaching out to them. They usually have their contact information posted prominently on their web site, and most clubs are on a never-ending quest for new teammates. If they’re not recruiting, they can probably point you to another club nearby who is. 

Some clubs offer formal classes in addition to their practices. They’ll usually charge for classes, but the good part is that you’ll get their undivided attention for an hour or so, whereas at practice they’ll just work you in where they can.

And then I list out a variety of places where you can find clubs and classes in your area, and write a paragraph or two about each one. Here's what I've got so far:

• NAFA's club locator - www.flyball.org/getstarted
• U-FLI's club locator - www.u-fli.com/clublocator.php
• Google
• Local obedience or kennel clubs
• Flyball tournaments near you
• Flyball demos (at dog events, pet stores, vet clinics, etc.)
• Craigslist (believe it or not, I've seen several flyball listings on Craigslist -- Google it and see!)

What have I missed on this list?

Starting your own club

The rest of the newbie chapter discusses how, if you can't find a club near you, you can start your own club. I walk them step by step through the process of starting a new club, including the paperwork they need to file with NAFA or U-FLI (which is actually quite easy and straightforward).

Here's how I framed it up in the book:

People start their own clubs for all sorts of reasons. The obvious one is what we’ve just been talking about – there are no clubs in your area and you really want to get involved with the sport, so it makes sense to start your own club and become “official.”

Sometimes clubs split up because of differences in philosophy. This happens a lot, actually. Flyball, like any dog sport (or any sport, for that matter) comes with its share of drama and politics. 

Some clubs are very competitive and prefer to run for fast times instead of points. Others are more points oriented and like to split their fastest dogs up across teams to ensure everybody gets points. Some clubs do both – they will run a fast team in Division 1 made up of their four fastest dogs, then make up the rest of the teams with points and fun in mind. 

Some clubs are very serious and professional, while others are more laid back. The “professional” club may practice once or twice a week, and if you plan to miss a practice or tournament you better have a doctor’s note (just kidding…but not by much). The “laid back” club will get together when it’s convenient to practice and they’ll pick a few good tournaments a year that they want to go to. They often plan their tournament menu better than they organize their teams. If you ever go to a tournament and smell bacon cooking on a Saturday morning, it’s probably being made by somebody in a laid back club. 

People often start out together in a club because of geographic proximity – it makes sense to want to practice as close to home as possible. But what you can end up with is a group of people who live close to each other but don’t agree on their club goals. This usually leads to individual members jumping ship for another club, or, if enough people disagree, a club split. 

Club splits are actually good in some ways, because each group goes out on its own and teaches classes and recruits new members and in time the two clubs have a lot more people than the original club did or ever would have if they had all stayed together. 

Also, some clubs can become victims of their own success and just grow too big and unwieldy – when that happens it makes sense for a smaller group to spin off and form a new club. 

My daughter and my teammates' daughter @ practice

It’s important to find (or start) a club with people that you like and with whom you feel comfortable. A lot of flyball clubs become like a big family. You argue and complain like a family, too, but it’s okay (when you’re with the right people). It’s nice to find friends who share your crazy love for dogs. You can help each other train, offer advice and encouragement, help each other meet goals, and get each other through tough times. 

I also spend several pages discussing the various types of club structures -- I've been in clubs that were democracies and clubs that were benevolent dictatorships, and they each had their pros and cons. I'd love to hear your thoughts around this.

Here are some other things I'd like to hear your opinions on (for newbies, especially):

• What's your idea of a good club structure, and why? 
• What has NOT worked for you in a club? 
• What's the best way to handle finances? 
• What's the best way to handle club disputes? 
• Who in your club makes the lineups, and how do others provide feedback? 

Later in the book I get into reasons for why experienced competitors may want to switch clubs:

Once you’ve been playing flyball for a year or so, you may realize that you’d be happier playing as part of a different club. This could happen for a number of reasons, the most common ones being:

• Your philosophy is different from your club’s. Maybe they focus too much on their fast “A” team while you’d prefer to run for points, or you’re the one that’s become competitive while the rest of them could care less how fast they are as long as they’re consistently earning points. Or they want to travel to everything within an eight-hour radius and you just want to play locally.
• Personality differences. Sometimes people just don’t click. It’s not much fun spending lots of time with people you don’t get along with, especially if you have regular practices, frequent tournament weekends, or dinners out with the team.
• Location. If a new club starts up in your area (or you find some local flyball enthusiasts and start one yourself), it’s a good reason to switch clubs, especially if you’ve been driving a long distance to and from practices. 
• You outgrow your team. Sometimes you really want to improve and take it to the next level, but your club can’t help you get there, so you look for a more experienced team who can take you under their wing and teach you a lot.

I’ve been in a lot of flyball clubs over the years and have switched clubs for all of the above reasons. My general feeling about it is this – I play flyball for fun. It is my hobby and I’m supposed to be having a good time doing it. If it’s not fun, then what’s the point? 

Leaving a flyball club is sort of a cross between leaving a job and breaking up with a boyfriend/girlfriend. If you give the club enough notice (so that you’re not leaving them hanging for a tournament you’ve already committed to, for example) and you’re rational and calm as you explain why you’re switching clubs, it usually goes pretty well. Some people may get upset with you because they feel rejected by you, or because the club really needs your dogs (especially if you’re a height dog owner), but that’s sort of how it goes when you switch jobs, too. You can’t make everybody happy. The most important thing is that you’re happy. If you can be happy without burning bridges, more power to you.

Try to leave on the best terms possible, though, because you are probably going to see your former club at every tournament you attend for many years to come. There’s enough drama in flyball already. If you can salvage the relationship, you may even be able to help each other out at tournaments (box load or shag balls for each other, for example), run together from time to time on an Open/Pickup team, or even practice together. 

What did I miss here? When should you leave a club? When have you left a club, and why (and looking back on it, was it the right decision)?

Club issues can be touchy, so if you want to post anonymously or email me privately, that's fine.

As always, thanks for your comments! :)

The Flyball Book Project: Topic #1 - What makes a good flyball dog?

On January 1st, I posted about the Flyball Book Project. Thank you for all your comments and private emails! Everybody has been so positive about the book idea, which just validates for me how much we all think a modern-day flyball book is necessary. (Sure, we're biased because we love flyball, but still.)

Plan recap: I will post discussion topics and excerpts from the book onto this blog, and ask you all for your feedback, ideas, success stories, photos, etc. My goal is to make this book as complete and well-rounded as possible. Obviously we're not going to remember everything, and some info is bound to become outdated (like rules, world records, etc.), but the intent is to put as much of our collective experience as possible into this book, so that we can share this sport that we love with others and each other. 

The original target audience for the book was newbies -- I actually called the book The Beginner's Guide to Flyball in my proposal and manuscript. I got some interesting feedback from the publisher about that, though. They told me that unlike agility, flyball seemed to be a finite activity that could be summed up in one book. They didn't really see, for instance, The Intermediate's Guide to Flyball coming out later or anything like that. They thought the book would have wider appeal if instead I wrote something more along the lines of The Definitive Guide to Flyball, and just put everything into one place. As soon as they said it, I knew they were right. 

So while the book will definitely cover everything the beginner needs to know to get started, and will hopefully explain things to the point where newbies can train their own dogs to play at home/practice and come to a tournament ready to compete (either with a club they join, start, or even in Open/Pickup or Singles/Pairs racing), this book will also discuss the more "advanced" stuff like alternative training techniques, lineup strategies, troubleshooting problems/issues, etc. For example, I know of at least three ways to train a dog on the box, and I'm sure you guys have your own variations on those three ways, plus different ways to train the box altogether. There is no one right cookie-cutter way to train a dog to play flyball, and what works for one dog won't work necessarily for another. It's good to have a whole toolkit of training ideas to choose from.

Here's a question for all of you, though, based on what I just said in the paragraph above. Do you think a book can actually teach a newbie how to train a dog (or a whole team of dogs) to compete? Will it really be possible for somebody to go to Amazon or barnesandnoble.com, buy this book, read it, and train their dog to play flyball? I ask because these days you don't really have to be part of a club to compete -- there's Open class, Pickup, Singles/Pairs racing, etc. Theoretically, somebody could train their dog alone at home, then arrange (though their regional Yahoo group or something) for their dog to run on an Open team. That's in theory -- can it actually work for real?

I'm considering creating a companion website to the book (probably with links out to YouTube) with videos and additional photos to help further illustrate the training methods in the book. Thoughts?

So okay, let's move into the first topic. Chapter 1 of the book is actually a high-level overview of flyball that includes some flyball history and a summary of the game, organizations, titles/awards, etc. It's the type of info you see all over the place already. I'd rather save that stuff for a future post and dive into more exciting topics, like what makes a good flyball dog. 

Here's how I open up Chapter 2: 

One great thing about flyball is that all types of dogs – purebreds and mixed breeds, big dogs and little dogs – are welcome and have something valuable to offer a team. 

Sure, the fastest teams are usually dominated by Border Collies and Border Collie mixes (mixes bred on purpose for flyball, actually), but if you go to a tournament you will see all kinds of dogs racing in the various divisions, earning points and titles and having a blast. The more unusual breeds are actually the most fun to watch – the giant Great Dane loping over the hurdles, the tiny determined Dachshund leaping up onto the box to get the ball, the flashy Shar Pei with the gorgeous swimmer’s turn. Flyball would be boring if it were just a bunch of Border Collies running around.

Being consistent and reliable has great value just like being a speed demon has great value. Even the smallest dogs have an important role in flyball – they are the coveted height dogs.

I’ll delve into more of what makes a good flyball dog later in the book, but the two most important attributes are:

1. The dog must be physically sound (able to run and jump without stress or pain).
2. The dog must not be aggressive.

Almost everything else can be trained.

What do you guys think? Do you agree with that last line -- "Almost everything else can be trained"? 

Included in this chapter is a section about height dogs. I keep it very high level and talk about how jump heights are determined in each flyball organization and I briefly explain the NAFA measuring style and the U-FLI measuring style. I mention NAFA height cards and how they aren't really necessary (or even used much anymore). I don't mention how jump heights can be challenged and I don't dredge up any of the old political stuff (crouching, cheating, etc.). Should I mention these things or not?

I also include a section about evaluating your dog's fitness. I start it out like this:

You’ll see fat dogs playing flyball, but it’s usually pretty painful to watch. They labor over the jumps, get winded quickly, and hit the box awkwardly. Think about how you’d feel if you were overweight and out of shape and had to spend a whole weekend running over hurdles. It’s the ultimate weekend warrior experience.

A dog may run the flyball course 20-30 times over a weekend, if you count the total number of heats plus re-runs, false starts, and warm-ups.

To keep my dogs fit, I feed them a good quality high protein kibble twice a day and keep them borderline skinny. If you run your hands lightly over their sides, you will feel their ribs. My vet is really supportive of this and often comments during exams about how low their resting heart rate is and how healthy they are. 

I like to compare it to human athletes – you would never see a chunky track and field competitor out there sprinting around the track and leaping over hurdles like a rockstar. 

Does anybody want to add to this? I am not a vet, so this is all just written in laymen's terms based on my experience. If any of the flyball-playing veterinarians out there want to chime in on this topic, I would love to hear your thoughts. 

I spend a page or two talking about conditioning, but truth be told, my conditioning program isn't that much to write about. I work from home so my dogs get to run around my backyard as much as they want, and I play Frisbee or Chuckit with them from time to time (when it's not too hot/cold and the yard isn't full of sticks). I liken the fitness level of my dogs to a human 5k runner. 

I write, "Some competitors go way above and beyond my conditioning routine and end up with dogs who are more like Olympic-caliber athletes." Do any of you uber-conditioning competitors want to weigh in on this? :)

The last section in this chapter discusses aggression. I write: 

There’s no place for aggression in flyball competition. Your dog will be constantly surrounded by a sea of other dogs at practice and tournaments. The environment is highly charged – many dogs bark and pull on their leashes to get into the racing lanes, and space can be tight sometimes next to the ring. Part of the game is that your dog will have to pass within inches of another dog at the start/finish line (at top speed), then come back to you in a runback area (the place where all the handlers and dogs line up to race and run back to afterwards) full of other barking and tugging dogs. For the majority of the race, you will not have your hands or a leash on your dog, so he is free to make his own decisions.

Dogs don’t have to LIKE other dogs or people, but they have to be able to tolerate them or ignore them. A couple of my dogs can be snarky if another dog gets right in their face, but being a little snarky if somebody invades your personal space is very different from straight-up aggression, where you worry that your dog could chase after or attack another dog. 

Your dog needs to be 100% focused on his job, preferably to the point that he doesn’t even notice the dog he’s passing into or anybody in the runback area. (If your dog isn’t at this point yet, don’t stress – you can desensitize him to a lot of outside stimuli during training – but it’s important that he is not prone to unprovoked aggression.)

Both flyball organizations have strict penalties for aggression. Judges will disqualify and write up dogs that attack other dogs (or even chase other dogs, if it’s clear that the intent is to hurt the other dog), and your dog will only get a few warnings before he’s banned from racing permanently.

If you aren’t sure if your dog is flyball material, enlist the advice and help of a local behaviorist or trainer. "

Aggression is a touchy thing to write about, so I want to make sure I get it right. I also don't have that much experience with it. Luckily none of my dogs are aggressive, and since I'm not a behaviorist or trainer, I can't really offer any professional advice on the matter. I feel like I need to tell people to seek professional advice if they think they have an aggressive dog, but at the same time that last paragraph feels like a cop out. Do you guys think I need to delve more deeply into it, or keep it high level like this?

Photo by Willie Moore

Photos that would work great in this chapter:

• unique breeds playing flyball
• height dogs going over a jump or being held by handler
• dog being measured (NAFA or U-FLI)
• stacked or action photo of a really fit dog
• photo of  dogs in the lineup or passing where they are so focused on what they're doing, they aren't even looking at each other

(If you have a photo that you think would work, you can either email it to me at xterrier@gmail.com -- or, if it's one of Len Silvester's or Willie Moore's, send me the link to the photo on their website.)

Ok, hopefully something in here has sparked your interest enough to comment or email me with feedback. Public comments are great because then everybody can participate, but you can also email me privately on Facebook or at xterrier@gmail.com, too. 

Also, I wanted to publicly thank my friends who read/edited the first draft of the manuscript last year and helped me get it ready to send to the publisher: Kristie Pope, Sarah Proctor, Kate Corum, and Lisa Gironda. Thanks, guys. :)

« The Flyball Book Project | Flyball Book Project: Topic #2 »

The Flyball Book Project

About a year ago, I created Flyball Prop-a-Ganda and kicked things off with a manifesto about how nobody seemed to care about Flyball anymore -- Flyball with a big "F," that is. I talked about how things had become very cliquey and regionalized, and how the only marketing plan NAFA or U-FLI seemed to have was to host a big national tournament and hope for some media fallout from it. 

I still feel that way about the two flyball organizations (although kudos to NAFA for getting flyball noticed by the Guinness Book of World Records), but I was wrong about nobody caring about marketing the sport. In the past year I've talked to many of you (at tournaments, via email, and on Facebook), and read your flyball-related Facebook posts and your comments on this blog and others, and I've come to realize that flyball competitors are constantly marketing the sport to others, whether it be through demos, Livestream videos, YouTube, classes, tournaments, articles in magazines and local newspapers, etc. It's all done at the grassroots level so it's hard to see it sometimes, but it's going on every day around the world.

I have really wanted to see something happen at the NAFA/U-FLI level. But I've also realized that whining about it on this blog isn't really helping much. So this summer I wrote a flyball book. It's about 42,000 words (about 140 pages without photos).

I wrote the book with beginners in mind. I wanted people who were interested in flyball -- who saw a flyball demo, or flyball on TV, or one of your Facebook posts about flyball, or an article in the local paper -- to be able to go to Amazon or barnesandnoble.com, type in the word "flyball," and find a timely book that would guide them through the process of finding a flyball club (or starting their own) and training their dog how to play. Lonnie Olson's book Flyball Racing: The Dog Sport for Everyone, was published in 1997. We all know that a lot has changed since 1997. We have new training methods, a new flyball organization (U-FLI), new/revised rules of racing, better equipment, designer breeds like Border Jacks and Border Staffies, technology advancements, social media (Facebook, blogs), etc. Right now the only way a newbie can find all this information is to spend hours on Google.

This summer, I reached out to a prominent dog book publisher and they were interested enough in my proposal to request the full manuscript of my book. We chatted back and forth for a few months and one of their editors suggested some changes to my manuscript, and then in November they told me that they liked the book, but they weren't willing to take a chance on it at this point because they didn't think there was a big enough market for a flyball book. They said they would prefer to throw their limited resources at a project that was more of a sure bet, money-wise. They suggested that I either self publish, or resubmit the book to them in 2011 when they may have more resources to work on it.

I'm choosing to self publish, and I'm choosing to take the whole thing to the flyball community in the form of a Flyball Book Project.

I think the publisher is wrong -- I absolutely do believe there's a big enough audience for a modern-day flyball book. But I don't blame the publisher for thinking otherwise, because flyball is not on their radar. They pretty much told me that. They talk to dog people every day, year in and year out -- their entire business is built on dogs -- and they said they just don't hear that much about flyball.

(Which is one of the reasons we need a flyball book out there to begin with! Catch 22, right?! :))

So over the next few months, I'm going to be talking about the book a lot on this blog. I've decided to go ahead and self publish it for several reasons. One, because I don't want to keep delaying the book for months or years while I tried to convince a publisher to take a chance on it. Two, because I really like the freedom that comes with self-publishing -- I can now get all of you involved and solicit your tips, quotes, photos, etc., without outside editorial interference. I can make this our book, not just my book.

I would also like to contribute a portion of the profits to a dog-related charity, so we're helping others in the process. I have a few charities in mind but would love to hear your suggestions.

So what's the plan, and what do I need from you guys?

Goal
The goal of this book is to to help newbies get involved with the sport. Maybe we'll help each other with this book, too -- there are hundreds of different ways to train a flyball dog, and in 11 years of competing I feel like I've only scratched the surface. Sharing training ideas will be really cool.

This will be an agnostic neutral (thanks, Andy, for setting me straight on my use of "agnostic" -- see it's a group effort already!) book when it comes to NAFA and U-FLI. Both flyball organizations and their rules and styles of racing will be covered equally.

Your feedback and ideas
For the next few months, I'm going to be posting topics and excerpts from the book, and soliciting your feedback. I need you to point out what I've missed, and share your own successful tips or training methods. If I write specifically about your idea in the book, I'll give you credit for it.

Your photos

I'm also going to be soliciting your photos -- I want the book to be full of them. Photos really help when it comes to explaining training methods, plus no words I write will ever come close to describing the joy and energy of a flyball dog the way a great photo can. I want the book to feature dogs and people from all over North America (or hell, the world -- bring it on, Germany, Japan, Australia, the UK, etc.!) and both North American flyball organizations. I will put your dog's name, your name, and your club's name in the photo caption of any picture that appears in the book.

I have already spoken to photographers Len Silvester (http://www.ttlphoto.com) and Willie Moore (http://www.wmconsulting.com) about including their photos in the book, and they have both been amazingly gracious and supportive. They will allow any of their photos to appear in the book free of charge (and I will pay them $5 per photo to cover any cropping/touch-up work they'll need to do to make it a print-quality image). All they are asking for in exchange is a photo credit for each of their images that appears in the book. So if the photo you want to send me comes from either one of those guys, you're already set. If it's from another photographer, we'll have to talk to them to see what their requirements are. I'll do my best to work with everybody.

Every time I post about a topic/excerpt from the book, we can brainstorm about great images to go with that section. Photos of you guys training your dogs at home or at flyball practice will be welcome, too.

I also have included an appendix in the back of the book that lists where to find (or how to make) flyball boxes, jumps, props, ring gating, and other flyball-related stuff. Let's make it a really comprehensive list.

You know, getting rejected by the publisher was probably the best thing for this book. If I had written it all by myself, with no input from the flyball community, it would have had a narrow perspective on things. Together, we can make it great.

Next steps
You guys think about all this, and how you'd like to contribute (advice, photos, products for the appendix, etc. etc.). Also, let me know if you have a suggestion for a dog-related charity to donate part of the profits to. Look for a blog post in the next couple of days with the first book topic and be ready to send me your feedback. I'd prefer you do it in the comments section of this blog so that everybody can see it, but if you're shy, you can email me directly at xterrier @ gmail . com (no spaces).

Thank you so much for your support.  :)
lisap

Flyball Book Topic #1 »