Flyball pits two teams of four dogs apiece against each other on two racing lanes which have four jumps and a Flyball box apiece. The goal is to send each team's four dogs – one at a time – down to the box where they retrieve a tennis ball and turn to race back to the finish line. The first team to send all four dogs wins the race.
Flyball comes from California in the 1970s when Herbert Wagner developed the first tennis ball launcher. He eventually demonstrated its use on The Tonight Show. This revolutionary dog sport then was introduced in the Toronto/Detroit area by several dog training clubs. After a few small tournaments held in conjunction with dog shows, the first-ever Flyball tournament was held in 1983.
The North American Flyball Association (NAFA) (put in a link here), which was formed in 1985, makes the rules, keeps records of tournaments and guides the development of Flyball racing in North America.
Dogs of all sizes and shapes, of pure bred and mixed breed heritage, are crazy about the sport of Flyball. There are over 300 member clubs with over 7,000 registered dogs racing in North America. Flyball is played by dogs and their handlers in Canada, the United States, Great Britain, Holland, Belgium, Sweden, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Australia and Argentina.
Dogs earn titles based on their team's time at tournaments. A dog on a team with a race time of less than 32 seconds will receive 1 point; a dog on a team with a race time of less than 28 seconds will receive 5 points; and a dog on a team running less than 24 seconds will receive 25 points. Titles range from 20 points for the Flyball Dog (FD) title, up to 30,000 points for the Flyball Grand Champion (FGDCh).