Hints for new handlers  at their first competition

Before the competition:

• Make sure you are a member of the Australian Flyball Association.
• What to bring - crate, crate cover, water bowl (non-spill) for inside crate, harness, lead, motivator, height card if you have one, plastic bags, fold-up chair, hat, sunscreen, food/munchics/drinks, dog.
• What to wear - Red Croydon Rockets top, with the black Rockets cap or floppy hat and black bottoms (pants, shorts, skirt).
• Crate - It is strongly recommended that you have a crate for your dog. This enables your dog to relax between races much more than if tied to a stake, it leaves you free to help other teams with set-up or get some lunch etc. It leads to less barking and fewer fights. A cover over the crate is also useful to block the dog's view of the racing and for shade.
• Harness - It is also strongly recommend that you get a harness for your dog. They provide a great handle to grab as your dog runs past, and if they pull on the lead or while waiting to be released, then the pressure is on their chest instead of on their throat. In a race, if your dog is pulling on a normal collar before you release him, it could be reducing the amount of air he is getting - not ideal when you want him to run flat-out the box and back! It is much easier to release your dog consistently if they are wearing a harness. If you don't have a harness, make sure you have a fixed collar (i.e. a slip-chain is not allowed).

• Team captains are nominated for each team. Their job is to decide which dogs run in each heat and the running order, fill in the time sheets, deliver the time sheet to the stewards before a race and collect it after the race and represent the team in any discussion or disputes. The team captain's job can be a very difficult one, as they need to balance a number of (often conflicting) objectives and expectations. The success of the team in a competition, and the satisfaction of the team members, can depend very much on the strategy and decisions made by team captain.  The captain should be open to feedback and suggestions, but if you do have comments or suggestions then choose your timing carefully. The captain sometimes needs to make split-second decisions between heats, when there is no time for discussion or explanation. It needs to be a two-way street - the captain should respect the team members, and the team members should respect the captain.
• Helping out - there are many jobs that need to be done throughout the day (set-up and pack-up of equipment, changing jump heights, moving the flyball box in and out, videoing, holding dogs for recalls, taking the time sheet to the stewards before a race and collecting it again after the race, stewarding, ball collecting, pass and start evaluating, keeping statistics and more). We all need to help each other and work together. It is much easier to change jump heights for other Croydon teams, than have each team change their own jump heights while holding their dog and getting ready for practice. When you see a Croydon team going out to race, check with the captain to see whether anything  needs to be done.
• Toilet, warm-up - Take your dog to go potty before each race in case they need to. If a dog fouls in the ring, the team automatically loses the heat. Have a plastic bag with you, just in case. You should also warm your dog up before each race and cool him down afterwards, to reduce injuries, strains etc, as they work pretty hard on the flyball course.
• Drinks - make sure your dog drinks enough throughout the day. You can add electrolytes etc to their water. (Handlers should remember to eat and drink enough themselves too!).
• If the weather is hot, we usually have a small swimming pool for the dogs. It is a good idea to wet down their feet and belly to keep them cool, but don't put water over their head, as this is not good for the dog. If there is a bucket of water in the ring, you might occasionally have time between heats to splash their belly with water if it is very hot.
• Height dogs (dogs smaller than the maximum height) need to be measured at the beginning of the day and bitches need to be vet-checked to ensure they are not in season. It is possible to get a 'height card' that verifies your dog's height and removes the need to be measured as each comp - ask an instructor for details.

The Racing

• Points - The four dogs running in a particular heat are awarded title points for each clean run (all 4 dogs complete the course correctly the first time), with 2 points given for a win and 1 point for a loss of the heat. Points are accumulated toward flyball titles. Races are usually run as either best out of 3 heats, best out of 5 heats, best 2 out of 3 heats, or best 3 out of 5 heats. Competitions can be in a round robin or elimination type format. A typical number of races for a team might be 6 races of 3 heats each.
• Faults - if a dog gets a fault, indicated either by a light or a red flag from the steward, the dog must re-run after the other dogs in the team have run.
• Starts - The electronic timing gear judges starts. It signals a false-start with a red light if the dog crosses the start line before the green light comes on, and the judge will blow the whistle to stop the race. (The timing gear also signals which dog crossed the line first with a green light on the side, don't let that fool you, listen for the whistle if you're worried about a false start). After a false start, the race is restarted, but in the new heat, if the same start dog again has a false-start, the race continues and the start dog is required to re-run after the other 3 dogs have run. The start dog is allowed one false start per heat.
• Passes - The electronic timing gear also judges crossovers, and signals a fault if the dog heading to the box (dog B) crosses the start line before the returning dog (dog A). Dog B must then re-run. A passing fault will also be signalled if a handler accidentally crosses the start line, or waves their motivator/toy through the sensor beams at the start line while their dog is at the box, and the next dog in the team will be given a signal for a passing fault. (A number of us have been caught by this, so BE CAREFUL!).
• Interference - The judge can stop the race (whistle) if a dog from one team crosses over and interferes with the other team. It is up to the discretion of the judge whether they do this as soon as the dog crosses the imaginary line halfway between the 2 lanes, or lets the race continue if they see no danger as this may let the other team still get points.
• Handlers may not reprimand their dog in the ring.
• Important - motivators, toys, balls eta are NOT to be thrown in the ring. Squeaky toys can be used as motivators, unless the judge decides it is interfering with the other team and the handler can be told not to use it. (So if you do choose to use a squeaky toy, don't rely on it).
• Knocked jumps-If a jump is knocked and falls during a race, as long as the judge believes that the dogs are not in danger, the race will continue and the dogs are still required to jump over the knocked jump. (We practice this in training, as well as teaching dogs to ignore balls that have been dropped in the lane by other dogs).
• Lanes - Roughly half of your races will be in the left lane, and the other half in the right. One trap for new dogs can be when your team has been racing in one lane, then the next time they race they are in the other lane. The start dog (or another dog) may still be focussed on the box in the wrong lane, and when the race starts it may head to the other team's box instead of ours. If this is likely to be a problem (it is not common, but has happened to a few of our quite experienced dogs), you can make sure to do a recall or a full run with the start dog after each lane change.
• Warmup - We have usually 2 or 3 minutes before each race to put in the flyball box, change the jump heights and do any practice we want. Again, having people from other teams help with the box and jumps leaves more time for practice. It is up to you whether you want to practice before each race. Early in the day it is a good idea, but as the dogs get tired you might not. If there is something you need to practice, like box work, a recall from the side of the box or a run for the start dog after a lane change, you can. Make sure your box loader and/or captain know whether you want a recall, full run or anything else in practice.
• Breakouts - when team entries are sent in, we specify the fastest time we believe the team can run (called their seed time), and the teams are split into divisions based on these times. The breakout time for a division is set at one second faster than the fastest seed time for the teams in that division. If any of the teams in that division run faster than their breakout time, then the team forfeits that heat, and the win is awarded to the other team. If a team has 3 breakouts in one competition, they are disqualified from the whole competition (although they continue to compete, all of their races are ignored at the end of the day to calculate placings for the other teams in the divisions). Breakouts are designed to stop teams putting in slow seed times to get into a lower division than they belong, then winning all the races. Breakouts do not apply in Division One.
• Team dynamics - in the run-back area, dogs head to the box from the right side of the lane and return on the left side (facing the box). Once your dog has run, and you know you don't have to rerun, move out of the way to give the rest of the team as much room as possible. Keep an eye out for faults for all the dogs in your team (particularly your dog), as sometimes it is possible to miss them and not know you need to rerun. Once the race is finished, and the judge has declared a winner, line up ready to race again as quickly as possible. We try to have a spare person to collect balls in the ring during the race, so we don't all trip on them. If a spare person is not available, you'll have to put your own balls in the bucket. (Someone from the team should make sure they take an empty bucket into the ring for balls).
• Team order - if you change the order the dogs are running in, make sure the box loader knows.
• Reserve dogs - There are 4 dogs in each heat, and there can be up to 2 more dogs in the team as reserves. The reserves can only be swapped in at the end of each heat, and the dogs running need to be marked on the time sheet prior to the heat starting. Remember to change the jump heights if a height dog is swapped in/out. The reserve dogs are to be close by when they are not actually running. This means they can be waiting just outside the ring, or inside the ring at the back, although they are much better outside the ring (so it is less crowded in the ring, and if they cause interference to the other team (via noise or if they accidentally get away), our team could be penalised if they were in the ring, whereas if they were outside the ring the judge may not penalise the team). A clear run-back area is a real advantage and it takes no time to come into the ring when required.

More Advanced things to think about

• Reruns - Sometimes we might choose not to rerun a dog, in which case the team has not completed the run and the dogs get no points (this is a DNF - Did Not Finish). Cases where we might not rerun could be if the 4th dog has a problem with crossovers, or if we've lost the race already, or if the dog is unlikely to do it correctly anyway. Sometimes we will rerun even if we've lost the race, to give the dog a chance to correct the mistake they made. In general, if the other team hasn't finished yet, try to rerun, but apart from that, if you are unsure whether to rerun, you can ask the team captain. Be aware that the 4th dog is not expecting your dog to run after them, so talk to the handler of the 4th dog before the race so you know whether you should do a late pass if your dog needs to rerun. 
• Start dogs - The way to develop a good start it to always let your dog at the same time on the light sequence (perhaps just as the last orange light comes on) and adjust the position where you let them go until you get a good start. Ask someone to watch your starts, to tell you if you are too late. If you do do a false start, try to remember where you started, so you can gradually get to know where to stand for a good start. If you have done one false start, make sure the start for the rerun won't be another false start. The start dog has the advantage of having a second chance that the other dogs don't get with their crossovers, it is unfair of the start dog to break on the restart and have to rerun.

These hints are based on our experience running with the Croydon Rockets under Australian Flyball Association rules.

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