Flyball "class", and a web site
 

Our flyball team has dwindled recently. We're trying to qualify for nationals and as things stand we have enough dogs for a team but still need a handler for one of the dogs and a box loader. One person is leaving and she has two experienced dogs. Two of our dogs are over 11 years old. Another dog got hurt and is retired for good. A team member with 2-3 good competition dogs lives on the other side of the state and is dealing with a family health issue so it's not fair to count on them to round off our teams. We have four green dogs and puppies but all are a ways out from team competition (one is 10 weeks old, the others are old enough to compete but not ready). Our team is considering holding a class at the facility we use for training. We're hoping it would drum up more interest in the sport locally, promote the team, and possibly result in a few decent dogs that can move up to the team. I believe it would also mean that our green dogs/puppies could take the class so it wouldn't really add much time. We'd do the class first and then the team dogs would practice. We already spend 2/3 of the practice on the green dogs and puppies. Also it would ensure people pay up front. The people who are already on the team that have green dogs are not a problem but we've had lots of people that come for months and then....we never heard from them again. It's getting increasingly difficult to gauge levels of commitment and our team has to pay to use the facility whether 4 dogs or 14 dogs show up.

So, for anyone out there reading this....if you have taken a class, what did you like about it? Not like about it? Did it help you learn more about the sport and the commitment needed to be on the team? If you haven't ever done flyball would you be less intimidated if there was an intro class offered, rather than just training with a team?

Second, I've been working on a web site and Facebook page. This is my web site so far. The Dogs page is empty but it will have a photo of each dog, their flyball stats, and any other titles. Our team has quite a range of dogs (not all Border Staffies) so I want to show that off. Any comments or suggestions? The FB page is NOT ready yet, all I did was make the page so there's no content there yet.

Fly By Night Flyball Team - Home

I'd love an intro class over meeting with a team. In fact, I'd prefer it in that order. I'm not intimidated by meeting with a good team, however- I would feel like I'd be asking them WAY to many entry level questions. I tend to ask LOTS of questions in class. I'd be more worried that I'd frustrate them over me being intimidated to engage. Having an intro to flyball class first would at least set the stage for a closer middle ground for us to meet on.

Oh- and I wish I lived closer. That would be a 564 mile round trip for me... LOL!

Yeah...and I feel like the class would give us a better platform for saying stuff like, "your dog has potential but you need some training in these areas first, why don't we get you signed up for [beginner obedience class]?" Whereas while the team *trains* at a facility that offers all the other classes, we aren't *their* team if that makes sense? We have recommended that certain people take some of their classes but I know some new people are often confused by the relationship between the team and the training facility. If we offered a class it would be their class to enroll people in and charge for, but some of our members would be their instructors.

I would LOVE a flyball class. As a complete new person to the sport, it would be my preferred way of learning about the sport. It's not as intimidating, and certainly requires less commitment than joining a team. I think it's even better that the people teaching are going to be potential future team members, so I am learning, but at the same time, seeing if the team is for me.

But a thing to consider is:

I'm interested in taking the flyball class because I am intimidated by the "greet the team" experience, and don't know if I can/want to commit to the team training schedule. What of the individuals who just want to come and learn about flyball, but not neccesarily join your team? Will that be a drain on resources? From my perspective, paying for the class gives me the right to come/not come. The commitment is different from a team commitment, if that makes sense.

I wish y'all would move to Canada. I would love flyball class.

Right, the way I see it, the only loss for the team is that we could potentially hold classes and never get anyone that wants to bump up to the team, but we can still use the "class" time for our own puppies and green dogs. We still have to decide if enough people are willing to try it (I am). Like you say, people pay for a class in full so it's not a waste of time for the team if no one shows. The money pays for the use of the facility and we basically get extra time to practice with team dogs.

As far as people only taking classes and never moving to the team, I think it would go one of two ways: 1) the class helps a person learn that it's just not for them or their dog or 2) the class helps train the fundamentals so when they do move up to the team they are better prepared to help out with equipment and can get more involved. I don't really foresee people taking a class over and over and never moving up because once your dog is trained, it's kind of boring. You wouldn't start running head-to-head or start practicing passes and stuff in the intro class, it would be more for doing restrained recalls, backchaining the recall with increasing distractions, helping handlers find out what motivates their dog, and teaching box turns.

I have some personal experience with exactly this, so I'll add my .02. :D I was interested in the sport, and found a "for fun" class at a private rescue shelter that has a nice indoor/outdoor training facility with a wide variety of classes. The class was very basic, and I don't even know if the instructor had ever raced flyball or not, but we had fun and it was enough to see that Halo maybe had some potential.

I went online looking for more classes and came across the NAFA website, with a link to clubs by region. Some of the clubs in the area had websites, but only one had an upcoming class listed, which started in a couple of weeks, so I signed up. There were closer clubs, but I didn't feel like I had enough experience to contact them about showing up for practices and training with them. Taking a class first was much less intimidating which is how I ended up with the club I joined, so I think it's a good way to find new members for your club, and also a good way to introduce new people to the sport. If they like it, great - you could offer a more advanced class or invite them to join you at practices. If they don't, that's the end of it, and you still made a little money for your club.

Having a facility like you do that offers lots of other classes, you may find it easier to drum up interest in signing up for your classes, which has been an issue for us in the past. In my first six week class with Marin Running Riot in the Summer of 2011, there were only 3 or 4 of us, and then I took a second class in the Fall that had pretty much dwindled down to me and one other person by the end. Last year we only offered one six week class, and by week 2 or 3 all of them had dropped out, so we cancelled and sent refunds for the balance.

We want a minimum of 6 dogs to make it worth our while, so this year we did a 2 hour workshop in February, offered through the Marin Humane Society where we practice, but taught by our club. We set a maximum of 10 dogs, and we were able to fill up completely. There was enough interest from the workshop that for our Spring classes, which start this weekend, we'll have 9 or 10 people! We also have Summer and Fall classes lined up this year, so hopefully there will be enough people who want to continue so we don't have to cancel. Mollie is our main instructor, and she's a 3 hour round trip from MHS, so even though we have practice immediately following the class, it's a very long day for her. With at least 6 people, even if half drop out we'll still have a few left.

I think our club does a really great job with the classes. They work with each dog at whatever level they're at, and we break things down into very small pieces so dogs are set up to succeed. In Halo's classes they used solid club dogs to work with the class dogs in exercises like SBS and passing recalls, until we had some class dogs that were to the point where we could run them together. Our plan is to have at least 2 assistants each week, so we can break up into two or more groups and work a couple of dogs on different things simultaneously.

In our workshop, we had 4 "stations", with 2 or 3 club members at each. One station was dead ball retrieves to determine which way each dog turned naturally, the station I was at worked on using a target stick, another was the "reward" station, with a variety of food and toys to see what each dog was most interested in working for, and then at the last station they did restrained recalls using the reward of choice. Since we couldn't do the last station without doing the reward station, we broke the attendees into groups of 3 or 4 dogs, starting one group at each of the first three stations, and then rotating them through. We worked one dog at a time per group, with the other dogs in each group crated. We also had two lanes set up, with gates between each jump to form a channel. At the end, after all the dogs had gone through all 4 stations, we broke the class into two groups, and backchained the jumps. All the dogs were out at this point, and we ran each dog through at one jump, then two jumps, then three jumps, etc., offsetting it so the dog on the right lane would go, and then the dog in the left lane, rather than sending them at the same time.

Since some of the dogs in the class were not at the workshop they'll probably be doing some of these same exercises, with other stuff for the dogs who don't need to do a dead ball retrieve and already have a reward, for example. For a smaller class you probably don't need to be anywhere near this structured, but at the workshop we had a lot of dogs to work with in a fairly short amount of time, and we wanted everyone to have fun, feel like it was worthwhile, and possibly create interest in our classes. Our classes are $120, which is a reasonable $20 per week, and we require payment in full to hold your spot. In the past we had people send a $20 deposit and then pay the balance the first week, but people are much more willing to walk away from $20 than they are $120, so we changed that policy this year. No refunds for changing your mind, so if someone pays up front and then doesn't show up, oh well - we keep the money.

Absolutely not - as Lies said, at the very least it's revenue for the club. If you have potential you'll be invited to come to practices, if not, you won't. Hosting tournaments and conducting classes are our only sources of revenue besides club dues. Until someone is invited to join the club they don't pay dues, and they won't even get that far unless they have the interest and potential to race.

We did have one guy who took classes for 2 or 3 years but was never invited to come to practices or join the club. I was out of town for the first week of the second class I took, but the next week Mollie pulled me aside and mentioned that they wouldn't be offering any classes for awhile (it was October, and we practice outdoors), so would I be interested in joining the club practices when it ended. My first club practice was the last weekend in December, I got the "official" invitation to join the club in March, and Halo's first tournament was a week and a half later! :wild:

Cassidy's Mom and Liesje,

The classes you guys have planned/taken sound like a blast. I especially love the part about finding what motivates your dog. I wish more basic classes featured that component more prominently.

Good luck on your endeavors. I think it's a great idea.

Sounds like a wonderful idea! When I move to Windsor I will be bugging you to come out! ;)

I think there are already several flyball clubs/teams in Ontario!