# What to do? Agility or flyball?



## PonkiPoodles

Hey everyone,

I'm thinking about starting an activity with my two little dogs. Well, one in particular.... Ponki!

She's very high energy and I'm thinking about signing her up for flyball classes. Is it easy to teach?

We tried agility about 2 years ago, my friend took her dobe and so I got one free lesson. Ponki enjoyed it but she was so bouncy she didn't ever touch the clear on the A-frame etc. ("clear" being the yellow area at the end of the A-frame/ teeters etc. they need to step on). She did have a blast though.

What would you recommend? She loves tennis balls, so I can see the flyball maybe being the thing for her... only problem... I know nothing about it and it seems our local club has a team thing going on!?!?


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## CT Girl

Try it out and see what you both enjoy. You can prevent them from flying off the end on an A frame by training to a taget that they touch then gradually remove the target. I am doing agility with Swizzle and we both are having a blast. I hope you find something you enjoy as much.


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## Quossum

Well, you know I'm gonna say Agility! :wink: Seriously, they're both fun sports that are good for high-energy dogs. One lesson is not even close to enough to teach a dog to "hit the contacts," so there would be plenty more time to work on that!

Flyball: Team sport, very intense, many runs during a competition day, easier to train (in my opinion). Very, very noisy trials. Compete against other teams.

Agility: individual sport, fewer runs in a competition day, lots of techicalities to the training. Compete against yourself / the clock.

--Q


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## JE-UK

Depends on what you want, really.

I work the miniature I have now in agility, and we both LOVE it. It's both mental and physical, and the teamwork aspect is a big component of our enjoyment of it. Although he despairs of me sometimes, as I am the klutz in the team :smile:.

I did flyball years ago, with a ball-obsessed Golden, and loved that too. It was a different kind of thing, though. It's intense, and rewarding for the dog, but once they know how to run it, there isn't much input from the handler, other than encouragement.

I find agility to be a more complex sport to engage in, but I'm sure there are days when my miniature wishes we were doing flyball, so I could just shut up and get out of his way!


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## neVar

well as a hard core flyball person- i vote agility. Flyball is not something this breed (especially standards LOL) are natural learners at- the whole dainty dont touch things hard tip toe through the tulips movement of the poodle can be an issues. 

Most with the smaller ones- triggering the box can be tough for small/light weight dogs. Flyball tends to take longer to learn with your first dog- and like said above- then it's just about maintaining the quality of their runs, getting a bit better as a handler (tighter passes) there's no 'levels' just faster teams and slower teams. and you can only speed up a dog so much


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## lily cd re

I would vote for agility for some of the reasons other people cited. Agility is relationship building for you and the dog. It is about the ability of your dog to read subtle cues from you and trusting you to send them along safely. For both of you it is a problem solving activity. Just make sure you find someone to help you train it safely for the two of you. 

Flyball is exciting for the dog, but doesn't seem to offer the same opportunity to build "teamness," after all you are telling your dog to run away from you.


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## Kloliver

I've been warned that repetitively hitting the flyball ball release _can_ cause shoulder tissue/joint issues.

Agility is very cool because you're working as a _team_. Who doesn't want that with their fur friends?


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## lily cd re

I was at an agility trial this weekend. One of the people who was there used to do flyball, but has stopped. Her dog is ball crazy and he used to hit the box way harder than he had to. She said he seems a lot more comfortable since she stopped the flyball. She thinks he was hurting himself hitting the box.


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