Flyball competition consists of races between two teams of four dogs each, racing side by side over a 51 foot long course.  Each team's racing lane consists of 4 jumps spaced at 10 foot intervals, the first jump being 6 feet after the start/finish line and a Flyball box placed 15 feet after the 4th jump.  The Flyball box releases a tennis ball at the dog after he/she pushes a panel on the front of the box.  Each dog must run in relay fashion down the jumps, release the ball from the box, retrieve the ball, and return over the jumps.  The next dog is released to run the course but can't cross the start/finish line until the previous dog has returned over all 4 jumps and reached the start/finish line.  Jump heights are set 4 inches shorter than the shoulder height of the smallest dog racing in the heat, with minimum jump height of 8 inches and a maximum height of 16 inches. The first team to have all 4 dogs finish the course without error wins the heat.  Missed jumps, dropped balls, etc., all require the dog to be rerun after the rest of the team has finished.   There are either 3 or 5 heats in a race.

Many teams can run all 4 dogs through the course in under 18 seconds! The current world record is 14.86 seconds.

All breeds of dogs (both mixed and purebred) are welcome to play and compete in Flyball.  They do, however, need to be over one year old before they can compete in sanctioned tournaments.  Training can begin as soon as they come home, however!