Dear BFA members
Firstly, we want to say thank you for your understanding during these unprecedented times. Trying to remain part of this incredible sport through these difficult months has been challenging, but we hope you are as excited as we are moving into 2022 and the prospect of being part of this amazing community, as we continue to grow and compete across the country.
We are excited to announce that we are now moving forward with a project that we have been working on for many months, which we believe will be of huge benefit to all of our flyballing dogs, but we now need your help to make it a reality
As a sport, very little is known about injury rates amongst our dogs, and we feel as a governing body that its our duty to ensure we do everything we can to make flyball as safe as possible. As such, we have approached Hartpury University in Gloucester and The University of West England to devise a research project that will help us understand injury trends, but more importantly identify ways in which they might be reduced.
To that end, the research team have developed two surveys which we hope every BFA member will complete. The first is to gather information on any dogs currently taking part in flyball, and the second, which will follow in early 2022, is designed to look specifically at injury trends.
As well as the above, we will be also be taking part in practical research through 2022, using Hartpury Universities state-of-the-art biomechanics laboratory to understand some of the forces and joint movements that occur during a flyball run, to understand if these may relate to the information obtained from these surveys.
Completing the survey should take no more than about 10 minutes depending on how many of your dogs take part in flyball, and the link can be found below. Please note, this survey relates to any dogs that have taken part in flyball in the last 5 years, but ONLY if they have NOT been injured. If you have any dogs that have been injured you will have the opportunity to tell us about those in the second survey which will be available in the coming weeks
The survey is completely anonymous, but it is really important that we get as many responses as we can, so please do try and take the time to support this project and help us protect your dogs, allowing them a long injury free sporting career.
We expect the results of this study to be incredibly beneficial, not just for our members but for the sport as a whole, and so we would really appreciate your participation
Thank you
The BFA Committee
LINK TO SURVEY: