Crufts Flyball

[Tottlefields]

Just to possibly muddy the wates more, I enquired of Dave Ray re the ABC dog in the YKC team, his response is below, after checking with the YKC...

Hi Ellen

There are no plans to enforce an ABC dog in to YKC Flyball teams which is of course the correct decision, so, no change

Dave

Hope that helps other teams out too

Exx

[threebears]

Don't suppose they happened to qualify what they mean by 'an active member of the team' ... this could be anything from running every leg to having run one leg in the competition.

They also state in those 'rules' that it should not be a collie cross either, look forward to the various opinions on what is a collie cross! Have seen many a dog that I know has a collie parent but look nothing like collies and dogs which have no collie in them but you could easily them mistake for being collie crosses.

Christina, I presume it's the same ABC rules as for ABC agility dogs on the collie crosses but I've always wondered how they could tell a collie cross anyway as you say! It's all quite confusing but suppose it's safest to get something that is obviously not a collie or collie cross to run?

I would personally love to see breeds like the rotties and staffies doing Crufts flyball as it would be fab to see them on TV showing what they can do Having said that, I know lots of staffies do agility anyway plus they couldn't really do Crufts flyball because of the jump height I guess.

Jenny

[kaw9]

For KC and olympia agility an ABC dog must not be collie or collie cross, however for some strange reason beardies etc dont count as collies. If a judge questions a cross and you cannot prove with papers etc that its not a collie cross then you can be disqualified.
Re staffies, the height of crufts is 12inches so some larger staffies would be ok. If they truly want to see all breeds competing though i think the BFA heights should be considered so more small breeds take part .

[davidflood]

I think Ellen has answered Val's question, the rule book applies to adult and YKC flyball but the ABC rule only applies to adult flyball.

I have asked the question before and the Kennel Club view the YKC and the Adult as 2 completely separate competitions. This is why you can also have the same dog in both teams.

David

[bessamour]

Can't imagine why they are so worried about collies that they have to have comps without them.

[Iceflyball]

We've got a couple of Newfies interested - not sure how they'll both fit across the start/finish line for a nose on nose cross though

[karenmarks]

To be honest I find the whole Crufts/KC flyball ridiculous. It wasn't only Peter Purvis who messed up the commentating so did the idiots in 'ring'. They changed the rules during the competition too as I spoke to the judge. They made a mockery of our sport and many of us think we should call for the BFA to run this. It is not a fair representation of our our sport. It may be a bit of fun and we may all be friends, doesn't take away the desire to win. We spend ages training our dogs to an excellent standard and then go an compete to a lesser standard. Flyball is a brilliant sport for dogs and humans, Crufts/KC are limiting us in the dogs we use, they won't use jumps condusive to height dogs therefore precluding small dogs, yet claim this is a sport for any breed of dog, we have different heights for a reason.

We have lights for starts and crossovers and clocks for timings. Lets use them, why do flyballers have to be the second class citizens here. They have enough time to set up agility at Crufts and allow the participants time to walk the course, therefore there should be enough time for flyball to be set up properly.

I notice even the American's are now calling for Crufts to get with the times...

The suggestion is that we boycott the qualifiers to make the KC come round to our way of thinking, somehow I don't believe we would get everyone on board, the only way is to sit down and discuss it like grown ups, we can negotiate a better way of meeting in the middle. We should also insist that someone who is knowledgable in flyball does the commentating. I'm sorry but 20 years of watching Crufts flyball doesn't make an expert Mr Pervis!

May be someone will bring this up at the BFA AGM and everyone can have their say...

[HotShot Richie]

I agree !!

[BCBrie]

I agree !!

Me too

[bessamour]

Flyball is Crufts biggest public draw, and I'm sure if the Kennel Club were told, "either do it our way or we won't come", would work. Flyball was given the most coverage on online filming, apart from group breed showing and best in show.
I don't know who the spokesperson for the BFA would be to talk to the KC but they'd have to have enough balls (not tennis balls ) to tell them how we want it.
There are lots of BFA members who would love to try and qualify, but the jump heights don't permit them to do so. And it would be a good idea if it was the BFA ruling for the qualifiers and the racing.

Shambles, is how I've heard Crufts flyball described many times this year.

Can our Committee do something?