Flyball Terms & Slang
Baby Gates - Accordian like PVC barriers used between lanes in practice to prevent crossing over or missing hurdles.
Ballshag - to pick up balls at the back of the lane after racing.
to blow a jump – when the dog fails to jump all the hurdles
to bobble a ball - when the ball drops after the dog releases it from the box. The dog has to chase down the ball slowing down the race.
Box - The flyball box. The contraption that the dog triggers to release the ball.
Boxloader - Team member who loads the balls in the box.
Box judge – Judge sitting at the top of the lane by the box. The box judge watches for proper triggering of the box, completion of hurdles and carrying of the ball.
Boxwork - Training the dogs to properly trigger the box to release the ball.
Breakout - To race faster than the minimum time for your division. A breakout is an automatic loss. Three breakouts disqualifies your team from placing in the tournament. This rule exists to prevent a team from sandbagging a division.
Calling Passes - Team member standing at the start/finish line providing feedback to handlers as to how close to the start/finish line the pass is taking place.
Division - A group of equally matched teams competing in a tournament. Division I is made up of the fastest teams. The rest of the divisions are separated by seed times submitted with a minimum speed noted in each division. This permits a wider variety of dogs to play and compete against teams of equal speed.
Early Start/ False Start – When lead dog in race crosses Start/Finish line before the green light. Each team may early start once per race with out penalty. Two and it is counted as a foul. Dog must be rerun at end of four dog line up.
To Flag or to Foul - to make a mistake on a run that causes the judge to raise his/her flag. Mistakes may be dropping the ball, missing a hurdle, early pass, or not triggering the box . If dog is flagged then it must rerun.
Green dog - Dog in process of learning the game
Handler - Team member handling a dog in a race.
Height Dog – The shortest dog in the line up. The judge’s measurement of this dog determines the height of the jumps for all dogs in the line up.
In the hole - as in baseball …. Your team is racing after the next race
Interference - The dog runs across lanes, either going to the wrong box or running in the other teams hurdles. Is an automatic loss for the team of the offending dog.
Lane - Set of hurdles and box that a team races on. There are two lanes side by side in a race.
Line Judge – Judge sitting at the end of the lane by the start/finish line. The line judge watches for early/false starts, early passes, completion of jumps and carrying the ball past the start/finish line. The line judge also records on the official paperwork the line up of dogs running, confirms the jump heights are set for the shortest dog running and records the win or loss.
Motivator - Item used by handler to reward dog for race well run. Can be toy or food. Ideally it should bring dog to handler and allow handler to get control of dog.
Multibreed/Variety - A classification of divisions where each dog on each team must be a different breed.
Newbie - Dog just being introduced to the game.
On Deck - as in baseball …. Your team is next to race.
Pass - The action of one dog returning and the next dog taking off. Ideally the pass should happen at the start/finish line. To blow a pass is to pass inside the start/finish line and is a flag (also called an early pass)
Props – Various equipment used to help a dog with his/her form when executing a turn on the box.
Recall - A dog’s skill to come to a human team member when called.
To do a recall - sending a dog from the box, over the hurdles to a calling handler. Used as a warm up and to help dogs focus on the lane they are to be running in.
Regular/Standard - A classification of divisions where the dog’s breeds are irrelevant.
Sandbagging - to send in seed times and claim a team races slower than they really do, guaranteeing the team will win against slower teams in a slower division. It is considered a form of cheating. Breakout times exist to prevent it.
Setting the jumps - The height of the jump is determined by the height of the shortest dog racing (the height dog). In UFLI minimum is 6 inches, max is 12 inches. In NAFA it is 8 - 14 Boards of varying widths are added to the hurdles to bring the jump heights to the required height based on who is racing. To “set the jumps” is to put these boards in place.
Seed time - Time submitted to tournament organizer for speed of team. Based on a team’s expected performance.
Side by sides - practice racing with dogs in both lanes.
Snap – speed of turn on the box.
Splits - Times of each individual dog in a race. Must be recorded off judge’s clock while race is taking place.
Steady Dog/ Solid Dog - Dog that has raced successfully in tournaments without mistakes.
Swimmers Turn – Box turn technique where dog pounces on box with all four feet, triggers box, catches ball and pushes off box to return down lane. Ideally done in one fluid motion.
Tournament Ready Dog - Dog that has mastered the pattern of jumping hurdles, triggering box, returning hurdles to handler, passing and running side by side.
Ballshag - to pick up balls at the back of the lane after racing.
to blow a jump – when the dog fails to jump all the hurdles
to bobble a ball - when the ball drops after the dog releases it from the box. The dog has to chase down the ball slowing down the race.
Box - The flyball box. The contraption that the dog triggers to release the ball.
Boxloader - Team member who loads the balls in the box.
Box judge – Judge sitting at the top of the lane by the box. The box judge watches for proper triggering of the box, completion of hurdles and carrying of the ball.
Boxwork - Training the dogs to properly trigger the box to release the ball.
Breakout - To race faster than the minimum time for your division. A breakout is an automatic loss. Three breakouts disqualifies your team from placing in the tournament. This rule exists to prevent a team from sandbagging a division.
Calling Passes - Team member standing at the start/finish line providing feedback to handlers as to how close to the start/finish line the pass is taking place.
Division - A group of equally matched teams competing in a tournament. Division I is made up of the fastest teams. The rest of the divisions are separated by seed times submitted with a minimum speed noted in each division. This permits a wider variety of dogs to play and compete against teams of equal speed.
Early Start/ False Start – When lead dog in race crosses Start/Finish line before the green light. Each team may early start once per race with out penalty. Two and it is counted as a foul. Dog must be rerun at end of four dog line up.
To Flag or to Foul - to make a mistake on a run that causes the judge to raise his/her flag. Mistakes may be dropping the ball, missing a hurdle, early pass, or not triggering the box . If dog is flagged then it must rerun.
Green dog - Dog in process of learning the game
Handler - Team member handling a dog in a race.
Height Dog – The shortest dog in the line up. The judge’s measurement of this dog determines the height of the jumps for all dogs in the line up.
In the hole - as in baseball …. Your team is racing after the next race
Interference - The dog runs across lanes, either going to the wrong box or running in the other teams hurdles. Is an automatic loss for the team of the offending dog.
Lane - Set of hurdles and box that a team races on. There are two lanes side by side in a race.
Line Judge – Judge sitting at the end of the lane by the start/finish line. The line judge watches for early/false starts, early passes, completion of jumps and carrying the ball past the start/finish line. The line judge also records on the official paperwork the line up of dogs running, confirms the jump heights are set for the shortest dog running and records the win or loss.
Motivator - Item used by handler to reward dog for race well run. Can be toy or food. Ideally it should bring dog to handler and allow handler to get control of dog.
Multibreed/Variety - A classification of divisions where each dog on each team must be a different breed.
Newbie - Dog just being introduced to the game.
On Deck - as in baseball …. Your team is next to race.
Pass - The action of one dog returning and the next dog taking off. Ideally the pass should happen at the start/finish line. To blow a pass is to pass inside the start/finish line and is a flag (also called an early pass)
Props – Various equipment used to help a dog with his/her form when executing a turn on the box.
Recall - A dog’s skill to come to a human team member when called.
To do a recall - sending a dog from the box, over the hurdles to a calling handler. Used as a warm up and to help dogs focus on the lane they are to be running in.
Regular/Standard - A classification of divisions where the dog’s breeds are irrelevant.
Sandbagging - to send in seed times and claim a team races slower than they really do, guaranteeing the team will win against slower teams in a slower division. It is considered a form of cheating. Breakout times exist to prevent it.
Setting the jumps - The height of the jump is determined by the height of the shortest dog racing (the height dog). In UFLI minimum is 6 inches, max is 12 inches. In NAFA it is 8 - 14 Boards of varying widths are added to the hurdles to bring the jump heights to the required height based on who is racing. To “set the jumps” is to put these boards in place.
Seed time - Time submitted to tournament organizer for speed of team. Based on a team’s expected performance.
Side by sides - practice racing with dogs in both lanes.
Snap – speed of turn on the box.
Splits - Times of each individual dog in a race. Must be recorded off judge’s clock while race is taking place.
Steady Dog/ Solid Dog - Dog that has raced successfully in tournaments without mistakes.
Swimmers Turn – Box turn technique where dog pounces on box with all four feet, triggers box, catches ball and pushes off box to return down lane. Ideally done in one fluid motion.
Tournament Ready Dog - Dog that has mastered the pattern of jumping hurdles, triggering box, returning hurdles to handler, passing and running side by side.
