Myth Busting: Fast vs Slow

What is a "slow dog" in flyball? Is it a dog that runs slower than 5 seconds? ...6 seconds? ...7 seconds? Does anybody run a dog that runs slower than 8 seconds? Why? Is it a "height dog"? Fourth breed for a Multi-Breed Team?

I got curious about these questions after it was suggested to me that "nobody" runs a "slow dog" unless it is a height dog or a rare breed. Really? I don't believe that assumption because I know of several so-called slow dogs that were either on my team or another that I know of ...and these dogs didn't fit these assumptions. So, I asked myself, why? were these dogs running if they didn't help out by lowering the jumps or by adding another breed to a multi-breed team? Why slow down any "team" by using a slow dog? ...maybe, some clubs do not measure success by the number of times they win. Maybe, they look at other "challenges" to measure their success by.

One example that I can think of is the challenge of training a deaf dog. My team has a deaf Border collie named Luna. It took a lot of patience and persistence to train Luna but, she is running fairly consistently now. I characterize her performance as "fairly consistent" because, since she is "deaf", we have no ability to call her off of a distraction. If something catches her eye, she will go to it and there is no way to stop her if she is not looking at you. So, since it can't be predicted "when" or "how" something may distract Luna, we have to accept the occasional "no finish" heat as part of the risk of putting Luna in the line up. If "winning" was important to us, using Luna would probably be an unnecessary risk. .....but, we get more pleasure at seeing her successfully complete runs so, she goes in and mostly runs 6-7 seconds. Slow for a Border Collie. ....but, just fine for a deaf dog. And, we have no problem building a line up around her to regularly finish 25 point heats.

Now, NAFA doesn't track hearing impaired dogs in the database. I wouldn't ask them to. Luna is the fulfillment of a personal kind of challenge to the Wooferines. .....and, it makes me wonder how many other clubs out there are taking on such a "personal" challenge. Not necessarily a deaf dog but, a "slow" dog by that club's own definition of what is "slow". I'd like to know how fast a "slow dog" runs to be considered as "slow".

I'd also like to know why? the club chooses to run their "slow" dog. Is it because:

1. The dog is a height dog.
2. The dog helps their multi-breed team.
3. "Other"... The dog is neither a height dog nor a fourth breed.

Myth Busting

I am asking these questions because I believe that it is a "myth" that the only "slow" dogs running flyball are either Height Dogs or dogs that are unusual for flyball but, serve to help out a multi-breed team as a fourth breed. That's right! I think it's a myth. So, help me out by answering the questions I've posed.

I've added some polls on the sidebar. If you could just take a moment to answer them, it would really be appreciated!


THANK YOU for your participation!
Good Luck and Good Racing!