Fly Ball training for canine reprobate?

Hi,

So I have a mostly-staffy, 1/4 Rottweiler, 1/4 American Bulldog who was born on 1st May 2014. He's a major fan of leaping on things, jumping across one Thing to another Thing and someone suggested that Fly ball would be a good idea for burning off some energy and improving his general training. I'm about to start him on foundation dog training next week because his recall and various other things all go out the window as soon as there's anything interesting around. I listened a bit too much to people saying "oh, the other dogs will soon tell him off if they don't like it" and now he's really poor at picking up queues from small dogs, paticularly when they're scared or telling him to sod off.

It's true the more exercise he's had the better behaved he is, but I'm worried he's not trained enough for flyball. He gets about an hour's walk/rampage in the morning and then potters around the garden all day as and when he wants. Should I invest in a running machine, give him 20 minutes on that and then take him out to the park?

I work full time and it's not the best area for walking around in the evening.

Flyball is good fun but your dog does need to understand the basics; sit, wait... that kind of thing. Recall is key for flyball to work so I would focus on that first. Agility might be an idea as well, its fun for both you and your dog and its great for training and tiring them out!

I thought that might be the case. He still views them more as guidelines than absolute rules but hopefully the classes'll help me stick to them better.

If you need any advice regarding recall or any other training, feel free to ask as many questions as you like....there's plenty of great advice and tips floating about! Just be sure to post them in the relevant topics so you get more views and replies

I will do, thankyou.