The dogs tore down the course and over the hurdles for the wooden box like it was filled with filet mignon and angry cats. In a flash, they pounced onto it with all four paws, grabbed a spring-loaded tennis ball and barreled back down the course to where their howling teammates awaited their turn in the relay.

This is flyball. Furry, furious and fun. Something of an obstacle-threaded relay race that’s deliciously addictive for both the competitors and their owners.

“It is loud, and energetic, and crazy, and the dogs are having a blast,” said Kate Harward.

As a gaggle of K9s as motley as what you might see at the vet’s office practiced at Meadowlake Pet Resort where Hayward works, she and her Canines in Action teammates explained the rules: Four dogs make up a team. When a signal like you’d find at a drag race gives the green light, the first dog runs down a 51-foot-long track with four hurdles, the size of which is determined by the height of the team’s smallest dog. At the other end is a box that shoots out a tennis ball. The dog grabs it, runs back, and his or her teammate is released, ideally so they both cross the start line at the same time. Two teams compete side by side to see which can run the course fastest while judges keep an eye out for errors. (Check out the action at this year’s Shamrock Showdown in Austin on video.)

“Any dog can do it, as long as you’ve got patience,” said Pat Mapes.

In fact, flyball has become one of the world’s most popular dog sports since its inception in the late 1960s, in part because it’s open to just about anyone. Unlike other agility contests, dogs don’t need to be purebred to enter, and small dogs — CIA’s lightest weighs about 11 pounds — are welcomed because they mean lower hurdles for the whole team.

The selection of pets around me ranged from a sprightly collie to a bounding lab-basset hound mix. At least half the team was rescued from shelters. They barked, sniffed and said hello just as they might in a dog park while their owners patiently trained each to run the course and ignore myriad distractions around them.

Much of the training the day of my visit focused on the “swimmer’s turn.” The ball launcher’s surface is nearly perpendicular to the track, and dogs can wear out their shoulders running headlong into it to retrieve the ball. Owners used adjustable legs to tilt the launcher back and train the dogs to jump onto it with all four feet, grab the ball and jump off in the other direction in one fluid motion. It’s one of a lot of subtle skills that make the difference between gaggle of ball-chasing pets and a champion flyball team.

To give you some idea of how quick all this goes down, my otherwise-reliable digital camera couldn’t capture a picture of most of the dogs running down the track. The flyball world-record is just under 15 seconds – that means each dog on the team ran at an average speed of 18.5 mph.

Houston-area flyball competitions take place more or less monthly, and you can find more than a dozen teams around town with names like the Hot Rod Hounds, Canine Conspiracy and the Flat Out Fliers. The North American Flyball Association regulates the sport and is also a good resource for finding a team.

The people are as diverse as the dogs, young owners and old owners conversationally united by topics like hair-coated furniture. All you really need to fit in is a love for your pet.

“There’s a big bond that’s developed between you and the dogs that run,” said Mapes.