M50 AF for sports - tips?

Ok, a bit more context to the generic title...

Setup is an M50 mk2, 70-200 f2.8 L IS II. I'm getting into trying to photograph some animal sporting events (flyball for anyone who is a fan!) and I'm having to up my game to keep pace.

The challenge... Dog sized targets moving fast either towards the camera or towards at a slight angle. There are 4 jumps 10 feet apart on a course.

What has worked well.... Lie in wait. Set my focus on a particular jump as a single shot AF, and then let High speed continuous shooting rip when the dog hits that zone. Needing to play with aperture a bit to get the best DoF for this but seems to work well. I'm limited to one jump though.

What I'm struggling with... It'd be great to track a dog down the run and take a few head on shots. I'm struggling with keeping AF through the run - given the run takes about 1.5seconds over 50ft, manual focus isn't an option. Either through my inability to track the dog through single spot AF or speed of focusing I'm struggling to get the pics I'm after 50% of the time. Zone AF seems to like to pick up random objects to focus on at times, and I understand face tracking is humans only.

Any top tips from those that have been through this learning curve before please? Cheers.

The M50ii has a a very sophisticated focusing system; the pre-focus approach was the only option in the "old days". For what you are after I would definitely use Servo and use the touch screen to select the "dog" from the beginning of the run - the camera will keep track of the subject all through the run and over the hurdles. What shutter mode (Continuous, Single etc) all depends on the speed of the dog and how many frames you want to capture - no need to "spray and prey" as we used to say in the hope of getting a "keeper" - using the M50ii correctly should result in a very high keeper rate.
Look for videos like "Sports photography with the M50/M50ii" etc or check for videos explaining "Touch & Drag" on the M50. I did a quick search and the following is an example although I am sure there are better videos out there which I used when I was first experimenting with my first M50 - I now also have an M50ii and use it for sports photography...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1IFDpm6gu8
Below is an example of an image I took last summer using M50ii and the EF-M 55-200 lens and another (the rally car) using the older M50 with the same lens