What is "dog sports?" and why do I recommend people look into it?
Dog Sport(s) have been around since we first domesticated our four legged friends and has solidified the roles canines have in modern life. Participating in dog sports will build the bond between you and your dog, helping you become a better team. It's about more than winning ribbons and earning titles. You will work towards shared goals, show off new skills, and most of all, have fun with your dog. There are a wide variety of dog sports to choose from.
- Agility
- Flyball
- Rally Obedience
- Dock Diving
- Barn Hunt
- Canicross
- Lure Coursing
- Schutzhund
- Ring sport
- Herding
Each sport is different and adds a level of enrichment for dogs & humans! Giving your dog an outlet is highly beneficial for their mental and physical wellbeing. If you are looking to get started in dog sports, or are just interested in learning more, we would be more than happy to help!
Kyoto doing dock diving.
Diving Dogs is a fun, exciting but easy to do sport with simple rules: You throw your dog's favorite toy into a pool while he waits on a dock about 40 feet long. On your command, he runs along the dock, flings himself off the end of it, lands in the water and grabs his toy.
Jade during Barn Hunt.
“Rat catchers” rid farms of destructive vermin – and the hunting and teamwork skills required to do so are the foundation of the sport of Barn Hunt. Dogs and their handlers work as a team to locate and mark rats (which are always safely held in aerated tubes) hidden in a maze of straw or hay bales
Kyoto during Schutzhund training.
Schutzhund (/'ʃʊtshʊnt/, German for "protection dog"[c]), currently known competitively as IGP[b] and previously as IPO,[a] is a dog sport that tests a dog's tracking, obedience, and protection skills, and evaluates if a dog has the appropriate traits and characteristics of a good working dog.[1] It was developed in Germany in the early 1900s as a suitability test for German Shepherds, but soon became the model for training and evaluating all five of the German protection breeds, which included Boxer, Dobermann, Riesenschnauzer, and Rottweiler. Though any breed of dog can participate, today the sport is dominated by German Shepherds and the closely related Belgian Malinois breed. Dog owners and handlers participate in Schutzhund clubs as a group activity for training the dogs, and clubs sponsor trials to test the dogs and award titles. The best dogs can qualify to participate in national and international level championships.
