Dog Sports You Probably Won't Try

[Beret]

Another one who probably won't ever be caught at a flyball tournament. Did a flyball class with Garp a year or so ago. Too much crazy, and I have a high crazy tolerance.

Freestyle- just, no. Love to watch it. Refuse to stand in a ring and prance around. That's the dog's job.

Obedience- higher level competition seems just so stuffy and nitpicky. Maybe it's not, but still has no appeal. Rally is cool though.

Treibball (sp?)- absolutely no appeal. None. This is probably not helped by the fact that I still have no idea what's actually going on.

Skijoring- I hate cross country skiing, I hate the cold. Does that count as a sport?

IPO/bitesport stuff/etc- I'm on the fence. I love to admire from afar, but it seems worlds away from me right now. Maybe some day if I have the right dog/breed and it feels more accessible but there are no plans for that either.

 

[Red.Apricot]

Obedience- higher level competition seems just so stuffy and nitpicky.

That has pretty much been my experience--why do you say that like a negative? :rofl1:

 

[Beret]

That has pretty much been my experience--why do you say that like a negative? :rofl1:

Haha who knows, maybe when I've fully made the transition to crazy dog lady, "stuffy and nitpicky" will sound way more appealing that "paying way too much money to launch my screaming dog into a pool of dirty water"

 

[Red.Apricot]

Haha who knows, maybe when I've fully made the transition to crazy dog lady, "stuffy and nitpicky" will sound way more appealing that "paying way too much money to launch my screaming dog into a pool of dirty water"

It's not for everyone, and that's okay.

I just paid way more money than I can afford to watch my dog run in a circle, so who am I to judge?

 

[Toller_08]

Things I do and love:
Obedience. I love the precision and thE calm atmosphere, and I find it fun.

Things I do and want to be good at:
Agility. I really like the sport and want so badly to be good at it. Good enough to trial at least and succeed, but I don't need to be amazing. But I live somewhere without a lot of good trainers or facilities. I need a vehicle to go practice by myself.


Things I do that are okay:
Flyball. I'll be honest, I don't actually like the sport. I don't enjoy loud, chaotic, repetitive environments. But I enjoy hanging out with my team and have made some very good friends because of Flyball, so I continue to play for now and make the best of it.
Rally. I don't know what it is, but I don't love it as much as Obedience. I think because people kind of fake and joke their way through CKC Rally. I might enjoy another venue more.
Conformation. The whole premise of it annoys me, basically paying for somebody's opinion. And I hate how the dogs who win are often so overdone. But I actually don't mind doing it. There is a small part of me now that actually enjoys my thirty seconds in the ring haha.

Things I would like to try but don't have proper time into or resources aren't readily available:
Herding. I really don't have the time to commit to herding every weekend and it's pricey, plus, while Journey definitely has instinct she's not as into it as an actual stock dog would be. But I like to go once in a while. I've gone three times so far.
Field. I think Dance actually would've been a really good field dog, but again, no time or money and a lack of good trainers.
Dock Diving. I tried it but Journey surprisingly hated it. Might try again one day, but it's just as much if not more fun to just take my dogs swimming without paying to do so.


Things I have no interest in:
Lurecoursing. Just doesn't interest me at all and I don't have a breed well suited, except Ripley. But no desire to really go and try it out.
Tracking. Looks really boring.
Disc. I shouldn't say I have no interest. It looks fun, but not something I'd compete in. Maybe just try on my own. But it also looks painful haha. And I worry about dog injuries too.
Nosework. Looks ridiculously boring to me.
Protection. Don't have a breed bred for it, and even if I did, just no desire. Well, again, except Ripley but he would not excel anyway.

In the grand scheme of things, I want obedience and agility to be my things. I don't enjoy competing enough to do too much else. I'd rather just hike and walk and do other peaceful, quiet things.

 

[Raegan]

Do and love:

• Agility - oh I love running agility. Marsh is SUCH a pleasure to run, he is SO good at agility. I am SO bad. But I love it SO much.
• Obedience - I don't really love competing in obedience, hahaha. I find it much funner to train though. It's among my favorite things to train. Joy and precision... it's really fun.
• Field - it's just cool. And incredibly challenging. It's hard to train for, for a lot of the stuff beyond basic you just have to have help. But I've found casting surprisingly useful in life.

Don't really care for:

• Nosework - It just doesn't interest me. Likewise tracking, but I kind of want to train AKC tracking someday so I can go for Versatility titles.
• Disc - I love playing frisbee! And I'm having fun training for it so far I doubt I'll compete, there aren't clubs/competitions very close to me and I like my sports a little more crazy competitive than it seems the disc scene is. But it's a really really fun way to play with my dogs.
• Rally - Too much heeling. I know obedience is all heeling with other stuff, but at least there's other stuff. Rally is just more heeling.
• Barn Hunt/Other stuff you don't really train for - I know there is training for things like Barn hunt and dock dogs, but it's about tweaking performance not really teaching the main idea. I'd rather train things that are intricate and complex.

Wants:

• More biking with the dogs. Not really a sport, just biking. More camping, too. And I'd love love love to actually be able to take one of them hunting one day.
• Mondio OB only, hahaha. Because it makes me laugh and there's weird stuff and heeling can be just the general shape of heelingish. Pilot already knows a game called "Ringsport Pilot" which, if we're being honest, is really just letting him bite me. :lol-sign:
• I would do Freestyle. I am all about interpretive dance
• If I had unlimited time and resources, I would teach the Tollers PWD water work, even though they can't compete in it.

 

[Beret]

It's not for everyone, and that's okay.



I just paid way more money than I can afford to watch my dog run in a circle, so who am I to judge?

Don't get me wrong, I have a ton of respect for those that do obedience. Especially at high levels, the precision is spectacular. I just have no interest in doing it myself.

 

[release the hounds]

Disc is like agility for me. Interesting, looks fun, like to watch, probably won't do much in it though. Unless I move to smaller dogs some day and don't do bite sports.

I forgot to add herding to my list of would do's. HGH type herding, not the AKC herding. But there is nowhere to do this anymore. I think there was one club out near PA maybe? not even sure if they're still together. But there are so little resources for doing this, I doubt I'll ever get a chance, but i really like watching the dogs work with instinct

 

[RBark]

I generally have a policy of trying anything before passing a judgement. So there is probably nothing I wouldn't be wiling to try once.

That being said, I'd most likely avoid the following sports (and in no way talking down to those sports, people like what they like and don't like what they don't like. All sports are great!)

1. Tracking (It just doesn't appeal to me. Maybe because I am not actively involved beyond the training.)

2. Earth Dog (I think this is the one where they find rats? For much the same reason as tracking.)

3. Flyball (everything about this sport hits my nerves just right that I wouldn't be happy haha)

4. Lure Coursing (same as Flyball)


To a MUCH lesser extent, in the sense that I'd only be interested with the right dog:

5. Schutzhund.

6. Obedience.



So that leaves Agility... Herding... Disc.. haha.

 

[Dekka]

I find it interesting taht people lump lure coursing in with flyball so often. LC is fun, though its not something I would choose if I had to choose it over other things. But its fun, its fast and laid back IME. Same with racing. Its not loud like FB and its not a team sport.

For those who say they dont' have the right dog... We have Lure coursed pugs :rofl1: Quite a few tollers and BCs. Most dogs love the chase. Though smarter ones cut the corners to try to trap the bag.

 

[Laurelin]

Pretty much the only sport I really really really want to do is agility. It's just fun. I also like that each course is different and it requires a lot of thinking and planning on my part too. There are games courses that switch things up too. There's a lot for the trainer to do as well as the dog. I also like that it's fast paced and you can handle on the fly when things start to go bad. Some of our best runs have been just by the skin of my teeth. It's addicting and so much adrenaline.

I actually find obedience boring to watch and boring to train. Maybe it would be more fun if I had taller dogs because teaching toy dogs to heel SUCKS so bad. I have all the respect for people who teach tiny dogs precision heeling.

 

[Sekah]

Sports I do:

• agility - Cohen's favouritest of favourites. I think it's pretty rad too. I hope to get an ATCh one day.
• flyball - Pretty fun. Pretty loud. Cohen was pretty fast for her breed (I think she was running 4.3s) but the time investment required to practice with a team and attend weekend-long, 12-hr day trials is too much for me. It's on the back burner for now and Cohen's box turn has suffered for it. We do some flyball at our demos so it should be tightened up again. Cohen absolutely loves the sport, to a fanatical degree. Barkbark.
• obedience - I keep saying I want to compete more often in obedience, but whenever it comes time to sign up for a trial, I go looking for an agility one instead. I'm kind of a perfectionist and only train by myself... I know I've cut corners and don't quite feel ready to show again. Though, I think we'd do well. I'd love to get an OTCh, but at this rate I'm not sure it'll happen.
• rally - Did it. It was a great introduction to dog sports. Now it bores me.
• disc - I haven't competed, but I have friends pressuring me to. I will eventually. I'm working on Cohen's drive which has come a long way recently.
• freestyle - I have a routine for demos. I don't have much interest in actually competing and adhering to a ruleset. I find that actual competitors are kind of stodgy and the outfits are positively embarrassing.

Sports I'd like to try... maybe... some day:

• dock diving - We'll be introducing dock diving into our demos soon, and neither dog likes to swim. I'd like to rectify this so we can participate. The competitions themselves look like people just flushing money down the toilet.
• lure coursing - Sounds fun. I wouldn't do it routinely, but the next time I have a free weekend and the opportunity presents itself, I'm there. I would love to see Mega running full tilt. I think she'd really love it, if I can get her on to it.
• 'joring - It seems like a cool thing to do with a dog, but I haven't looked into it much.
• confo - Maybe one day when I have a confo-suitable dog. I'd probably try to get a title then go play in other more interesting sports.

Sports which do not interest me:

• herding - Just not accessible enough living in the city. I have other things to dump my money on. I've gone a few times, but won't likely again.
• nosework - Doesn't much interest me, but I've not really been exposed to it.
• tracking - Again, I've not really been exposed to it, and I don't have much contact with people who do it. It's just not on my radar.
• weightpull - Not for me.
• IPO etc - I love to watch it, but I doubt I'll pursue it unless I get a Mali or GSD... which I likely won't.

 

[RBark]

I find it interesting taht people lump lure coursing in with flyball so often. LC is fun, though its not something I would choose if I had to choose it over other things. But its fun, its fast and laid back IME. Same with racing. Its not loud like FB and its not a team sport.

For those who say they dont' have the right dog... We have Lure coursed pugs :rofl1: Quite a few tollers and BCs. Most dogs love the chase. Though smarter ones cut the corners to try to trap the bag.

I have no doubt that it I'd fun for those who enjoy this. I am sure I'd enjoy it too but, I prefer being actively involved I guess. In LC and flyball, I'm just restraining the dog then letting it fly. (I know there's a lot of training beforehand, I just prefer running with the dog haha.)

 

[crazedACD]

I find it interesting taht people lump lure coursing in with flyball so often. LC is fun, though its not something I would choose if I had to choose it over other things. But its fun, its fast and laid back IME. Same with racing. Its not loud like FB and its not a team sport.

For those who say they dont' have the right dog... We have Lure coursed pugs :rofl1: Quite a few tollers and BCs. Most dogs love the chase. Though smarter ones cut the corners to try to trap the bag.

Yeah! It's really laid back, and it's lots of low pressure fun for the dogs. It's kind of fun to see that your dog maybe isn't in that good of shape because if they haven't done it before, they get tired sprinting after a short distance .

 

[Shai]

Yes

Agility. Such love. Everything I love in a dog sport.

Field. We just dabble compared to the big guys and frankly I would rather hunt over her than test but I really love seeing her shine. It's one of those things with far more elements than people realize, and it's really impossible to know how your dog will handle it until you do it.


Meh

Competition Obedience. We've done some and it's fine but for me a strong obedience foundation is to help us achieve our goals in other competition areas, not the goal itself.

Nosework and Tracking. Seems kinda fun for the dogs, and something we may learn more about in the future. No immediate plans.

Dock Diving. Love it for fun, not so keen on the paying/traveling for it thing and I may never understand the crazy award system wherein strategically jumping your dog shorter can lead to better ribbons.


Honorable Mention

Herding. Just don't know enough yet. Don't like that I can't train it at home/myself, really.

IPO. Not ruling it out forever but doubt I will ever have the dog and resources to do it correctly. Call it a vague possibility. Or not. Enjoy using appropriate elements in my training for other things.

Disc. Same as IPO.

Breed Ring. I...don't put a lot of stock in breed ring titles so it's been hard to motivate myself to take part.


No.

Rally. Been there, had fun, not really my thing.

Lure Coursing & Barn Hunt. No point for my dogs other than to pay for/assign titles to things they already do. Hubby is very supportive of dog competition but even he has said he'd have to protest those.

Flyball. I like quiet and prefer activities where the dog and I are working more as a team. If I am going to send you down a line, you'd best come back with a bird not a ball

Freestyle/Canine Dancing. I think everyone else covered it haha.



Anything not mentioned just doesn't even occur to me as something I'd want to do haha.

 

[DJEtzel]

Hm.

Sports I compete in and like -
- Dock Diving
- Lure Coursing
- Agility
- Disc

Sports I train (or have) in and enjoy, would like to compete in some day -
- Flyball
- Conformation
- Herding
- Rally/OB
- Tracking
- Nosework
- Treibbal

Sports I have never trained in but would like to -
- Barn Hunt
- IPO

Sports I will not train in/don't want to try-
- Field Hunt
- Freestyle Dancing

 

[Ozfozz]

I tend to prefer sports where the dog and I work closely as a team together. Fundamentals that we can work on individually and break down into separate portions to focus on and improve. Not just the test of an individual dog's physical capabilities, but mental as well.

Yes

Agility - Done it for years, love it. I even love snooker (which at a trial I attended this weekend, I was told by many that it's their absolute least favourite event). The only thing I'm not overly happy with is the cost of trials

Disc - Have yet to get into competition, but I think it might just be Rigby's "thing" so once life settles down a bit, I think that will be my next endeavor

Obedience - I'd just like to get a few trials in at some point. I like the fundamentals of the sport, and while I don't find it overly exhilarating (and Cobain agrees), it'd be nice to get a title in there.

Joring - Not competitively now...probably never competitively, but it is fun.

Treibball - Want to try, haven't yet though

Maybe

Lure Coursing - I honestly just think Ruby would be good at it. Maybe a few trials eventually just to see

Disc Freestyle - If I'm ever coordinated enough

Dock Diving - More or less if my dogs enjoy it. It's not something I'd actively seek out I don't think, but if I had a dog that really enjoyed jumping into the water, may as well get some ribbons lol

IPO - If I ever get the right dog

Rally - I don't know much about Rally aside from that it appears to be the more "fun" version of obedience. It still seems I don't know...boring to me? I figure if I'm going to do something boring, I may as well do obedience I guess.

Herding - If for no other reason than to justify my dog's status as a "herding" breed.

Probably Nope

Flyball - Yeah, I know. When I got Cobain it was for flyball. I have all the equipment and the basis of training. But when it got right down to it, there were no teams in my area at the time (years ago when I got Cobain). Then I found agility and decided it was really more of my niche than flyball.

Conformation - Just not really my thing. The look I tend to like in the breeds I am interested in isn't always the most embraced in the conformation world.

Barn Hunt - I dunno, maybe Oz or Ruby would like it, but meh.

Musical Freestyle - I'd love to have a routine put together for demos. I like the essence of it, working together, building on heelwork and tricks to music....but the costumes, the competition, and even the stress of it just doesn't sound like my thing.

 

[Julee]

Not big on conformation.

 

[release the hounds]

I don't know that I'd classify conformation as a dog sport

 

[Beanie]

Agility is my sport of choice. I love it, Payton was carefully selected to be an agility dog. I do not see a point in the future where I will not pick dogs to be successful at agility. It helps that the temperament that makes them successful in agility is the same temperament that suits me.

I have done rally. It's kind of boring in my opinion but it's okay as just something to do. I would never travel specifically to do rally - the only rally we have ever done is locally or they happen to be offering rally where I'm doing agility.

I have done obedience and it's SUPER boring... I don't enjoy it, Auggie didn't enjoy it, I still think we might try to get a CD on Auggie one day but balls do neither of us like it.

I have done herding and I really, really enjoy it - it's incredibly thrilling to see instinct just come out of your dog - and I want to do it more. This fall I think I am going to take the dogs to a herding instructor over in Indiana and see what we can get cooking. There is not a lot of herding around here but when sheltie nationals rolls back to the Midwest they do it at Purina so I do have opportunity, should I feel like my dogs are sufficiently trained enough to do it.


We haven't competed in dock diving yet but I really want to. Unfortunately there's not a lot around here and I don't know for sure if Payton (or Pepper - HAHA PEPPER YOU'RE GOING IN THE POOL) will do it, so I don't want to drive really far and spend a lot of money and then not have them play.

We haven't competed in flyball yet either but I want to do it with Auggie because I think he would REALLY love it. Jumps all set at even, predictable distances are Auggie's thing. I think he would be able to really just open up and run fast and I think the excitement of the whole thing would get him grooving too. I would travel for this except there's really no place around here to train, I don't think there's even still an active team, so I'm kind of stuck as to get into it. And Auggie is getting old so I don't think we will be able to do it.

I have considered tracking/nosework for Auggie but it's not really exciting enough for me to put a lot of investment into it. I think he would like it and probably be good at it, but I think overall we prefer loud crazy active games.

Disc is somewhat interesting to me because of the tricks and movement involved. The actual throwing/catching discs part doesn't interest me. So I will be the odd one out here and say I actually AM sort of interested in..
Freestyle. Except not in the goofy cutesy heeling-patterns kind of freestyle. In my head I would love to put together freestyle routines that involve a lot of the flashy rebounds and other tricks you see in people's disc routines.
I will probably never do it, haha. But in my head IT WOULD BE SO COOL. PAYTON AND I WOULD BE AWESOME. SET IT TO LOUD TECHNO.
Hahaha can you imagine if we showed up to a freestyle competition and started doing some kind of crazy rebound and flip routine right in the middle of everybody doing their little heeling dance routines? OMG.