What does your family think of "dog sports"?

[Sparrow]

They are pretty supportive, though I am sure they think I talk about dog stuff too much. They've always known I'm odd, though, and this is no different.

They were really happy for Zoe when she got her RATI, and accepted me missing Easter for Barn Hunt (I still got to join them partway through dinner.) I wouldn't expect them to try showing up at a Nose Work trial hours away, but they care how we do.

I'm sure if I am still living around here when I have an agility dog, they will come watch some runs, though I don't see them hanging out at the trials all day or anything.

All this said, Zoe is limited by her reactivity/DA and age/arthritis, so when I have a young dog that I get really serious into sports with, they may think I've gone off the deep end for real.

 

[crazedACD]

They sometimes say the "wrong thing", but it's not out of malice, just out of sheer misunderstanding. ALA: "It's only a dog game...why are they so upset?" , "Do they pay money for this?", "I wouldn't want that dog in my house.."

Everyone that I end up talking to about dog sports asks "Do you get prizes if you win? Money??". Nope, you get ribbons and titles! And they glaze over and loose interest.

 

[Dagwall]

Supportive with a slight mix of "a waste of money" but it's my money and they agree I can spend it on whatever I want. They knew I always wanted a dog and it WAS going to happen, they didn't know I'd be this "dog obessed" once I got a dog.

Honestly I couldn't have predicted it either. I didn't think I would even bother paying for any training classes unless I ran into a serious issue I couldn't fix myself with the power of learning theory and the internet. Then I just wanted to check out agility... Which actually didn't go anywhere besides a intro class but did spark my interest in classes, which soon led to nosework, recently leading to barn hunt.

My brother is interested enough to ask how trials go and actually listen to the details. My parents want to care but have trouble following and remembering the details. Mostly they are just happy I'm happy. My parents have become quite fond of Jubel which is something they didn't really expect. They live about 5 hours away so don't see him that often.

 

[Moth]

My fiancee is pretty supportive. He will readily accompany me to an event if I need his help. He may be little bored or zoned out while attending...but he loves seeing me and the dogs do our thing.

The rest of our family finds it sort of a perplexing hobby...but most of them a very nice about it and will ask questions about what we do.

 

[JessLough]

I really got my mom interested in dog sports, and now whenever she even sees conformation show on TV she'll stop and yell for me. . She came to pet expo a couple years ago with me, to see the dockdiving. When I have a dog and get competing in something, I'm certain she'll come out to watch and cheer us on. I'm sure my dad would too, for that matter.

At the end of the day, pets are my thing, and while they're supportive, they'd be just as happy without any.

Then again, they know I flew into the US multiple times to meet dogs/dog people, so I doubt much would phase them LOL

 

[Elrohwen]

They're pretty supportive. My parents adore Watson and treat him like he's a grandchild, so they think it's cool that I do things with him. Whenever they're in town they enjoy coming to his classes or shows.

My husband is also supportive though he's not at all interested in participating (he's just the dog snuggler, not dog trainer). He probably thinks I spend too much money on dog stuff, but he knows it makes me happy and lets it go. He actually enjoys going to dog shows, much to my surprise. He's a competitive person by nature, so I think he likes watching me and the dog compete and getting to cheer for us a bit.

 

[SpringerLover]

I don't think Tim really has an opinion? He knows I really enjoy it, and he's come to a couple events, but it's not something he'd ever do. And I can say for certain that he'd never travel to long-distance trials with me for funsies.

My mom used to come to most of my agility trials with me. I don't think anyone has ever come to obedience events with me regularly, most of my friends/family find that quite boring. Once my whole family and then some came to a Junior Showmanship thing at the River Center which was kind of neat.

 

[TexasRanger]

Everyone in my family thinks of spending money on a dog beyond "essentials" as being a waste of money.

 

[Finkie_Mom]

DH came with me to our 2012 Nationals. And yeah. He totally thought it was a waste of time LOL.

That being said, he has gone to agility classes with me and Kimma in the past and seems generally interested in how we are doing. He loves the dogs and knows it's become basically my life, so he's supportive. Just really not so much in the conformation world. He also plays pro roller hockey (yes, there is such a thing) so he gets competitive FOR me sometimes hahaha. Maybe one day he will come to a trial hahaha.

The rest of my family thinks I'm insane and that I have way too many dogs. My Mom is constantly telling me that I should sell a couple of them and go get a teaching job... My Dad thinks the work I do is cool (he came to visit and we gave him a building search live find demo), and vaguely gets the competition aspect with my own dogs (he was a pro soccer player so he kind of gets it). Extended family is a mixture of my Mom and Dad.

I should mention, however, that my in-laws totally kind of get it and are super supportive.

 

[Locke]

My parents are always supportive of my dog stuff, but don't quite always understand. My dad and I love doing animal related activities together, and although we've never done dog sports together, I can imagine my
Dad would love playing agility with Smiley. My mom is always excited for me, but usually doesn't participate.

My SO is like my mom, happy that I get to release my inner dog nerd, and supportive, but stays on the sideline.

 

[Ozfozz]

My dad has always been pretty hugely supportive of dog sports.
When I wanted to do flyball, he was the one that helped persuade my mom to let me get a Border Collie (because obviously that was the best choice, can't start with less than the best in his mind).
Then he built me a flyball box and jumps to go with it. All to NAFA specs.
When I almost immediately lost interest in flyball (no teams in the area and I didn't have a drivers license at the time), he paid for agility classes and built a jumps, weaves, a hoop, and a teeter for me to practice with - to AAC standards.
He used to drive me to all classes and trials. Now that I'm old enough to cart myself around that's lessened, but he will still come out to the occasional trial or demo.

My mom has only recently become supportive. She seemed really upset that she couldn't make it to my trial yesterday. While I'm going "It's totally fine, I'm sure I'll have people to talk to there"

Josh doesn't really get it exactly, but he's open to learning. He said he will probably never actually do any of the sports (aside from maybe dock diving), but he likes to come out and watch and support me sometimes.


A cousin and aunt came by the other day and saw all my dad's giant vegetable trophies (Yeah I know) and asked if they were my dog trophies. Had to say no of course and they just got the ...."oh that sucks" look when I explained the ribbons lol.

 

[krissy]

When I wanted to do flyball, he was the one that helped persuade my mom to let me get a Border Collie (because obviously that was the best choice, can't start with less than the best in his mind).

Okay, I have to ask... were you at an agility trial this weekend at Dreamcrest Equestrian? There was a girl there with a border collie that looked just like Cobain but the closest I saw listed was a BC with the call name Coby and I'm not sure if that was the same one. But I also overheard his owner talking about her other dog "Rig". Soooo... I'm curious. lol


And on to the question at hand. I don't have a lot of family. My mom and I aren't very close anymore (things are getting better) but I basically try not to talk too much about my life. So she doesn't really know about agility. She doesn't really like my greyhounds (she thinks they look funny) but I think it's a toss up. She might think agility is really awesome or she might think it's kind of silly. I don't think she would be downright unsupportive though.

My boyfriend probably thinks it's a little silly but he's supportive. He knows I enjoy it. He knows the dogs are my "thing". He's glad that I have something I enjoy so much. He's not so supportive that he comes to class or trials. To be fair though, we just had our first 3 trials in the last week and a half and I'm sure in future he will come to some trials. He has been to 2 conformation shows. He was definitely bored and had things he would have preferred to be doing but he was there and that's awesome.

My in-laws don't really know how INTO agility I am. Mother-in-law would be supportive as she always is about the dogs. Father-in-law thinks I'm verifiably nuts because I'm so passionate about my dogs and so passionate about never wanting children.

 

[k9krazee]

Husband loves dog sports more & more every day. He attends classes and all the trials. I'm thinking by next year he'll want to start handling Crossbone.

My parents have always been supportive -- heck, they let me accumulate 5 dogs because of agility.

There are a few members of my extended family who do agility (my aunt makes a living off of dog sports) and a couple cousins do sports.

My work family loves it and is always telling other people about Crossbone's ribbons.

 

[Ozfozz]

Okay, I have to ask... were you at an agility trial this weekend at Dreamcrest Equestrian? There was a girl there with a border collie that looked just like Cobain but the closest I saw listed was a BC with the call name Coby and I'm not sure if that was the same one. But I also overheard his owner talking about her other dog "Rig". Soooo... I'm curious. lol

:rofl1::rofl1:
I thought that Greyhound looked awfully familiar!
It's been such a busy week so I was pretty out of it and didn't manage to put 2 and 2 together lol.


I keep meaning to change his call name for AAC, I didn't know what it meant when I signed him up so I used the short form we used when he was a pup.

 

[Taqroy]

I came out of a conformation ring one time with Rhys and my dad was shouting over the hubbub, "Did he win? Did Poppy's boy win?!!"

This made me laugh, I can totally see my Dad doing that.

Matt is sort of supportive but mostly uninterested. He comes to events but it's not his favorite thing.

My parents are supportive, but also think I'm a little insane. They would totally come watch us compete (if we ever get that far). My sister and brother think dog sports are awesome and would definitely come support us or just go hang out at dog events.

My in laws think I'm crazy but are too "polite" to say it out loud. They're not really dog people.

I have the feeling that a lot of people thought that having a kid would make me not want to do anything with my dogs anymore - like I was using them as substitute children? Which is pretty insulting and I enjoy the baffled looks I get when I tell people that the girls are still in classes and that I have every intention of competing.

 

[krissy]

:rofl1::rofl1:
I thought that Greyhound looked awfully familiar!
It's been such a busy week so I was pretty out of it and didn't manage to put 2 and 2 together lol.


I keep meaning to change his call name for AAC, I didn't know what it meant when I signed him up so I used the short form we used when he was a pup.

Ha, I almost said something too... 'cause really, what are the chances of a dog that looks exactly like Cobain and also having a dog named "Rig"? But then I didn't see a Cobain listed and I figured a greyhound in agility is pretty hard to miss so it must be a different person and I'd just look crazy.

 

[Keechak]

My mother is very supportive, before I was born and for a while when I was younger she did competitive obedience with her last German Shepherd. She and her first husband both competed in AKC obedience and volunteered as obedience trainers in the local Kennel Club. After he passed away (in a terrible car accident while on his way to training class ) she met my dad who didn't get it as much and she stopped competing after her last GSD passed on when I was about 5 years old. She always brought me along to the Kennel Club and I would watch her train.

She also trained our first Aussie, Jack, that we got when I was 7, but never competed with him. I taught Jack to jump over things at lot at home when I was around 10 years old and when I was 14 my mom and dad surprised me with Kechara whom they brought home from a breeder. My mom more or less told me Kechara was going to be my Agility dog. She drove me to Club every week for training after that and attended all of my trials. My Dad comes to some trials on occasion as well but doesn't understand whats happening the way my mom does.

Tho my mom gives me the impression she thinks I am bit crazy for doing a breeding, she has seemed genuinely impressed with the care and planning I am putting into it. And considering her and I live together she is very supportive in allowing a litter of puppies to potentially destroy her home, lol! Tho I hope it doesn't come to that