On our Practice Paws website, we love talking about Agility and Obedience. It’s the two dog sports we mention most often. However, there are so many other dog sports as well as these two. And some of them might just be better suited for your dog!
The wonderful thing about dog sports is you don’t have to do them competitively; you can do it at home and just have fun practicing with your dog. In this post we will go through five different dog sports you may have not heard of and what they’re all about.
1. Dock Diving
Dock diving can be a really fun sport for those water loving dogs. In simple terms, it’s a game of fetch over water (except they do not need to bring it back to you).
In this sport, the handler (you) would stand on the dock or whatever platform it is at the training location, then you get your dog to run up as you throw their toy in the air and they jump to catch it.
In competitions, you will normally be competing for the height or distance your dog jumps. Sometimes the toy (or ‘bumper’) is already held up in the air and the handler doesn’t do any throwing.
Of course, you always must be aware if the sport is right for your dog. Dock diving is a very intense sport with lots of jumping and then landing in the water so would not be suitable for some dogs. It’s always a good idea to ask your vet before getting into a dog sport!
2. Dog Dancing
Now this one a lot of people might have heard of as it’s loads of fun to do AND to watch. Dog Dancing is pretty much what the name says, its a sport where essentially, you dance with your dog.
There are a few more specific subcategories of dog dancing such as musical freestyle and heelwork to music. Musical Freestyle is what a lot of you would think of when you hear ‘dog dancing’, in most cases you get to choose your own song and then choreograh a dance to do with your dog that fits to the music.
Heelwork to Music is slightly different, it focuses on the heelwork aspect of the dance (having your dog at your side) and so in a way the dance is a little less open for interpretation (don’t get us wrong, it’s still fun and for some people much better suited to their dog). At Crufts, your heelwork to music routine is mainly heelwork but you can also incorporate a bit of freestyle.
If you haven’t seen or heard of dog dancing, go and search it up and watch a couple of the amazing performances people have done at Crufts (you can find these on Youtube)!
3. Rally O
Moving on to less known sports you might not have heard of, ‘Rally O’ (or just Rally) stands for ‘Rally Obedience’. Rally is like obedience but in competition form where you really have to focus on working with your dog.
In competitions, there’s usually a set area that has signs in (with numbers to tell you the order) telling you to do different obedience commands, you then go through them one by one getting your dog to do each command.
The judges score based on your teamwork with your dog, how well each command was executed and how smoothly you both went through it.
There is different levels of Rally O so that dogs more advanced in the sport can have more of a challenge. At some levels, you compete whilst using a leash (and it’s important to keep a loose leash) and at other levels it’s done off leash.
4. Fast CAT
Fast Cat stands for Fast Coursing Ability Test and is where your dog runs 100m and gets timed whilst doing it. In this sport, each dog races individually and chases a lure that is pulled along the floor for the 100 metres and gets scored based on their time.
When thinking about it, Fast CAT does sound pretty similar to greyhound racing which is a horrible event where people race greyhounds usually ending up with a lot of them getting injured. However Fast CAT is a lot more controlled, safe for dogs, and is only 100 metres.
Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s great for every dog. Fast CAT is not suitable for sighthounds (Greyhounds, Whippets, Lurchers, Saluki’s etc) as the distance is too short for them to run comfortably. Apart from sighthounds, basically all other dogs can compete! As long as they have that drive to chase the lure 100m and are healthy, it can be really fun for a lot of pooches!
5. Flyball
And our last dog sport of the day…Flyball!!! Flyball is a fast paced team sport where you compete with 3 other dogs and handlers. There are usually two teams going against each other, each team having 4 dogs (and 4 handlers).
To play, one dog in your team runs over (or more like flies over) a set of hurdles until they get to a board at the end of the track (about 16m) and then press down on the board with their paws making it release a ball (think of those automatic tennis ball shooters for dogs).
Once they have the ball in their mouth, they turn around, run back over all the hurdles until they get to their handler and give them the ball. Then once the first dog gets back, the second dog goes, and once the second dog gets back, the third goes – so on and so forth until the final dog of your team gets back.
When the final dog of your team gets back, you win unless you got any errors. Errors occur when you release a dog too early or if a dog looses the ball.
Flyball is not for all dogs, it is a really active sport and your dog performs a lot of jumping plus a big turn at the end of the track (that a lot of dogs try to do super quickly) so your dog should be healthy to do it… this goes the same for other sports like agility and dock diving. Even then, injuries can occur so make sure you’re doing it in a safe environment and if your dog seems too tired or you don’t think it’s right for your dog, try another sport! (This applies to all dog sports).
So Why Should I Get Into a Dog Sport?
Dog sports can be a fun way to mentally stimulate your dog, keeping them happy, excited, and getting rid of some boredom. They can also keep your dog active and healthy and in general are just fun activities that a lot of dogs enjoy participating in. Plus, it can be a lot of fun for you too!
If you are interested in competing and you think your dog would enjoy it, give it a search, and see if there’s any places near you. But if you’re not interested in any competition and are just in it for the fun, some of these can be practiced at home in the comfort of your own backyard!
The main thing is to choose the right sport for your dog. If you don’t know, then just give a couple of them a try and see which your dog enjoys most.
For a very active and agile dog with a lot of energy to burn, dock diving, flyball, fast cat or agility could be great choices. And for more chill, less active dogs who are just happy go lucky, Rally O, or Scentwork could be a great choice.
(We didn’t mention Scentwork in this post, but if you’d like to check it out, head over to our Scent Work Series.)
Dog dancing can be a good fit for any dog if done right, as performing musical freestyle gives you a lot of room to adapt the routine to suit you and your dog no matter your skill level.
So we hope this post has revealed to you some dog sports you’ve never head of and maybe even gotten you interested in trying a couple of them!