5 Dog Sports

Through them you can spend quality time with your pets. It’s supposed to be a joke and not an obligation. There are modalities for all ages, sizes and races.

Canine sports are great shows with dogs  that we can admire. Although world competitions seem to be full of the same breeds, all dogs can play sports. Find out which one is the most interesting for your pet and start having fun.

What are canine sports?

There are several sports for dogs:  some exercise only the body and others only the animal’s mind. However, almost all of them are a combination of the two, along with the ability of the human guide.

In a sport of this type, it  is necessary to  train the dog, of course, but also the ability of people is definitive:  both to train the dog in its  new skills  and to compete. Although there are clubs and teams that help with training, the truth is that the dog and its guide are alone.

Any breed and almost any dog ​​can play sports. In the   world rankings the same breeds are always repeated, like the  border collies and the Belgian malinois, but to have fun it is not necessary to have the same physique as the athlete dogs.

If you want to start playing a sport with your four-legged friend,  find a local team so they can guide you through the first steps of training. Also, they can lend you the track and elements needed for each sport.

1. Agility

The  agility  is probably one of the best known of all sports dogs. It’s an obstacle course with which the dog must interact: high jumps, tunnels, seesaws…   The objective is to complete the course as quickly as possible, without making mistakes with the obstacles.

Competitions in this sport are divided by the size of the dogs, and each of them has obstacles appropriate to their height and speed. The layout of the elements and the route always change. There are also difficulty levels,  similar to leagues in other sports, where the competitor progresses through his sporting career.

The big challenge of this sport is for humans: you have to train your dog accurately  and be able to guide him correctly through the track without sending confusing signals.

1. DiscDog

DiscDog is one of the most spectacular sports there is: the binomial between human and dog creates a  choreography to the rhythm of the music, thanks to the launch and collection of discs with pirouettes.

For this,  special large, flexible silicone discs are used. There are many tricks dogs can do, and even the  choreography  is memorized! The size of the dog does not matter either, although it is advisable that the dog be large enough to pick up and return the puck after jumping.

There are also different levels of competition, and the possibility of creating choreographies makes it easy to adapt the difficulty to each dog and each human being. In this case,  training is more important than the game itself.

1. canicross

This canine sport is very simple to practice, although it is necessary a great physical training of both participants. It is a race in which dog and human run at the same time:  the dog wears a  breastplate, which is attached to a human being’s waist.

The  physical preparation  of both is essential and competitions are open to any dog ​​with more than a year of life and that is healthy. Due to the physical demands of this activity, it is essential to regularly consult a veterinarian to certify your friend’s health status.

1. Mantrailing

The  Mantrailing  is a sport that depends on the sense of smell of a dog to find a hidden person. In other words, this canine sport simulates the usual search conditions for missing persons. While speed is appreciated, in this case the dog’s precision is more needed to find the hidden fugitive.

Not only  rescue dogs  can practice this sport, it is open to everyone. However, in the event of a catastrophe, they will only be able to act in very special cases. The  Mantrailing  is sport and fun: not prepare dogs or humans for actual work.

1. French Ring

This may be the most demanding sport for dogs in the world. The French ring combines the physical strength of dogs with obedience exercises, so training is very important.

In competitions, the dog has to overcome different tests: jumping obstacles, climbing a stockade, control in the absence of the guide, bringing objects to the owner’s order and protection or searching for evildoers. It is a very demanding sport in terms of training and the animal needs years of competition  to be able to reach a good level.

Dog sports exist for us to spend fun times with our pets. There are many different sports to choose from, so some of them certainly fit well with our dog’s size, age, and interests. But most of all, remember that they should be a joke and not an obligation for both of you.