List of Dog Sports

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Article: Dog Sports » List of Dog Sports

Training a retrieve in Schutzhund, a dog sport

Dog sports are activities that involve dogs.

There is much discussion about what exactly defines a sport for dogs. Some issues:

• Must a sport be entertaining to watch? Agility, Disc dog, and Dock Jumping are very entertaining to spectators, and often televised.
• If a human companion is not actively involved, is it actually a sport? Take greyhound racing, for example, or hunting from a duck blind, from which the dog retrieves the game.
• Is any activity a sport if a casual observer does not understand the nature of the competition? For example, in a conformation show the handler and dog move around a ring for a judge to evaluate the dog’s appearance and structure; the skill and knowledge required are not obvious to those uninterested in the sport.

This list is intended only to represent anything that anyone is likely to refer to as a dog sport, not to argue its validity as sport. Inclusion in this list should not be viewed as promoting any of these dog sports. The articles are intended only to explain the structure of the competition.

An Alaskan Malamute going over an A-frame during a dog agility competition

Here is a partial list of some of the sports that dogs participate in:

• Agility
• Bikejoring
• Canicross
• Caniteering
• Carting
• Competition obedience
• Conformation showing
• Catchball (A variation on Flyball)
• Disc dog
• Dock Jumping
• Dog hiking, Pack Hiking
• Earthdog trials
  

  A Golden Retriever Dock Jumping into a pool

• Field trials
• Flyball
• French Ring Sport
• Greyhound racing
• Hare coursing
• Herding or Stock Dog
• Hunting
• Hound Trailing
• Junior Showmanship
• Lure coursing
• Mushing, Dog mushing
• Musical canine freestyle; Canine Dressage; Heelwork to Music
• Nose work
• Obedience training
• Protection sports (including Schutzhund Service Dogs Of America and French Ring Sport)
• Rally obedience
• Retrieving trials
• Scootering
• Sheepdog trials (or Herding)
• Sighthound Disc Sport
• Sighthound racing (including Greyhound & Whippet racing, coursing, and lure coursing)
• Skijoring
• Sled dog racing
• Dog Surfing
• Terrier Racing
• Tracking trials (see also Tracking (dog))
• Treibball
• Water work/Water rescue
• Weight pulling
• Weiner Racing (i.e. racing Dachshunds)

References

1. “101 Ways to Do More With Your Dog!”

This article is licensed (except where noted) under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
It uses material from the Wikipedia article List_of_Dog_Sports