# How do you know which dog sport to try?



## Quossum (Mar 18, 2011)

I chose Agility because I liked the sport when I saw it as a spectator. I had done Obedience before that (in the days long before Rally existed) and honetly I just liked working with my dog. But Agility looked more "fun" to me, it doesn't involve a team (unlike, say Flyball), it's pretty objective as far as the scoring (though of course there are certain "judgement calls" judges can make that people debate afterwards!), and you can get a championship without having to place in your class (unlike Obedience). It doesn't have the precision of Obedience (no tight heel position required; you can talk and signal to the dog) and seemed fun for the dog as well. 

I've also been fascinated with Tracking, as a sport where the dog is the expert and the handler has to trust their canine partner, but I haven't had the chance to pursue it.

As to how one should choose...well, what does your dog enjoy? I think that most high-energy, intelligent dogs can, with the right attitude and training on the handler's part, do almost any dog sport, and this is particularly so with poodles, who have the build to be physically able to do almost anything (unlike, say, a mastiff or something that might find Agility or Dock Dogs too physically challenging, or a sighthound which might be particularly challenging to train in more obedience-oriented sports). 

Just try and watch different things and get into what *you* like. With training support, you should be able to do anything with a Poodle!

--Q


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

I started with Lily with obedience as my main goal. I am fortunate that at the time she was young our obedience club was actually in walking distance. We took a CGC class there with both Lily and Peeves. They got their CGC's at around their first birthdays. I continued training there (and now teach there). The club has since moved and I have about a 15 minute drive, but the new facility is roomier and we've had all sorts of events including seminars in nosework, trials and lots of matches and trials.

When it became obvious that Lily had energy to burn we started a fun class for agility. I took Peeves with us too for a while, but he clearly isn't into doing the contact obstacles. I later moved over to a competition class and now do my agility training with a fabulous trainer who lives near me. I have found agility to be hard on my knees, but Lily is showing great independence and distance so it is easier now that I don't have to run everywhere with her.

We fell into rally sort of by chance. It has been great all around. Lily loves it. Peeves likes it well enough too. I don't practice for it much as a separate sport but incorporate that training in with training for the other sports. If you have a set of descriptions for the signs you can easily teach yourself what you need to to do novice. If you look around in this section there are threads on almost all of the performance sports.


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## sparkyjoe (Oct 26, 2011)

I'm lucky that our training club offers all sorts of dog activities. They also have a "Sports Sampler" session, which I would be interested in if my dog were a *bit* more laid back.

I was just contacted that they may be adding a DINO (Dogs In Need of Space) Sports Sampler session, which we might check out.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

No place near me has a sampler. That sounds awesome!


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

I think trying out the ones that interest you and seeing what your dog enjoys is best - the sampler day sounds great fun! I did some Agility with both of mine - Sophy loved the climbing that meant she could look down on the world but Does Not Jump. Poppy enjoyed it all, as long as she could do it in her own harum scarum way. I took Poppy to Rally, where the instructor said she could easily progress rapidly once she learned not to bounce - but for me and Poppy the bouncing was part of the fun! In fact that is probably why I don't do more performance stuff with my dogs - our fun tends to get in the way of people who quite rightly take it all more seriously. Perhaps I should start a Silly Stuff class...


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

I like the idea of a silly stuff class too fjm. Sometimes I think we take our sports too seriously. It should always make your relationship with your dog better more than being about winning or titles.


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## lisasgirl (May 27, 2010)

Oh man, a sampler class would be great! Too bad...

There is a trainer around here who offers a "just for fun" agility/trick training class. They do some agility obstacles, but it's really just about teaching your dog new things and having fun rather than competing. Sounds a lot like the silly class you mentioned, fjm! If they were offering it soon, maybe I'd try that out. Though I do think it'd be fun to do some novice-level competitions at least. I'm not looking for anything too serious, just more activities I can do with the little guy since he seems capable of a lot and we both like getting out of the house for stuff.


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## spindledreams (Aug 7, 2012)

Nosework is all about the dog and YOU are the one doing the learning. You learn to trust your dog and how to read their body language. It is a fun sport for most dogs but I found it really hard to learn NOT to interfere or talk too much. 

Rally is fun I keep getting told as you switch up what you are doing not doing a set pattern. 

Agility looks fun but when I see the manic dogs screaming and thrashing waiting for permission to run the course I get a bit turned off AND concerned that my bouncy boy would go total OCD idiot if I let he loose in that sport.

I personally am not into the precise must make HIT every time I compete and honestly there are a lot of us like that. So just go in and have fun, we are going to try rally and maybe eventually agility but in the meantime we are also learning herding...


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

Sophy got very irritated with me when we tried nosework. She reckoned if I thought I was so good at looking I could get on with it, as I was so busy looking for the scent box I kept missing her extremely subtle signals. The final run was in a very long hall, she walked in at one end, glanced towards the box at the furthest point at the other end with a world weary air so that even I couldn't miss it, and then indicated that she would like to go back to sleep in her crate now please ... I know when I am being told off! The way she sat down and Looked at me when I completely failed to explain what I wanted her to do with some weave poles also stays with me. She does not suffer fools gladly!


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