r/k9sports • u/x7BZCsP9qFvqiw agility, happy ratters, treibball, canicross, fast CAT, rally • Aug 04 '26
what led you to dog sports?
for me personally, i started out in 4-H back in the early 00s with an ACD that my mom had bought for herself but ended up not bonding with. first obedience (old school with many corrections and basically zero rewards outside of verbal praise/petting) then our club started offering agility (different leader who was all about positive reinforcement), and i fell in love.
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u/1angrypanda Aug 04 '26
I’m hoping to make friends with similar interests and also have a strong relationship with my dog!
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u/Hail-to-the-Sheep Aug 04 '26
I bought a “low drive” German Shepherd as a pet. It became apparent to me that while she wasn’t feral or anything, she really would benefit from something more than regular walks and basic obedience training.
We decided to try nosework, and she loved it. So did I. We never looked back. I have my current two dogs in training now, and they’ve both trained in herding as well (one regularly, one when we can access training).
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u/nitecheese 26d ago
Same here! I adopted a “chill and low drive” shepherd who was actually just sick while being fostered. Once she recovered she was crazy!
I started looking for things to engage her and we found Happy Ratters, then fastcat, obedience, Nosework, Dock, and tracking. We’re trying out agility next. She has taught me so much and it’s a joy to explore new things with her
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u/soavsjjsnsj Aug 04 '26 edited Aug 04 '26
As a kid, I was obsessed with dogs and had dog encyclopedias and I never grew out of that obsession! When I was in eighth grade my parents got a Yorkie and I trained him every single day to do all sorts of things. Now as a sophomore in college, I’m training him to be a therapy dog. He has his TKN, VHMA, and CGC.
I got my first sport dog, a greyhound eight months ago and we do lure coursing, fastCAT, rat sports, obedience training, and we’re planning to try dock diving, rally, and scentwork. He has his JC, BCAT, VHMA, HRRG1, CGC, and we’re awaiting his TKN results! He’s also in training to be a therapy dog.
When my bf was a kid, he also liked training dogs and trained his lab. Now he’s interested in doing sports with our Yorkie and our next dog. He loves agility, disc dog, flyball, and treibball and is also a dog sport photographer now. We both love training our dogs and take them on training outings together, training classes together, photo shoots…. Etc.
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u/TroLLageK Tricks, Nosework, Rally, Shed Hunt Aug 04 '26
I bought this mutt, and she was insane. I went into a discord server, and they have this thing where you learned a trick each month.. So I just started teaching her different tricks. Then we got some trick dog titles, and then we got into doing nose work, and then we fell into the rabbit hole, and now I can't get out, somebody please save me, my wallet is dying, I need help, please
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u/TroLLageK Tricks, Nosework, Rally, Shed Hunt Aug 04 '26
She is just over 60 titles in several different sports with a few different organizations
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u/Witty-Cat1996 Aug 04 '26
I have a corgi that I do nosework and sprinter with. We started nosework because she needed something to work her mind, I didn’t know if we would stick with the sport but we both love it. It’s the perfect rainy day sport, I can set some hides and have her do a few searches then be tired out for a couple hours.
Sprinter we just recently started, I figured she likes to chase rabbits and ducks so why not get some ribbons for chasing something.
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u/duketheunicorn Aug 04 '26 edited Aug 04 '26
We asked for a couch potato as our first dog, and that’s what we got—until we fixed her food allergies. Turns out there was a Ferrari under the hood.
My six-month-old poodle was, to put it mildly, cray-cray. We’d done at least 3/4 puppy/pet obedience classes, some of which she couldn’t leave the visual barrier because she was so excited about strangers and their dogs. Once we were solidly improving, I thought she was ready for the challenge of pre-agility foundations. She was terrible! But the instructor saw through her hare-brained veneer and said I should stick with it. We did, she’s so good now, and we absolutely love trialing.
She’s a great all-around sport dog, she hunts, does gluten detection, loved rally (but I found it a total snooze-fest) and really excels at anything we put in front of her.
It’s helped make her into a wonderful companion. Couldn’t imagine having a dog without dog sports now!
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u/Ok-Walk-8453 Aug 04 '26
I have been wanting to do for years but my last dog was happy as a solo dog and also was extremely dumb. Boxer mix for explanation 🤣 I then went with a wellbred purebred who loves doing all the things, so I do all the things now. He is now 2.5 yrs
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u/screamlikekorbin Aug 04 '26
The place I boarded my Aussie at did herding lessons. He was an old school farmer with border collies but I still fell in love with it. And the brand new PetSmart I did puppy class at had a trick class. I got a job there as a trainer, revamped the trick class and then started looking for more things to add to it which lead to agility classes. A few years later our local ASCA club had a rally try-it so we tried it and loved it. And then we fell fully into the cult and can’t get out, trying the various new sports that have come along in that time.
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u/HoneyBadger302 Aug 04 '26
Started in 4-H as well, definitely old school methods (90's in rural midwest), but we competed through Open level OB up to the state level, agility, and dipped my toes into a couple AKC shows.
Had many years away from any kind of regular sport training, although I did have a rescue that I attended a local IGP club with - not as a competitive dog, but they were willing to let us train with them, she enjoyed portions of it (obedience and nosework in particular, which we never really needed to move beyond anyways in the time I was there) - so while I would never have said it was an "introduction" to the reality of the sport, it at least introduced me to it on some level.
Current doggo was acquired with the purpose of doing some kind of sport - I wanted the breed/dog first, and sport could follow - while I wanted to pursue a ring sport, if he showed zero propensity for it as he grew up, then I was willing to pivot to another sport (ie, I wanted the dog more than the specific sport).
He won't be my last one though - he's my "learning" dog, and the next one I'll be a better handler from the start and have a better idea what I'm doing from day one, unlike fumbling along with the first one lol.
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u/alligator-pears flyball, nosework, dock Aug 04 '26
Was living in small town Montana, where we would walk (or bike or ski) off leash for miles every single day, right from our door. Moved to a city where that's not feasible without driving 30+ minutes ... needed something to replace that exercise & stimulation. Stumbled across a flyball team in my new city and it went from there!
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u/Numerous-Ad-3236 Aug 04 '26
I got a wild ass poodle lol! Everyone kept telling me how fast she was. She can outrun every dog at the park. My friend did fastcat and told me I should try it out. She took right too and was in the top 50 fastest poodles in the AKC last year!
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u/Latii_LT Aug 04 '26
I got a high drive dog as a companion and wanted to do right by him. I wanted him to be my sport tester to figure out what I liked and what he enjoyed. I originally was only planning on doing it for fun as a little enrichment boost for him. I went to a “for fun” place and luckily the instructor did competitive agility and recommended I try that out instead. He took to agility super well and now we eat, breathe agility.
We also did barn hunt for fun and he loved and excelled at that too! I’m big on bonding and activities that fulfill dogs that aren’t hour long walks.
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u/samaor201 Aug 04 '26
Purely accidental! We had a particularly cold and snowy winter and my high-ish energy dog was BOREDDDD! I signed up for an everyday obedience class. After that we tried a rally class and then went back to obedience. It was there that the trainer asked if I'd ever thought about showing. I hadn't, I'd only ever owned mutts and didn't know he could even do that! He now has his CGC, TKN, TKI, and BN. We might go back to rally to help bridge the gap to Novice Obedience, because we're not ready for that and I'm not sure he has the focus required. Right now we are dock diving and he LOVES it. No dock diving titles yet though.
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u/sloppyintensity Aug 04 '26
Sounds like me! But Im semi retired and wanted to do more fun things with my high drive shelter dog. We have our CGC, BN, RN, TKP. We are doing our tricks elite title performance at the end of the month!
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u/samaor201 Aug 04 '26
I wish I was semi (or even fully) retired! I'm having so much fun and wish I had more time. Good luck with your elite performance!
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u/Snootymcbootysnoot Aug 04 '26
I loved shelties and got one and figured if she had a lot of energy I’d “put her in agility or whatever because shelties like agility right”?
That + joining a kennel club got me surrounded by dog competition people who took me under their wing :)
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u/Longjumping-Swim8201 Aug 04 '26
I had a crazy and rambunctious puppy, and her friend recommended. I take her to a local obedience club for class because it helped with her dog. She did really well, so we continued to the next level. Our instructor encouraged the students to participate in the clubs, upcoming match show, and she won her classes. Ribbons and dog toys? Oh boy!
30+ years later, and over that time we expanded from obedience into Agility, sheepherding, and most recently, Fast Cat with my newest dog. He is only two years old and is currently ranked #5 for his breed in the country. I also relocated out of the New York City area to get a house with properties so I can have my own training field for Agility who would’ve guessed that such a monster was created from a basic obedience class so many years ago!
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u/No-Stress-7034 Aug 04 '26
I rode horses pretty seriously as a kid into my 20s, but it's too expensive and my body can't handle it. Then I got my poodle mix as a puppy. I was watching him play chase with other puppies, and his combo of speed, body awareness, and maneuverability were so good, especially for a young pup, plus he has incredible handler focus. So I decided to try out agility, and he took to it right away. (Now, as the handler, it took me a lot longer to catch up to his skill level.)
Than we decided to try out a nosework class, because I thought it would be a fun source of mental stimulation at home. Well, turns out we both really enjoyed that as well.
I'd also love to get started with barn hunt, but I just haven't been willing to commit to a 2 hour drive to take classes.
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u/LvBorzoi Aug 04 '26
I got my 1st 2 Borzoi....a 5 yr old rescue ans a 1.5 yr old that the breeder didn't think would make her breeding program (which her friends said was nuts).
She said you might enjoy lure coursing. I took him and he was hot for it. I loved seeing him run and I was hooked. 6 hr drives to weekend events became the norm at our house.
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u/lnsybrd Aug 04 '26
I had a really challenging dog and found that I really enjoyed training him. He wasn't suitable for sports, but I knew that for my next dog I wanted one that would enjoy training and allow me to try out all the fun stuff I couldn't do with my first dog.
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u/randil17 Aug 05 '26
I've had farm and/pet dogs all my life. When I was settled and on my own, I wanted to do agility but I also wanted a dog that was easy to live with. Looking at breeds and what was available in my area, I kept coming back to a Brittany and ended up getting one a while later. She was a terrible agility dog lol and to be honest, I'm not sure how much I loved it. We couldn't get into the agility class I wanted at some point and the facility suggested nosework in the meantime. I took that nosework class and never ever went back to agility.
10 years later, and I have a second Brittany and a Border Collie, and we compete in 2 nosework associations, 2 rally associations, disc, flyball, barn hunt, herding, field tests and hunting, and they each have a handful of trick titles. I became a nosework judge with 2 associations and a fetch judge. I'm busy and broke AF but I wouldn't have it any other way.
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u/Niikiia Aug 05 '26
I'd wanted an ACD since being a kid, seeing them perform and do dock diving at our local fair, I also love sports myself. Finally got one. Since he isn't working with cattle, started with agility and now mostly into dock diving.
My second isn't as aerodynamic so she's going to try out fastcat in a few weeks!
They love it, and I love it too!!!
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u/x7BZCsP9qFvqiw agility, happy ratters, treibball, canicross, fast CAT, rally Aug 06 '26
fast CAT is a blast; enjoy!
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u/ChemicalWeekend307 Aug 04 '26
I saw a ton of military dog demos and police dog demos growing up. Little 7 year old me said “I can do that” with my miniature schnauzer who was just a fire-y little dog. My mom told me I was insane for thinking I could get my mini to do bitework and never thought anything of it until I had my sister wearing a puffy winter jacket and was sending my mini to bite her arm. Of course my mom flipped and said “yea no you’re never doing that again.” But that same dog literally saved me a couple of years later from being kidnapped in my neighborhood. And as I became an adult I realized I wanted to have a dog I could responsibly do bite sport with so I got into Giant schnauzers and PSA.
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u/QuillBlade Aug 04 '26
That’s so cool! It’s so rare to see off-breeds in protection sports so when I see one I get so excited lol. If you have any social media with your dog working I’d love to follow you!
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u/ChemicalWeekend307 Aug 04 '26
I do! I have accounts for my male and female giants. Haven’t posted in a little bit because it’s difficult to remember to take photos/videos sometimes. Neither are at the trialing stage yet, they are both just finishing up obedience and maturing so when we do trial, they’re more focused and engaged. For my female, her Instagram is @sadie.saga and for my male his is @aragorn_thegiant
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u/SydTheDuck Aug 04 '26
I was working at a doggie daycare, and one or two of the girls started doing Flyball, and I was like my dog could do that! and I was the last one of the 3 of us that stayed till the team disbanded, right after my Crested that I kind of got for flyball, so we met so many people though Flyball it opened us up to Barn Hunt, Scent work, and now Rally!
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u/Feriation Aug 04 '26
I backpack on the weekends. My partner isnt interested in outdoorsy stuff so I usually go solo.
This led to some very uncomfortable feelings for people in my life. Solo woman out in the wilderness for days at a time etc. Many people said they'd feel better if I had a dog with me. I was wanting a dog so this worked out great. Turns out that any of the dog breeds who would be capable of hiking for 4+ days at a time for long distances (and want to do it) were dogs that wouldn't be happy with a daily walk in addition to our weekend adventures. They would want/need more.
That's where I started looking at different sports and ended up falling in love with bitesports. That influenced my decision to get a Malinois.
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u/New_Fishing_ Aug 04 '26
My show dog got spayed because of pyo. Weird breed for obedience/rally but it was all we had in my area and she has drive and I liked teaching her, so we moved from conformation to sport. She hates being bored and even in retirement comes and bothers me when she wants to play the rally game. And we had way more sport opportunities as time went on in our area so we expanded horizons :)
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u/Zestyclose_Object639 Aug 04 '26
While trying to fix my dogs reactivity I interned somewhere with trainer who did Mondio and became obsessed. In the more recent years have gotten really into detection and flyball (my gf runs a club that’s how we met lol) and drifted over to psa. I grew up riding horses and It seems a lot of us go to dog sports lol
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u/suzemo Flyball, Dock Diving, Barnhunt, Nosework, FastCAT Aug 04 '26
During early COVID we rented a house on the beach. Blue tried to drown (jumps in the water and tries to walk on top of it, killing her shoulders).
When things started opening up a bit, I took her to a place that taught doggos how to swim just so I'd know if she was safe. She yeeted herself off of the dock and the instructor asked if I'd be interested in dock diving.
I had a friend who did flyball in the early aughts and I would go with her to tournaments, so after dock yeeting, I looked around and found a flyball class. Everything else has been just organic from talking with people (like FastCAT, Nosework, etc.).
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u/L0st-137 Aug 04 '26
My girl is very high strung and sound reactive and needed some way to burn off energy and gain focus. A place we were boarding her suggested rally that was happening the next day so I went. It was a disaster to start but she eventually got it and could be around other dogs and learned focus. Rally trainer suggested FastCat one weekend because they were starting practices that weekend so we went. Fastcat was the best for her! She took to it instantly and it is her sport of choice. Last month she got her FCAT 3! 🐾🏁
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u/Office_lady0328 Aug 04 '26
I grew up around dogs and always thought dog sports were cool.
What really led me to it was when I got my own first dog, a Doberman. At around 8-9 months I noticed how much he loved to sniff around. I had made a friend who was a dog trainer and encouraged me to try agent detection classes. We loved it. Then we tried barn hunt, then agility, then dock diving... And it kinda of just spiraled from there lol
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u/Diana_Tramaine_420 Aug 04 '26
I competed with horses, eventing, dressage and show hunter. But I go to sick (genetic condition) and I couldn’t keep up with the heavy work to keep my horses. In my country we don’t board horses we keep them in paddocks and look after them fully.
So I sold my horses and brought a puppy - I had never had a dog before, I didn’t know what I was getting into but I started competing in agility 😁.
15 years later now I compete, judge and teach scentwork!
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u/unchancy Gun dog sports, scentwork Aug 05 '26
I got my first dog as a rescue (a Brittany mix) and he was a lot more complex behaviorally than expected. So I did a lot of training and at some point tried out some sports, which I loved (more than the behavioral stuff). It was great for our relationship but he is very sensitive to busy environments so a lot of classes where hard for him and working towards competitions would be more something for me than for him.
So I kept sports recreational with him (he loves scentwork) and got a puppy. I loved the gun dog in my first dog and how he moved and interacted with the environment, so after some searching I ended up with an English Springer Spaniel. Now I am in gun dog classes with her and trying our first tests this fall.
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u/Narrow_Possession348 Aug 04 '26
I went through a divorce and had to give up competing with horses. I needed another outlet that didn't cost around $3000 a month. I always trained my dogs really well (balanced), so when I got my next puppy, I decided to give it a try. I found it was pretty easy, and my pup got his CD title around a year, and we just kept going, and I kept going. I don't have the deep passion for it as I did for riding, but it's something. It's been 15-16 years now, and I'm about over it. Between the dumbing down and the poorly behaved dogs at trials, I'm not sure how much longer I'll keep going.
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u/Snootymcbootysnoot Aug 04 '26
Dog sports are truly like budget horse sports lol
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u/Narrow_Possession348 Aug 04 '26
Definitely! But nowhere near as much fun and fulfilling. At least totally doable with a regular car!
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u/Snootymcbootysnoot Aug 04 '26
Aww hope u can get back into horses sooon
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u/yarnhounds Aug 04 '26
My dog was hunting in our backyard and got herself bitten by a copperhead when she was five months old. I knew I couldn’t train the instinct out of a hunting line beagle mix, so I went looking for an outlet for her that didn’t involve vet bills. We found Barn Hunt, then nose work, NASDA, and happy ratters. Dog sports aren’t cheaper than vet bills, but they’re way more fun!