Dog sports are physical activities that involve dogs. These can be competitive or non-competitive. These activities can help keep the dog physically and mentally healthy. As these activities do not always require the skill and physical exertion of the dog handler, they may not be considered sports. Some the most popular dog sports are agility, disc dog, flyball, and freestyle.
List of Dog Sports
- Bikejoring — a single dog or a team of harnessed dogs pull along a rider on a bike.
- Canicross — a variant of cross country running in which runners have to complete the course accompanied by their dogs.
- Disc Dog — dog frisbee competitions of distance catching and choreographed freestyle catching. This is competed by a dog and his human partner. The goal is to catch the Frisbee.
- Dock Jumping — dogs jump from a dock into a body of water in an attempt to achieve the greatest distance or height.
- Dog Agility — dogs have to navigate through a course that has various types of obstacles under the direction of a handler. (not a sport)
- Dog Racing — greyhounds chase a lure around a track. (not a sport)
- Dog Sled Racing — teams of sled dogs pull a sled with a driver. Also called Dog Mushing.
- Flyball — a relay race between two teams of four dogs. Each dog must jump over four hurdles, retrieve a ball by triggering a flyball box pedal and then return over the hurdles to the starting line. (not a sport)
- Greyhound Hare Coursing — hares are chased by greyhounds using their sight rather than scent. (not a sport)
- Musical Canine Freestyle — a modern dog sport that is a mixture of obedience training, tricks, and dance that allows for creative interaction between dogs and their owners.
- Skijøring — being pulled either by a dog, a horse or a motor-operated vehicle while on skis.
Some other dog sports are: barn hunt, carting, competition obedience, conformation showing, dock jumping, dog hiking, dog scootering, eathdog trials, field trials, herding, hound trailing, lure coursing, rally obedience, protection. See our complete list of dog sports.
Related Pages
- See also the unusual sports of Dog Surfing and Dog Dancing
- There was a demonstration of a dog sport at the 1932 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid.
- More discussion about Dog Sports
- Complete list of sports