A Dog’s Guide to Happiness
Part Four - Exercise
Many of us don’t think about communication when we think about ways to live a full life. But for dogs it is more valuable than you’d think. We humans are messy communicators, using tons of different words to mean the same thing, and sometimes saying the same word but in different ways with different meanings! It gets confusing when you’re just a dog trying to navigate the world. They can’t speak as we can after all, so understanding what is going on around them helps to make their world a safer and more enjoyable place.
Most people know that dogs need exercise and that you should take your dog on walks. But what most people don’t know is that leashed walks are not the only way to exercise their dog! There is a world of activities out there that you can enjoy alongside your dog! Not only are there sports (yes, sports for dogs!), but there are ways you can take a walk together that are more enriching and healthy for their bodies and yours.
Hiking, agility, fetch, flyball. There are so many things to do! Our favorite way to exercise our pups is through off leash wilderness hikes. But you can enjoy a similar sort of walk even if your pup isn’t reliable off leash by using a long line (a 10+ foot long leash) or sticking to fenced areas. The main purpose of these sorts of walks are to let the dog explore, use their bodies to scramble over logs, bound through grass, scramble up rocky hillsides, or race through wooded trails! They have the added benefit of getting to “just do dog things” which we’ll get to more in the next section. Allowing your dog to run and walk as they please gives them more exercise than a walk around the block, and keeps them fit and coordinated.
Whatever exercise you choose for your dog each week, remember to give them plenty of rest in between, and pick age-appropriate activities for your pups. Young dogs shouldn’t do too much high impact exercise like running , jumping, twisting, and pulling. Older dogs should do more joint-friendly exercises like swimming, tracking, or obedience.
Dog Sports and Activities For Every Pup and Their Person
Agility - A fast-paced obstacle course ran as a team with your dog. If your pup loves to learn, loves running, jumping, playing, or eating, this could be the sport for you and your pup! Agility is also great for building confidence and a sense of teamwork.
Tracking - A scent sport that takes your dog’s natural ability to recognize and follow scent trails and turns it into a competition! This is a great way to spend time outdoors with your dog, doing what they do best- sniffing!
Nosework - This scent sport mimics what professional detection K9s are trained to do to sniff out explosives, drugs, etc. Many dogs are naturals at nosework and this is another great confidence builder!
Search and Rescue - SAR isn’t a sport but it is something you can do to help save real lives if you have the desire and intensity to train SAR with your dog. SAR dogs use their keen senses to sniff out lost and missing persons. You can even get involved helping out other handlers and their dogs by volunteering to be a decoy “lost” person for training purposes.
IGP - This challenging 3-part sport was originally intended as a breed test for German Shepherds! Nowadays, anyone can train in the 3 areas necessary for IGP competitions, obedience, tracking, and protection. If you have a high energy, willing to work K9, this could be a fun and rewarding way to test the limits of your dog’s abilities!
Mondioring - An ultimate test of the k9 ability and bond is Mondio- a competition of control amongst distraction. It combines protection sports with obedience and agility to challenge each k9 handler team in a series of tough obstacles and tasks, all without using a leash or collar (only at the competition level, of course)! Talk about the ultimate dog sport!
Flyball - One of the few team-based dog sports out there, flyball is a super fast paced relay race great for dogs of any age or size! In fact, this is a sport where tiny dogs are valued on a team as much as their bigger, faster, counterparts. Each team has four sets of dogs and humans that line up and race relay-style down four jumps, grab a ball, and race back over the same four jumps to release the next dog. If you love the thrill of competition and enjoy being social with other dog folk, this is a great activity to try with your pup!
Herding - Dogs were bred to work with humans for hundreds of years! If you have a pup you think may have some natural herding instinct still intact from their ancestors (like a border collie, aussie, even corgi), herding is a complex yet interesting task that you can try out that lets the dog work their brains like nature intended. You can always start out by finding a herding clinic offering herding instinct tests near you to see if your pup has the desire and instinct to participate in this activity- there are even competitions for advanced herding dogs!
Earthdog - This sport was made for terriers and diggers like dachshunds to practice their natural instincts to hunt prey underground like rabbits and rats, just as their ancestors did on ranches and farms! The dog is sent down a tunnel system and rated on their ability to find and alert to hidden cages of rats. Don’t worry, no critters are harmed in the making of this event!
Barn Hunt/Happy Ratters - These venues are also made for those pups that just love to hunt and critter! Open to more breeds than just terriers, these rat hunting sports are great for dogs of all ages and sizes. The difference in the two is the atmosphere that the dogs are intended to “hunt” by using their nose in either bales of hay such as in a barn, or amongst piles of “trash” as though they were in a city! Again, the rats are protected in dog-proof containers, so no critters are harmed!
SUP with your pup - Stand up paddleboarding is a loved summer activity not just by us people, but by dogs, too! If you love water sports but don’t like to leave your pup home, consider trying SUP with your pup. It helps for your dog to learn to wear a life jacket and to learn the cue “stay” to be ready for this activity.
Canicross - Canicross is a popular sport and activity amongst those who love to run and be active! Formed as a way to enjoy cross-country running with your pup, competitions are open to seasoned athletes and newbies alike. This is a great way to stay fit with your pup and most dogs love to run with their people!
Bikejoring/Skijoring/Scootering - Similar to canicross, these sports involve a race alongside your pup, either by having them run ahead of you on bike, on skis, or on a scooter. Endurance breeds like German Shorthaired Pointers, Huskies, and Weimaraners excel in these sports!
Sled Racing - This activity is not just limited to huskies running the iditarod! Any dog can be a part of a sled team, and there are both winter and summer racing opportunities if you want to make a team and join in! Your dog should be relatively tolerant of other dogs to participate since this sport relies on having a team of dogs run together on the track.
Treibbball - If you want to entertain your herding dog but don’t have access to sheep, this is a great alternative! Dogs are trained to push large balls across an arena similar to herding a flock of sheep around obstacles. This is great for dogs of all ages and sizes- if they have a nose or shoulder, they can participate!
Dock Diving - Fetch fiends and water lovers alike excel in this sport! Dogs run down a 30 foot dock and leap as far and high as they can to catch a toy into a huge 30+’ pool! The crowds are wild, the dogs are hyped, and this event is filled with tons of energy and excitement! See if your dog can catch big air on the dock and try it out!
K9 Freestyle - Did you know that you can dance with your dog? Yup, you absolutely can! These competitions emphasize creativity and high level obedience. Dogs are trained to do a string of fun tricks and behaviors alongside their handler, set to music. It’s fun to train, and great for dogs of any breed. Check out videos online of the incredible performances put on by some talented k9-human teams!
Disc Dog - If your dog loves to fetch or catch frisbees, this is the sport for them! Disc has many different venues, games, and challenges, so it’s easy to find a competition that suits you and your pup. From Updog games like four corners, freestyle, and frizgility, to the far-flying competition of Toss and Fetch, there is so much you, your dog, and a disc can do!
Obedience - One of the first dog sports ever made, obedience tests the training and talent of you and your dog to complete a set of specific behaviors like sit, stay, come, and retrieve. If you like the nitty gritty of training dogs, or want to train your pup to be the best they can be, obedience is the venue for you.
Rally - This is another form of obedience competition but framed so that you and your dog have to complete an obstacle course of behaviors, noted by rally signs. This is a slightly “looser” and less strict form of obedience many people find to be challenging but a ton of fun! It is also an activity for any age, size, or breed of dog!
Weight Pull - This activity promotes excellent fitness and condition for dogs that want to demonstrate their immense strength and endurance! The dog is attached to a harness and trained to pull a cart loaded with weight across a short track. It is a modern adaptation of freighting, where working dogs were used to pull cargo. Heavy muscled dogs like pitties and staffies excel in this sport, but any breed can give it a try!
Coursing/FAST CAT - And activity originally intended for sighthounds and coursing hounds like greyhounds, Rhodesian ridgebacks, and whippets, this sport is now open to any breed and a favorite of many dogs. A “lure,” which is intended to look like a rabbit, is drug across a field using a system of pulleys and rope. The dogs get to race and chase the lure as fast as they can! Any coursing event is filled with screaming excited dogs who can’t wait to chase the “critter!” FAST CAT races the dog against a clock to test their speed. How cool to see exactly how fast your dog can run!
Conformation - Like a beauty pageant for dogs, conformation is a competition that judges a dog on how well they fit their breed standard. There are handling classes intended to help teach you and your dog how to show, which included standing for a judge, letting someone check their teeth and feet, trotting on leash in flashy fashion, and being in a ring with other dogs. This is an event that even gets broadcasted on national television!
Hiking - The activity that started it all for us here at A Dog’s Life, hiking with dogs is an enriching experience for us and our dogs alike. Enjoy nature together and hit the trails! Dog’s of any age and breed benefit from hikes in the great outdoors, and many dogs even see a reduction in behavior issues after getting some quality time outside exploring with their owners!
Field Trials - This is the breed test intended for hunting dogs like labradors, golden retrievers, setters, and spaniels! Dogs are judged on their instinct to trail, point, flush, or retrieve game. To get started in field trailing, find a local field trial club near you and train with other handlers and their gun and bird dogs.
