Dog sports are
sport
Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...
s in which
dogs participate.
Herding sports
![Border collie penning at Ballogie](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f5/Border_collie_penning_at_Ballogie.jpg)
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Herding
Herding is the act of bringing individual animals together into a group (herd), maintaining the group, and moving the group from place to place—or any combination of those. Herding can refer either to the process of animals forming herds in ...
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Sheepdog trial
A sheepdog trial (also herding event, stock dog trial or simply dog trial) — is a competition or test for working abilities of herding breeds dogs. It is a type of dog sport that emerged in the 1860s in New Zealand. By the 1870s regular trials ...
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Treibball
Obedience sports
![Heelwork](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Heelwork.jpg)
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Heelwork to music
Heelwork to music is a dog sport similar to musical canine freestyle.
United Kingdom
The sport is officially recognised by the Kennel Club. The sport has evolved since the early 1990s when obedience handler Mary Ray first demonstrated the spo ...
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Musical canine freestyle
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Obedience trial
An obedience trial is a dog sport in which a dog must perfectly execute a predefined set of tasks when directed to do so by his handler. According to the American Kennel Club (AKC) obedience regulations
The basic objective of obedience trial ...
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Rally obedience
Rally obedience (also known as Rally or Rally-O) is a dog sport based on obedience. It was originally devised by Charles L. "Bud" Kramer from the obedience practice of "doodling"—doing a variety of interesting warmup and freestyle exercises. T ...
Protection sports
![Finland FCI Sep 2010 (26)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Finland_FCI_Sep_2010_%2826%29.jpg)
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Schutzhund
Schutzhund (/'ʃʊtshʊnt/, German for "protection dog"), currently known competitively as IGP and previously as IPO, is a dog sport that tests a dog's tracking, obedience, and protection skills, and evaluates if a dog has the appropriate tr ...
(also known as IPO and IGP)
* See also:
List of protection sports
Pulling sports
![Start of a Bikejoring race](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Start_of_a_Bikejoring_race.jpg)
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Bikejoring
Mushing is a sport or transport method powered by dogs. It includes carting, pulka, dog scootering, sled dog racing, skijoring, freighting, and weight pulling. More specifically, it implies the use of one or more dogs to pull a sled, most com ...
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Canicross
Canicross is the sport of cross country running with dogs. Originating in Europe as off-season training for the mushing (sledding) community, it has become popular as a stand-alone sport all over Europe, especially in the UK. Canicross is closel ...
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Carting
Carting is a dog sport or activity in which a dog (usually a large breed) pulls a dogcart filled with supplies, such as farm goods, camping equipment, groceries or firewood, but sometimes pulling people. Carting as a sport is also known as dry ...
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Dog scootering
Mushing is a sport or transport method powered by dogs. It includes carting, pulka, dog scootering, sled dog racing, skijoring, freighting, and weight pulling. More specifically, it implies the use of one or more dogs to pull a sled, most common ...
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Mushing
Mushing is a sport or transport method powered by dogs. It includes carting, pulka, dog scootering, sled dog racing, skijoring, freighting, and weight pulling. More specifically, it implies the use of one or more dogs to pull a sled, most com ...
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Skijoring
Skijoring (pronounced ) (Skijouring in British English) is a winter sport in which a person on skis is pulled by a horse, a dog (or dogs), another animal, or a motor vehicle. The name is derived from the Norwegian word ''skikjøring'', meaning " ...
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Weight pulling
Weight pulling is a dog sport involving a dog pulling a cart or sled loaded with weight a short distance across dirt/gravel, grass, carpet, or snow. It is a modern adaptation of freighting, in which dogs were used as freight animals to move cargo ...
Racing sports
![Short haired dachshund in race](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/Short_haired_dachshund_in_race.jpg)
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Dachshund racing
Dachshund racing, or wiener dog racing, is a popular, yet controversial sporting event, primarily found in North America. Typical Dachshund races are either in length, and are run on various surfaces. Many race tracks across America host these ev ...
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Greyhound and Whippet racing
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Jack Russell Terrier
The Jack Russell Terrier is a small terrier that has its origins in fox hunting in England. It is principally white-bodied and smooth, rough or broken-coated and can be any colour.
Small tan and white terriers that technically belong to ot ...
racing
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Sighthound racing
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Sled dog racing
Sled dog racing (sometimes termed dog sled racing) is a winter dog sport most popular in the Arctic regions of the United States, Canada, Russia, Greenland and some European countries. It involves the timed competition of teams of sled dogs tha ...
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Terrier
Terrier (from Latin ''terra'', 'earth') is a type of dog originally bred to hunt vermin. A terrier is a dog of any one of many breeds or landraces of the terrier type, which are typically small, wiry, game, and fearless. Terrier breeds vary ...
racing
Tracking and hunting sports
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Barn hunt
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Coon hunting field trial
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Earthdog trial
An earthdog test or earthdog trial tests the working ability and instinct of the small, often short-legged terriers or Dachshunds. These dogs were bred to hunt vermin and other quarry which lived in underground dens. Earthdog den tests involve man ...
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Field trial
A field trial is a competitive event for gundogs. Field trials are conducted for pointing dogs and setters, retrievers and spaniels, with each assessing the different types various working traits. In the United States, field trials are also co ...
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Hare coursing
Hare coursing is the pursuit of hares with greyhounds and other sighthounds, which chase the hare by sight, not by scent.
In some countries, it is a legal, competitive activity in which dogs are tested on their ability to run, overtake and turn ...
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Hound trailing
Hound trailing, or hound racing, is a dog sport that uses specially bred hounds to race along an artificially laid scent trail over a cross country course.
Description
Hound trailing is a race between hounds along an artificially laid scent trai ...
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Lure coursing
Lure coursing is a sport for dogs that involves chasing a mechanically operated lure. Competition is typically limited to dogs of purebred sighthound breeds. The AKC has a pass/fail trial for all breeds called the Coursing Ability Test (CAT) a ...
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Nosework
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Tracking trial
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Trail hunting
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Shed Antler Hunting
Water sports
![Dock jumping Lab mid-air](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/Dock_jumping_Lab_mid-air.jpg)
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Dock jumping
Dock jumping also known as dock diving is a dog sport in which dogs compete in jumping for distance or height from a dock into a body of water.
There are dock jumping events in the United States and other countries such as United Kingdom,
Au ...
, also known as dock diving
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Dog surfing
Dog surfing is a type of surfing maneuver involving dogs that are trained to surf on surfboards, bodyboards, skimboards, windsurf boards or to bodysurf. Historically, surfing dogs have been documented as occurring as early as the 1920s in t ...
, sometimes also used to describe dogs
standup paddleboarding
Standup paddleboarding (SUP) is a water sport born from surfing with modern roots in Hawaii. Stand up paddleboarders stand on boards that are floating on the water, and use a paddle to propel themselves through the water. The sport was doc ...
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Water Rescue
Other sports
![Border Terrier Agility Jump](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/Border_Terrier_Agility_Jump.jpg)
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Agility
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Disc dog
Disc dog (commonly called Frisbee dog) is a dog sport. In disc dog competitions, dogs and their human flying disc throwers compete in events such as distance catching and somewhat choreographed freestyle catching. The sport celebrates the bond ...
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Flyball
Flyball is a dog sport in which teams of dogs race against each other from the start to the finish line, over a line of hurdles, to a box that releases a tennis ball to be caught when the dog presses the spring-loaded pad, then back to their ha ...
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Dog Puller
References
Further reading
* Sundance, K. (2010). ''101 Ways to Do More With Your Dog: Make Your Dog a Superdog with Sports, Games, Exercises, Tricks, Mental Challenges, Crafts, and Bonding.'' Beverly, MA: Quarry Books.
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