What are other sports? - Page 1

Looking for an activity for my GSD other than SCH. Do you have any ideas?

Thank you

There are all kinds of activities for dogs. In the US there are AKC agility, rally, obedience, herding, tracking. There's also Search and Rescue if you are athletic, and therapy dog training and visiting. AKC has a new kind of obedience called wild card that I don't know much about but it is less strict than the old fashioned obedience. There are also ring sports like French and Belgian ring, mondio, etc that you would look for in DVGAmerica. These have some aspects of SchH, but are different than SchH. Lots of options.

sam1427 listed some excellent activities for a GSD!  As long as you have a BH, you can also do Tracking and Obedience as stand-alone titles if you don't want to do bitework.

I haven't done AKC obedience in a while, but from what I understand, Wild Card is a non-regular class.  You don't have to have a title to enter.  You do all the same exercises, except you can choose a "Wild Card" exercise and either do it or not...you'll still get the max points for that exercise no matter how well or not you do.  Verbal praise is okay in Wild Card!

This gives me the idea to do Wild Card Novice at our club's next trial...I didn't want to train the stand for exam out of sheer laziness.  Now I don't have to!

If I remember correctly, in AKC, the trial-hosting club can make up any non-regular class they want as long as they have a description in the premium and it's approved by AKC.   The club I belong to has offered Wild Card for years.

My local GSDCA club did an obedience and rally show last month and it included wild card obedience. The premium list was stuffed with classes. Naturally the entries in the show were mostly Goldens and Labs.  I like rally, but obedience seems too formal to me. I want my dog smiling up at me when we work, not just going through the motions.  Except for tracking - he's totally focused on the track then and that's a good thing.

There's many different sports.  Look at:

-  PSA (www.psak9.org)

-  Iron Dog International (www.irondog.biz)

-  Mondioring (www.usmondioring.org)

-  French Ring (www.ringsport.org)

These should keep you busy for years to come.

Oooh, ooh, ooh, Mr. Carter (Whoa, you're showing your age there, old girl)! If you can find a local herding group that is willing to take on a GSD, get involved. My experience, albeit limited, has been nothing but positive and I highly recommend it as an activity that can really showcase your ability as a handler and your dog's spiritual and physical potential.

How about carting? 

Kootenay...you aren't showing that much age LOL  ....it's Mr Kotter, not Carter!!  Great idea about a herding club though....