25 Dog Sports to Get Your Dog Active

Interested in getting active with your dog? Here are 25 dog sports to try with them.

Overweight pets have become a serious health issue over the last few decades. In the United States, it’s estimated that 56 percent of dogs are overweight or obese. Along with a good diet and fewer scraps, being active can help combat this plight, which causes serious health issues and shortens your best friend’s lifespan.

A great way to not only get your dog active but also stimulate their mind is through dog sports. There are many dog sports, for canines of all sizes, breeds and ages. Sports are enjoyed by the dog, strengthen your bond through training, help them lose weight and can also help with behavioral issues stemming from boredom and lack of an outlet for their instincts.

So, are you interested in getting active with your dog? Get started with these 25 dog sports.

Agility

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Physical characteristics required to compete: Ability to jump, run

Most famous competition: World Agility Open Championships

Breeds that excel at it: Border collie, Shetland sheepdog, Jack Russell terrier

Bottom Line: Agility

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Agility is an extremely popular dog sport in which the handler directs a dog through a series of obstacles at high speed. If you’ve ever watched it, you can see the joy on the dogs’ faces — they love it!

The North American Dog Agility Council has information on how to get started in this fun sport.

Rally Obedience

AKC Rally National Championship / Facebook

Physical characteristics required to compete: Physical ability perform basic obedience

Most famous competition: AKC Rally National Championship

Breeds that excel at it: Border collie, Shetland sheepdog, golden retriever

Bottom Line: Rally Obedience

AKC Rally National Championship / Facebook

Because it has very few obstacles, rally obedience (or simply rally) is a fun sport that any dog can do. Handler and dog go through a series of stations, performing obedience maneuvers such as sits, downs, stays and heelwork, among others.

It’s something you can even do at home in your backyard with minimal equipment.

Obedience

AKC National Obedience Championship / Facebook

Physical characteristics required to compete: None

Most famous competition: AKC National Obedience Championship

Breeds that excel at it: Doberman pinscher, golden retriever, poodle

Bottom Line: Obedience

Hound Winner at AKC National Obedience Championship

AKC National Obedience Championship / Facebook

If you’re having fun with rally and want to take your dog to the next level, try competition obedience.

This sport requires more precision work away from your dog (including an out-of-sight stay) and is a great way to test your training while having fun.

Canine Freestyle

FCI – Dog Dance World Championship / Facebook

Physical characteristics required to compete: Some athleticism to do advanced tricks

Most famous competition: FCI International Dog Dancing Championships

Breeds that excel at it: Border collie, poodle, golden retriever

Bottom Line: Canine Freestyle

FCI – Dog Dance World Championship / Facebook

If you want to do a dog sport that lets your creativity shine, you’ve found it! Canine freestyle — sometimes called dog dancing — gives handlers certain tricks that need to be performed, and you get to create a routine set to music that includes these tricks.

Many competitions are held online, so you can even compete from the comfort of your backyard.

Barn Hunt

Barn Hunt Association, LLC / Facebook

Physical characteristics required to compete: Drive to follow scent

Most famous competition: Barn Hunt Association Grand National Champsionships

Breeds that excel at it: Terrier breeds, Doberman pinschers

Bottom Line: Barn Hunt

Barn Hunt Association, LLC / Facebook

Barn Hunt is a dog sport that allows your dog to use their national instincts. It’s great for any dog that loves to follow their nose while you’re out walking or in the backyard.

Learn more about getting started in Barn Hunt from the Barn Hunt Association website.

Lure Coursing

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Physical characteristics required to compete: Ability to run

Most famous competition: AKC National Lure Coursing Championship

Breeds that excel at it: Sighthound breeds

Bottom Line: Lure Coursing

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Does your dog love to chase? If so, you may want to try lure coursing to give them a positive outlet for their prey drive.

Sighthounds excel at this sport, in which dogs chase a plastic lure around a 600-yard course.

Nose Work

National Association of Canine Scent Work / Facebook

Physical characteristics required to compete: Detect scents

Most famous competition: National Association of Canine Scent Work National Invitationals

Breeds that excel at it: Hounds breeds, German shepherds

Bottom Line: Nose Work

National Association of Canine Scent Work / Facebook

K9 Nose Work is a sport that’s inspired by working detection dogs.

If your dog has a keen sense of smell, they may enjoy this sport in which dogs use their nose to seek out a hidden object.

Skijoring

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Physical characteristics required to compete: Strength, ability to pull

Most famous competition: Skijor USA National Skijoring Championship

Breeds that excel at it: Siberian huskies, malamutes

Bottom Line: Skijoring

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If you want a sport that gets you moving with your dog, try skijoring. Your dog(s) will pull you on skis, cross-country style!

The American Kennel Club requires dogs to be more than 35 pounds for safety reasons. Learn more on the Skijor USA website.

Herding

Soldier Hollow Classic / Facebook

Physical characteristics required to compete: Herding instinct

Most famous competition: Soldier Hollow Classic

Breeds that excel at it: Border collie, Australian shepherd

Bottom Line: Herding

Soldier Hollow Classic / Facebook

If your herding dog just won’t stop trying to herd the kids (or the cats), it’s time to get them on some livestock.

Herding is a fun sport in which the handler directs the dog to move livestock — sheep, cattle or ducks are the most common — through a course.

Treibball

Treibball Classes & Trainers (US) / Faceook

Physical characteristics required to compete: Chase drive, athleticism

Most famous competition: N/A

Breeds that excel at it: Herding breeds, labrador retrievers, papillons

Bottom Line: Treibball

Patti Frobose Anderson / Facebook

Sometimes called urban herding, Treibball is a fun sport in which your dog pushes eight, huge inflated balls into a goal. The event is timed, with a seven-minute limit, per American Kennel Club rules.

While herding breeds excel at this, any dog with a chase or prey drive will definitely love this sport.

Dock Diving

dockdogs / Facebook

Physical characteristics required to compete: Ability to swim

Most famous competition: DockDogs National Championships

Breeds that excel at it: Retrieving breeds, Belgian malinois

Bottom Line: Dock Diving

dockdogs / Facebook

Dogs that love to fetch and swim find dock diving to be the best sport ever. The handler throws a toy into a diving pool that the dog run and jumps in after.

Competitions either score on the distance of jump or height.

Disc Dog

Skyhoundz / Facebook

Physical characteristics required to compete: Athleticism, ability to catch flying disc

Most famous competition: Skyhoundz World Canine Disc Championships

Breeds that excel at it: Border collies, heelers, golden retrievers

Bottom Line: Disc Dog

Skyhoundz / Facebook

Some dogs just seem to be born to catch a disc. Jumping high, they catch them mid-air.

These dogs excel at disc dog, in which handler and dog compete against other disc-loving dogs in a variety of different competitions, including freestyle.

Flyball

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Physical characteristics required to compete: Ability to run, jump, catch a ball

Most famous competition: NAFA CanAm Classic

Breeds that excel at it: Border collie, Staffordshire bull terrier, Jack Russell terrier

Bottom Line: Flyball

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In Flyball, dogs race over a series of hurdles to a mechanism that, when hit with the dogs’ feet, launches a ball the dogs have to catch. The dogs must then go back over the same hurdles to give the ball to their handler.

The sport is a relay race, with four to a team.

Earthdog

American Kennel Club

Physical characteristics required to compete: Must be a terrier

Most famous competition: N/A

Breeds that excel at it: Terrier breeds

Bottom Line: Earthdog

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The AKC Earthdog competition is for terrier breeds. It’s a test that allows owners of any AKC-recognized terrier breed to test their dog’s natural ability to seek out a rat “underground” (in a tunnel).

There are four test levels in the competition.

Tracking

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Physical characteristics required to compete: Ability to track a scent

Most famous competition: FCI World Champtionship for Tracking Dogs

Breeds that excel at it: Scent hound breeds

Bottom Line: Tracking

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There are many types of tracking sports competitions for any dog with natural instincts to follow a scent to find an object.

Events depend on the organization running them, each with its own rules, but all are testing a dog’s ability to track a scent.

Farm Dog

Border collie dog herding a flock of sheep

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Physical characteristics required to compete: Ability to listen to cues for behaviors around livestock

Most famous competition: N/A

Breeds that excel at it: Border collies, Australian shepherds, Shetland sheepdogs

Bottom Line: Farm Dog

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If you are not ready to dive into herding but would like to test your dog as the perfect, all-around farm dog, the new AKC Farm Dog test may be just the sport for you. No herding is involved, and all livestock are penned to avoid dogs gaining access to them.

Instead, your dog is asked to do other daily farm dog tasks, like performing a stay on a straw bale, jumping over logs and walking over terrain, among others.

Retrieving Trials

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Physical characteristics required to compete: Ability to retrieve an object

Most famous competition: N/A

Breeds that excel at it: Retriever breeds

Bottom Line: Retrieving Trials

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As the name implies, retrieving trials are competitions that test a retriever’s ability. American Kennel Club retrieving trials are conducted in the field and at long distances.

According to the AKC: “Judges look at your dog’s natural abilities such as marking a fall, memory, intelligence, attention, style, courage and perseverance. They will also examine your dog’s proficiency in learned abilities like steadiness, control, response to direction and delivery of bird.”

Trick Dog

Do More With Your Dog! / Facebook

Physical characteristics required to compete: None

Most famous competition: N/A

Breeds that excel at it: Border collies, Jack Russell terriers, golden retrievers

Bottom Line: Trick Dog

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Trick dog sports are fun because you usually have a lot of freedom in what you teach your dog. If you like to make up fun, new tricks and your dog enjoys learning them, this is the sport for you.

The AKC does have Trick Dog Titles, but so do other associations, including Do More With Your Dog, which allows you to compete virtually.

Carting

WoofDriver – Urban Mushing / Facebook

Physical characteristics required to compete: Ability to pull

Most famous competition: N/A

Breeds that excel at it: Bernese mountain dog, rottweiler, Newfoundland

Bottom Line: Carting

Newfoundland Dog Fanciers of Alberta / Facebook

If you have a big breed dog that enjoys pulling on the leash, you may want to channel that energy with the sport of carting. Each club will have its own rules and regulations for cart titles and competitions.

“Carting with Your Dog” is a good book to give you more information on this fun sport.

Schutzhund

United Schutzhund Clubs of America / Facebook

Physical characteristics required to compete: Athleticism, impulse control

Most famous competition: United Schutzhund Clubs of America National Championship

Breeds that excel at it: German shepherds, Dobermans, Belgian malinois

Bottom Line: Schutzhund

Darren Yang / Wikimedia Commons

Schutzhund is a protection dog sport that tests a dog’s ability to track and protect while responding to their handler’s obedience cues.

To learn more about appropriate schutzhund training, visit the United Schutzhund Clubs of America website.

Protection Sport

Protection Sports Association / Facebook

Physical characteristics required to compete: Athleticism, impulse control

Most famous competition: Protection Sport Association Nationals

Breeds that excel at it: German shepherds, Dobermans, Belgian malinois

Bottom Line: Protection Sport

Protection Sports Association / Facebook

Protection sport is similar to schutzhund, except it does not have a tracking element.

According to the Protection Sport Association, “In each successive level, the dog-handler team is asked to negotiate obedience and protection routines that are increasingly complex.”

Bikejoring

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Physical characteristics required to compete: Strength, ability to pull

Most famous competition: N/A

Breeds that excel at it: Siberian huskies, malamutes

Bottom Line: Bikejoring

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If skijoring sounded fun, except for the cold part, then try bikejoring. It’s the same concept, with a dog doing harness pulling, but you are on a bike instead of skis.

Dogs that love to run and pull will find this fun sport thrilling. Just be sure to introduce your dog to it correctly to avoid injury to you both!

Dachshund Field Trials

Jonell Diuguid- Frantz / Facebook

Physical characteristics required to compete: Must be a Dachshund in good physical shape

Most famous competition: N/A

Breeds that excel at it: Dachshunds

Bottom Line: Dachshund Field Trials

Lorica Dachshunds / Facebook

As the name implies, the American Kennel Club’s Dachshund Field Trials test the natural instinct and obedience of the Dachshund.

Held in a fenced-in area, Dachshunds in a pack of two are judged on how well they track a scent — no animals are caught or harmed — while listening to their handler’s cues and their willingness to go underground or through a tunnel and more.

Canicross

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Physical characteristics required to compete: Ability to run long distances

Most famous competition: International Canicross Federation World Championships

Breeds that excel at it: Siberian huskies, labrador retrievers, vizsla

Bottom Line: Canicross

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Do you and your dog like to run together? Canicross, sometimes called caniXC or caniX, is a cross-country running competition you can compete in with your dog.

Fairly new to the U.S., the sport originated as a way to keep sled dogs in shape during the off season. It is growing in popularity and is recognized by some National Olympia Committees.

Conformation

Jack Grassa / Facebook

Physical characteristics required to compete: As close to breed standard as possible

Most famous competition: Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show

Breeds that excel at it: Any breed

Bottom Line: Conformation

Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show / Facebook

If you own a nice, well-bred registered, purebred dog and want to compete in something but are not very “sporty,” you may want to try conformation.

Conformation judges your dog against his breed standard for that association.