Dog Sports for Everyone: Fun, Accessible Activities to Build a Better Bond with Your Dog

Hello, dog peeps. Jack here. Just a quick one before we get into this episode. You may or may not be aware that when I'm not talking dog stuff with Max, I in fact interview people who are incarcerated in prisons across the United States on a show called One Minute Remaining Stories from the Inmates. And that show has been nominated for an award in America. And I would love your support if you've got 60 seconds to click the link in the show notes of this episode and just vote for my show. That would be amazing if you could. Thank you very much indeed. Oh, and don't forget to verify your email address. Otherwise, the vote does not count. Thank you.

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It's the Dog People Podcast with your host Jack Lawrence. Secretly, I decided to start this podcast for some free dog training advice. You know, Malinois seem to be like the dog at the moment. Like, I think people see them on Instagram doing these incredible things. Yeah, go, oh my God, that's awesome. And then I get one like, oh my God, what the fuck have I done? And Max O'Neill.

You would not believe how many people I meet and I go, what made you want to get, say, an Aussie Shepherd? They go, I don't know. I go, had you met one before? They go, no. If you want to ask me how often I walk my own dog a week, it's only twice a week.

It's the Dog People Podcast, the podcast hopefully giving you a no-nonsense approach to dog training so you never have to shout, it's okay,

it's friendly. My name is Jack Lawrence and of course Max O'Neill, the Down Under Dog Trainer. Max, we're starting a little bit of a mini series here. So we're about to start on something I think people are going to really enjoy because it's taking it from— taking what we're talking about from sort of just your generic everyday obedience and loose leash walking and recalls and that sort of stuff to actually now looking to do something more fun with your dogs, like something you guys can do together and sort of help build that relationship as well as, you know, helping your dog with its own sort of mental stimulation and all that stuff.

Absolutely. So we're doing a little mini series on getting into dog sports. So we've got some really cool guests lined up over the next few weeks. We just finished recording them with some guests talking about dock diving. Next week, we've got some people coming on around like ANKC obedience. Week after, we've got like IGP rally agility, and we're just going to keep going until we've covered as many sports as we can. And the reason why we want to do this is because it is just so good for your dog. As we see so many dogs who are cooped up in an apartment all day or cooped up in a backyard and aren't getting, you know, ways to express those needs. And we've obviously talked a lot about that on the podcast. You guys know how passionate we are. But such a good way of giving them an outlet is in like a structured sport environment. And sports, the reason we're doing this is because from the outside looking in and chatting to clients, and I'm like, hey, why don't you guys try this? They go, oh no, like we're not dog sport people. Like that's, that's crazy. We don't, we don't have the time to do all the training for that. But what you're going to discover when you hear us talk about these over the next few weeks is just how accessible a lot of these sports are, like how easy they are to get into, how easy the training process can be. And it's not as big and bad as you think. And Again, when we talk about the outcomes, like at best it's a, you know, you know, really good expression of your dog's genetic impulses, but it can also be such a really key part in the behaviour modification puzzle. If we can give our dogs that environment and teach them to, you know, overcome stressful situations, really focus in, give an outlet for their behaviour and their need for conflict through a sporting environment, it's really cool. And as Jack said, we spend so much time focused on quite Boring stuff at times. Like, hey, stop pulling, stop counter surfing.

It's all no, no, no, don't do that. Don't do this. Exactly. What we want to do is like unleash your dog's full potential with something fun that you can do together. Because, you know, as you said, I mean, there are, you know, there are dogs in this world that unfortunately, although they have wonderful loving homes and that sort of stuff, they do find themselves cooped up on their own for a very long time. And, you know, the time that they do get out sometimes might be, you know, not that stimulating. Obviously we're trying to change that with, you know, educating as many people as possible about mental stimulation and that. And this is, it should be. And it's fun for people as well. Like, I mean, you know, it's generally something fun you can do with your dog. You know, it's like my wife is constantly telling me I need to get out of the house and I'm like, well, what am I going to do? And I'm like, I enjoyed training with Kira and there's only so much that we can go to the park and train the same things like heel and middle and, you know, bits and pieces. So now these things that we're going to be talking about that I'm really excited about, like the scent work, you know, the dock diving, which I don't think Kira will do, but we'll talk about that with the ladies from the dock diving class. The retrieval? Yeah. Retrieval stuff. I'm excited for that episode for you. There's so many different avenues that you can do that are just, just fun generally. Like if you're going to get a dog, at least have some fun.

You want it to be fun and that's it. I feel like half my job is I'm basically a relationship counselor between dogs and humans. And I always think like if you two were a couple sitting on the couch and you're just like, half the problem is you guys don't do anything fun together. They piss you off all week, you tell them off all week and you just sit there. Whereas doing that dog sport and working as a team is so good for your relationship. And if you ask someone who's like, really into your dog training or serious about your dog training, because maybe you're a professional listening to this, is I can tell you from the moment I got into dog sports, it massively leveled up my training game. Everything across the board got better. Because if you can teach your dog to listen and work with you and work as a team in that environment, all of a sudden all the other stuff like cafes and markets and stuff like that, it becomes a lot easier.

Oh yeah, totally. It's child's play once you've got, you know, you guys have been working together in something as intense as some of the sports you can get involved in. Obviously, as we said, we're going to focus on the ones that are the most easiest to get into and all the way through to the more serious stuff that you want to get involved in. It takes a little bit more effort. But you know, one of the most Googled questions when it comes to dogs, right? Found out this the other day is people, the highest Googled thing when it comes to people and their dogs is, how do I know if my dog loves me? Oh, that's cool. And a good way of, you know, getting your dog to love you, quote unquote, or, you know, build that relationship is by doing these things together and like doing, you know, getting through these games and these tasks and the dock diving. You're working as a team and building your relationship with your dog.

Yeah.

And then they will want to listen to you. You know, you go to the park and they won't ignore you when they're chasing after another dog or something like that. Exactly. Because you are that person. You are their person. You're the one that is the source of all their fun and enjoyment.

Well, now you're their teammate. You guys are on a team together competing in a sport. Like, that's huge. Like, you think about how close you get with teammates in sports you might have played before. And when we think about, you know, love and what your dog thinks about you, your dog really thinks about what you smell like and what your associations are, what you do with them. So for example, like one of Nelson's favorite people in the world is Casey from Big Show/Lone Star Animal Behavior, where we do our PSA. Nelson loves to go like, I love biting this guy, and I just love him so much. Like, as soon as bite work is over, Nelson just wants to be in this like cuddling. He goes, you're one of the people who partakes in my favorite thing.

Yeah.

And that's it. If you start to become that common denominator, you're like, hey, I'm the person that takes you here, I'm the person that does that with you. Like, your relationship just does such a huge, like, a 180 if it's in a negative place, but if it's already good, it just goes to great. So We could make this an hour-long episode going on about why you should really tune in and why it's so important to get into dog sports and have a crack at it at least. But yeah, I'm really excited for you guys to hear these episodes. I'm sure you'll hear the enthusiasm from us and our guests about, about these topics.

And of course, as always, if you've got any question in regards to any of the sports we're going to be talking about or anything at all, Dog People Podcast on Facebook, jump on there and we'll get them answered for you. The Dog People Podcast is a Mashed Pumpkin production hosted by Jack Lawrence and Max O'Neill. Edited, produced, and audio production by Jack Lawrence.

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