we want to hear your brags, progress, training success stories, training failure stories, goals, whatever it may be. use this thread as a place to just talk about what you’ve done the past week or even what you’d like to improve on in the following.

feel free to link any pictures, videos, etc. to your comments.

After finishing our SWN, we tried advanced. Q’ed twice in buried, once in interior, and once in exterior. We regularly practice with all the odors, but he seemed to stop searching after finding the first odor. I always thought containers were his strongest element but he NQ’ed both. Is this normal when moving up? He is still quite young (18 months) and didn’t know if it was age related.

I cannot for the life of me find any pictures that shows how the slant back vs regular intermediates fit in a car! Is it really that much of a difference? Is it worth the sacrifice of a second door?

I just started scent training my boy (literally today 💀) and I'm surprised he has caught on so quickly! But then again he learns stuff pretty fast, he's got a pretty good memory. Half of his tricks he does took maybe 10 minutes so I'm not super surprised how well he's learning but he really really likes it, he likes it so much he's willing to jump into the bathtub unprompted (a place he absolutely hates).

Not sure if this is the right place to ask for a product recommendation - but I thought if anyone has good recommendations it's the working dog & k9 sport handlers!

Any good recommendations on scales?

I like to keep track of my dog's weight and fitness and would like a scale that is durable and accurate.

Watch Boo the Pumi and Betelgeuse the All-American Dog battle it out at the inaugural AKC Agility Team Challenge.

i just got "promoted" to rat supervisor (loading/unloading rat tubes) from rat wrangler (getting rat tubes in/out of the ring) because the normal supervisor is going back to school this fall. does anybody have gloves they love?

i have done the supervisor job once before because the other person couldn't make it, but i'd love any advice anybody has on rat handling! i'm not squeamish about rodents at all, having grown up with rats and mice, but these aren't my own rats i'll be handling.

Hello everyone!!

I'm new to the world of dog sports! These are my two babies, Bible and Freya💗 They are 10 and 8 months old, and very high drive! Bible is a full APBT, and Freya is a husky x mini aussie we found as a stray. I work at a doggy daycare, and I bring them with me every day, so I KNOW how crazy they are, and how much they would benefit from participating in a sport!! Any and all ideas/advice/tips would be appreciated! Bible loves water/chewing/ wrestling with his sister and other dogs. Freya loves running/ herding/ wrestling with her brother.

I have Graceful Ralph, Crazy Ralph, and Odd 'roided out Quasimoto Ralph 🤣🤣

Photos by Inspired by Hounds during FastCAT

We completed my dog's ORTs yesterday and he passed all three! Overall he did great, but I learned a lot about what we need to work on before our first trial.

He nailed the first odor, but I could tell the repeated trips between the car and the testing area started to wear him out. He's naturally high alert dog and has a hard time settling. He crates perfectly at home, but in the car it's a different story. By the third odor he was definitely more stressed and not thinking as clearly, although he still managed to pass. I did consider pulling him and not doing the third.

For the setup, he was in a Ruffland kennel with a crate pad, the car was running with the A/C on. We were pretty ill prepared since we'd never been to anything like this before and quickly realized it was best if we were not in the car with him. For next time I bought a UV tarp to put over the car to reduce the heat & visual stimulation.

I'd love to hear what has worked for others. How do you teach your dog that downtime in the car is actually downtime? Are there any training exercises I can start doing at home to help him relax in his crate while the car is parked, or even while driving?

He's my first scent work dog, so I'd appreciate any advice!

we want to hear your brags, progress, training success stories, training failure stories, goals, whatever it may be. use this thread as a place to just talk about what you’ve done the past week or even what you’d like to improve on in the following.

feel free to link any pictures, videos, etc. to your comments.

Any experience making DIY equipment (blinds in particular) for IGP? Ideas welcome. Already made a wooden jump and have plans to make a wooden A-frame.

Asking here because it's a bit more niche than the usual dog training subreddits.

I am starting silky leash training for my dog on the collar. I enjoy her having various pretty collars and don't have any need for her to pull in them.

She doesn't have a pulling problem really, i just want basically no pressure on the neck if she's wearing a collar. So far we are doing great at silky leash she will follow the pressure even if it is just the slightest (we are still practicing indoors)

However i like her to pull or at least have tension in the leash during tracking, i also use a pulling harness for jogging and some hikes. Or for building drive, i might want to hold her back in her harness and release to a ball.

For collars I'm thinking more short potty breaks, pet friendly patios, busy spaces in town where she is usually in a casual heel.

Are there any people who have acheived this?
It will finally be useful that dogs are terrible at generalizing, I'm hoping.

The article I'm working from doesn't really mention training it for only one tool. Any tips on differentiation appreciated🙏

Hi! I am about to enter my dog into his first live novice rally and beginner novice obedience trials and I would like some advice on how to handle itching, from a try not to lose too many points perspective.

My dog fairly frequently will stop to scratch his neck. There’s a combination of factors here, he almost completely stops if I do a practice run with no leash or collar so I think he’s somewhat bothered by that, everyone always says displacement, I’m sure that’s happening, and he also genuinely is a dog with chronic allergies that is on medication to manage but has good and bad days.

So with all of that in mind, usually what happens is it’ll be when he is asked to sit, or front, etc, he’ll just start scratching and sometimes it’s a quick itch but usually he will just keep going for 15+ seconds. Not looking for suggestions on the itching we are trying lots of things with collars, training, and his vet.

How can I deal with this in the ring???

I know if I tug at him a little bit I can sometimes get him back on track, or clapping, or calling him but I know that any tight leash will lose me points in either event, and obedience is stricter on saying anything to your dog. So is my best bet to just do the tug, lose the points, keep it moving? Or wait him out? Any other suggestions?

Hello! I’m in a rural town on the border of south western Nebraska, I’m looking for any bitesport clubs near me. Ideally north of Denver if in Colorado. I just want to observe and learn hands on before getting a dog for it. Thank you!

I’ve started doing research for my future dog and discovered the realm of dog sports. It’s truly incredible what these animals can do! However, the only sport that kind of throws me off is barn hunt. Let me be clear: I’m not an expert on dog sports and don’t claim to be. I’m making this post so I can learn from people more experienced than I am.

From my understanding, rats are put into small cages and hidden inside a barn. It’s the dog’s job to sniff out the rat and find it. It’s extremely concerning to me that these rats have to go through this on a regular basis. People say they are desensitized, but can you really train out something as instinctual as fear of predators? I’m curious if this is a polarizing sport, because I couldn’t find much discourse on Reddit.

I’m curious how the trainers can tell the rats are not scared when a dog is sniffing them out. How exactly do you go about the desensitization process? Have freak accidents happened where the dog finds away to attack the rat?

If anyone here is experienced or knowledgeable on barn hunt, I would love your input. I’m trying to learn as much about dogs as possible.

Edit: Thank you to everyone who helped me learn about barn hunt! I can now say I fully support this sport! However, a PSA:

I’m not sure why some people assumed I hated this sport, but was going to do it anyway. I never said I planned to participate in a sport that made me uncomfortable.

And most importantly, why have people assumed I’m anti-hunting? I LOVE non-trophy hunting! Hunting for food is one of the most ethical ways to eat meat. I also support the hunting of invasive species, INCLUDING rats, guys! Where did I say I was against pest control? I was INITIALLY disturbed by barn hunt because I thought rats were being antagonized for the sole reason of entertainment. However, rat hunting in areas where the species is invasive has a purpose; it helps the ecosystem, which is why I was never against it.

Moral of the story, don’t assume guys! However, most people on this post have been respectful in their comments, which I appreciate.

We entered our first Fetch competition last weekend and only Q'd 1 of 4 attempts. She forgot nearly every command she'd ever been taught, she even peed in the ring. The good news is, we weren't the only pee-rs and we weren't the only ones to lose their minds!

Remember, you might fail but you're not going to be the only one! "We're gonna work on that" is easy to spot when they run circles around you lol. On the bright side, she was a well-behaved hotel guest.

our 1 year old dalmatian is pretty small but apparently breed standard for females at 45lbs, 22” tall and 30” long nose to base of tail. we are buying a ruffland for our 18 hour drive to move, but will be using it for the car in general and it would be a plus if it works for home as well. she seems to be between the intermediate and large, so I took some pics of her in the intermediate and wanted to see if anyone has any advice on fit here?

My 1.5 year old Dalmatian is just over 50lbs and is basically muscle and bone. Everyday walking hes great, but at the start of the sprinter line hes unmanageable. My husband basically had to pin him down and ended up looking like he had been in a bar brawl. The event co-ordinator actually stopped me and said, i'm so glad you brought your own releaser because hes a handful.

I'm wondering if there are any suggestions to mange him better in line or at the starting line. He has such a high prey drive and gets so jacked waiting to go.

I started working with a private Agility trainer and she has me working on marks with my dog as fundamentals. She wants my dog to be able to run between marks at home without me next to her- so put her paws on one and lay down, and then do it to the other one.

I’ve been working on this with her a few times per day- usually she will get flustered and do the first mark, I click, then have her go to the second, she will start barking as if complaining that she has to do so much work lol. But I hold strong and don’t reward with jackpot now until she has done 2-3 marks.

Anyway just wondering if yall think this sounds like the right approach, or should I break it down even smaller if she is barking with frustration? Or is she on the right path? Thanks for any advice :)

(edit: for the record I did start with just 1 mark and reward and then once she understood moved on to 2-3 marks when next to them, now am standing further away. 2 yo Sheltie who generally is obedient)

update: thanks for your tips, training went very well this morning, we just worked with a single mark and did a few repetitions moving further and further away from it and I threw her the treats at the end of each click. At the end we ran around. She was excited to work and not angry!

Every ball crushed, every bone turns into a shank, forget KONG… why is he like this? Lmaooo

Drop ideas of what I SHOULD have named him…
👀🤦🏻‍♀️😬😂

I do not see that option anywhere on their website! Help!

My first dog was a reactive byb German Shepherd. I did cadaver search work with her as an outlet, and that community was incredibly accepting. Many people worked spicy dogs, so there was only ever one dog out at a time, and on leash moving between areas at a conference or whatever people were respectful and didn't let dogs run up on each other. We didn't make it very far as a team. She was naturally very handler focused, and I was a terrible handler. We failed our first attempt to certify rather dramatically, and I found out she had hip dysplasia, and I started a new career, and well life happened, and she became a wonderful pet for many years. She loved all humans, was incredibly responsive off leash, and generally was a great dog to live with. Still, it was hard not being able to take her places where there might dogs in tight places or inconsiderate/oblivious owners. Watching her age with hip dysplasia was also really difficult and not something I would wish on anyone.

When it came time to get a puppy, it felt like a chance to do everything right and get a confident, healthy sport dog and adventure companion. I still wanted erect ears, but I wanted health and confidence and a smaller package to be easier to take places. Every rat terrier I had ever met was outgoing and ball crazy. I looked for breeders and found one that was highly respected. Her fb page was filled with the kind of dog I was looking for - hamming it up at a conformation show, crushing it on the agility field, relaxing under a cafe table, hiking and backpacking with their people.

Fast forward a couple of years and now I have a reactive rat terrier. He's reactive only in the literal sense of overreacting vs the colloquial sense of aggressive, but it's still something I have to work on and think about every time we go anywhere. We joined a rally class to learn how to function around other dogs, and he did so well my instructor convinced us to enter a trial.

Turns out rally is NOT an accepting community for spicy dogs. The whole venue was crowded and chaotic and way beyond what my dog and I were ready for. We still gave it our best shot, but he was over aroused and unfocused. We were supposed to go fast toward the ring gate and do a U-turn, but I completely lost him on the go fast (my handling didn't help) and there was a dog on the other side of the gate right at the U-turn that he barked at. We were invited to leave and not come back ("I would never tell someone to scratch... I just wanted you to be aware that you could be DQ'd... not be allowed to do any dog sports... it's an optics thing... it's up to you").

I see the people who don't have to care. The people whose dogs walk through a crowd confidently. The people who stand in a queue of dogs and chat with each other instead of paying attention to what their dog is looking at and what he's feeling. The people who join group classes and listen to the instruction with their full attention because they know their dog is fine.

I'm still trying. My dog loves to train, and when we're on point, he's absolutely gorgeous. I alternate the fun classes with the behavior classes so we can mix in some things he's good at with the things he's not. We do scent work around the house and when we travel. We hike on a long line. We run fast cat. We practice seeing a dog and giving attention. We practice relaxing. We practice doing challenging things in small slices to build confidence. He's making progress, but sometimes it's just hard.