Dog sports, number three

While doing activities with your dog. some of them require more human input than others.  With Dock Diving and Flyball, mentioned here and here, there's obviously the training aspect, but once competition is reached, release and recall seem to be the main responsibilities of the handler.

With many dog sports, serious or no, the dog and the handler are a team every step of the way.  The relationships that you can see on the field with these teams is a beautiful thing, and the dogs are obviously happy and eager to be working.

Dog sports, part dos

You know that look your dog will sometimes give you, the one that says "Gee, this is great! What are we going to do next?"  Or perhaps "We're gonna play, right?!"  Elka gives me that look if we've gone out back to potty, because inside the fence is where the high speed playtime takes place.

Sometimes, as she takes a couple of bounds after the gate closes, I say "Sorry, not right now" and we go to the back door.  Sometimes, though, I say "Sit", and she's barely able to, haunches aquiver, and I unclip her leash and go for the tennis balls.

We didn't always do the tennis ball things, though, much like how we didn't always do the walk thing (or at least not with anything that began to resemble regularity).  Who  knows what activities we might add?

Dog sports, first installment

Dog sports are not something that Elka and I are currently involved in.  However, every time I look them up to see what's out there, I'm amazed at the quantity and variety of activities available.

The Doberman is, in general, an athletic breed with a lot of intelligence and drive.  There are any number of things that can be done with them, though I hesitate to declare that they would excel at all dog sports, because I just don't know that.

Elka would certainly like the ones involving a ball.