Dog Sports for Fun and Fitness
Dog sports are all the rage, close to home and across the country. Popular games like agility and canine disc are attracting larger audiences and more competitors to tournaments every year, and new sports keep appearing. This year, everyone's talking about Germany's Treiball, in which herding dogs practice their bred-in-the-bone work with colorful balls. Who knows what wonderful new sports are on the horizon?
Athletics are good for dogs - most of them, that is. If your canine companion is a senior citizen or suffers from chronic illness or injury, it's probably best to keep to the sidelines and simply enjoy the show. Healthy and spry dogs of all ages, sizes, and breeds, however, are good candidates for competition.
Dogs who excel at sports exhibit exceptional conditioning, concentration, teamwork with handlers, strength, and moment-to-moment focus on the goal. If you've never watched dog athletes in action, we highly recommend you get out to support your local canine sports clubs this summer. Watching fast and determined dogs achieve their goals is exciting and inspiring, and watching one tournament will hook you.
Here is a partial list of dog sports organizations in and around the Bay Area. To get started as a spectator or competitor, visit their websites for rules, contacts, and event schedules. Search Youtube for a particular sport to see top competitors strut their stuff. Soon your own little champ just might be among them.
Bay Area Diving Dogs
www.bayareadivingdogs.com
Bay Racers Flyball Club
www.bayracers.com/wordpress
The Bay Team (agility)
www.bayteam.org
Disc Dogs of the Golden Gate
www.discdogg.com
Haute Dawgs Agility Group
www.hautedawgs.org
Herding 4 Ewe
www.herding4ewe.com
Music plus Dogs (canine freestyle)
www.musicplusdogs.com
Pawdemonium Flyball Club
www.pawdemonium.com
Performance Dogs in Action
performancedogsinaction.com
Marin Running Riot Flyball Club
www.marinrunningriot.com
Splash Dogs (dock jumping)
www.splashdogs.com
Western Agility Group, Inc., Elk Grove
www.k9wag.com
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