11/23/2024
So today I wanted to share a little bit about how I feel about competing in dog sports, and how they can be enriching but at the same time not for our dogs.
We talk a lot about how the sports are enriching, and they are designed to improve the dogs, quality of life, and they can be so amazing for them, and I believe this this is true. But what’s not talked about is how a lot of times we only train for these sports once a week, once a month, not very often. And while these training sessions, and these outings can be very enriching for our dogs when they happen, if they aren’t consistent, then it really can’t be considered a large part of their lives in my opinion.
The things that dogs find more enriching happen every day, taking them for a walk, taking them on a car ride, playing games in the house, doing training sessions with them at home. When we go on Daisy’s walks, which I do every day, she finds them to be more and rich as a whole than the sports that we compete, and maybe once a twice a month.
A good example of this is barn hunt. I only trial and barn hunt maybe once a month and we don’t train for it outside of that so it’s the only opportunity she gets to do it. The reason we do it is because hunting is very natural for her and very important so when we go on walks or we go on hikes, she gets to hunt in those scenarios as well and in my opinion it’s more important that she gets to hunt and most situations taking her to a monthly barn hunt trial. Again, if it’s something that we do every day, it’s gonna be far more enriching to her than a once a month activity.
I’m not sure if this makes any sense, am not being very good with my words this morning, but I just was thinking about it and I’m curious to see if anybody else agrees or can say it more eloquently in the comments lol
