The Game is Afoot!
Inside the world of competitive dog sports.
Welcome back, readers, to the blog that celebrates the professional and private lives of working dogs of all disciplines. I’m so glad you’re here! In this week’s blog, I share part of a conversation I had with Lise Strum, dog trainer and owner of Agape Ranch Dog Sports in Southern California about all things dog sports. While dogs who compete in sports do not necessarily qualify as “working dogs,” they and their handlers often put so much effort, dedication, and time, as well as resources, to their chosen sport that I felt like it was worth including them in the scope of this project. In the first edition of the blog, I interviewed Kirsty and Allison about ring sports (as well as herding). In this conversation, Lise and I discuss dock diving, flyball, agility, frisbee, carting, and Schutzhund, but this list only scratches the surface of all the dog sports that exist. If you and your dog compete in sports together, or if you are interested in branching out into dog sports, this post is for you! Lise also talks about ways that she is able to give back to the community through her business and her dogs to organizations such as The Ddamien Project and Raising Hope Dogs. I hope you enjoy it!
Lise, welcome to the blog! Tell us a little bit about your history and your relationship with dogs.
It all started with Belgian Malinois, honestly. I was pretty bored with my graphic arts career. I really wanted a change. I decided to study dog training, which I did, and then I happened upon this kennel that had Belgian Malinois and the first experience I ever had with Belgian Malinois was a dog named Gator, who later became the father of one of my “children.” I drove up to this kennel and he was hanging out of a tree, tugging on this tug, and I was just fascinated by him. He was beautiful, this beautiful mahogany Belgian Malinois. And we ended up getting to know the breeder. We became friends with him and we ended up getting our first Belgian — well, and most of our Belgians since — from him. So that’s kind of how it all started.
Flyball was really the first sport that we got into. We got involved with a couple of great flyball teams locally…we traveled with them and we were never home. Just never home.
We have Agape Ranch Dog Sports here in Valley Center, California. It’s a six acre property with a large training field and an even larger competition field. We have a 50 foot dock diving pool and a 40 foot dock. And we are not just a rental facility for sports like agility or obedience or Schutzhund or whatever people want to rent the fields for — we’re also affiliated with North America Diving Dogs, and they are affiliated with the American Kennel Club. And they’re actually the only dock diving organization to be able to have [titles that you can register with a pedigree] if you have dog with a pedigree. However, dogs that don’t have pedigrees can also play, and they keep track of your scores and all that stuff. We compete all year, so we can participate in regionals or nationals. It’s a great organization. We have dock diving training, we have dock diving trials through North America Diving Dogs — we have five of their trials a year, and they’re pretty popular, actually. The events are pretty crazy, in a very, very good way.
So, you have the inside scoop on a lot of different dog sports.
I’ve tried a lot of things.
Tell us a little bit about each of the most popular dog sports.
Dock diving is one of the fastest growing dog sports in the nation. If your dog likes water, generally, your dog will like this. There’s a lot of different dog [breeds] doing it…working dogs, sporting dogs, non-sporting dogs, pet dogs — I’ve seen a variety of dogs do it and love it. The thing that’s really great about it is [that] there is a divisional format, which means that the dogs that jump between zero and ten feet aren’t competing against dogs that jump higher. Every division competes against their own, so that leaves the door open for dogs to do well within their ability. The farthest jump from a dog now I think is 36-something [feet], so the guys that jump between zero and ten feet, they wouldn’t have the opportunity to qualify for championships or win within that if it was just an open format, so I really like that.
For someone who’s never heard of dock diving, can you explain what it is?
I’ll explain the different ways to play. The first and most popular way is distance jumping. You take your dog up on the dock and you throw a toy and the dog runs down the dock, jumps after the toy, jumps into the water and they are judged by where the base of the tail goes into the water. In our organization they get a practice jump and two jumps that are judged. There are four opportunities per day during our event to play that way.
There is also something called air retrieve. A bumper is suspended four feet over the water…and it moves out by each foot. So, the dog has a chance to run down the dock, jump off the dock, grab the bumper off of the apparatus and the dog is judged by how far they can go and grab that bumper.
Can this be done in any body of water? Talk to us about where this happens.
It really can’t…I’ve seen distance jumping into ponds, but they have to string banners out over the water to measure. [It’s done] mostly in pools, and mostly above-ground pools, although I’ve seen some facilities that do have in-ground pools.
Agility. Agility is probably the second most popular. I don’t compete in that, so I don’t know as much about it. There [are] different organizations that put on agility trials that are just a little bit different. There are courses: jumpers’ courses, where it’s only jumps; I’ve seen courses where they have to go under these hoops; there are courses where there’s a variety of different pieces of equipment: teeter totter, A-frames, weaves…jumps that they have to go over.
Flyball is really popular as well. There are a series of four jumps first…there is a set of lights that indicate when the first dog is released. There’s two lines, there’s a set of lights, and so it’s kind of like drag racing for dogs. You have to learn how to anticipate the lights. And it’s a four-dog team. The first dog is anticipating the lights on each side, then the second dog, third dog and fourth dog, they’re looking at having a great pass over those first obstacles. So, it’s a timing challenge. We had a lot of fun; we did a lot of traveling.
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What is flyball?
It’s a race. Two teams face off, and then they just keep racing all day…actually three days, usually. It’s kind of like a relay race.
Is there a ball involved? Why is it called flyball?
At the end of the jumps, there is a box. In the box, there’s a hole or a couple holes, depending on the box and how it’s made. And there’s a tennis ball that’s in the hole. So, the dog runs down the jumps and they try to do what’s called a swimmer’s turn, where they land four feet on the box at one time and then the ball is released as they’re doing that, and then they turn and they run back down the jumps…with the ball. Best case scenario, with the ball.
Frisbee. We do that at our facility. There’s a lot of different ways to play frisbee. I call it frisbee…a lot of people will call it flying disc. The organization that’s at our place — we have a frisbee league — is K9 Toss and Fetch. You get 60 seconds to see how many catches your dog can get, and the course has lines on it, so there’s different scores. The dog scores better the farther that they go and catch. Also, if the dog catches and they’re in the air, they get a half a point extra…one thing about Toss and Fetch [is[ it’s going on on the same weekend all over the world. So, they’re playing in Brazil, they’re playing wherever, all these different places at once. And then, the guy that started it, he tabulates all the scores. So, we’re really playing against teams all over the world. So, that’s kind of a fun aspect.
Do you know anything about mushing or cart-pulling, as far as organized sports go?
I know a little bit about carting. I did it as a sport a couple of times with a little 42lb Malinois that I had. She was amazing, she would do anything. You had to load your dog up and harness them up, that was part of the test. They have to pull a certain amount of weight. They have to navigate obstacles. Her first time ever carting, she won both days against really seasoned carting dogs, which was so fun.
And then there are ring sports.
I know a lot more about Schuzthund than I know about ring, having competed in it. How Schutzhund differs from ring sports is [that] there are three phases. There’s obedience, tracking and the protection aspect, and the dog has to pass all of those things to get a passing score…there’s an elegance to a beautifully trained obedience dog in Schutzhund. The bar is very high these days. Training has come leaps and bounds from where it used to be. The level of training is just phenomenal. Within the obedience exercise, there’s a heeling portion, there’s out-of-motion exercises — you tell your dog to sit or down or stand while you’re walking or running, and the dog does it and you just run or walk away from them. Which can be so beautiful…or perilous, depending on where you are in your training with your dog. And then there [is] a retrieve portion, where the dog must retrieve on a flat, retrieve a dumbbell; then they retrieve it over a one-meter jump, and then a scaling wall. After that, you set the dog up for a send-away. You’re in heel and you tell your dog to go, and the dog must go until you say down, and then the dog must down and stay there until you get there and have them sit on the judge’s command. It can be just beautiful.
What draws you, and what do you think draws other people, to dedicate so much of your and their time and resources to these sports?
Well, I can certainly speak for myself that I love doing stuff with them. I love it. I have a great bunch of dogs, and they’re just so much fun. And I do like to compete, and I like to problem-solve, so it’s fun for me when something crops up. Let me see if I can fix that. Which is why the dock diving classes are a really good fit for my husband and I because we both like that. We both like helping dogs do their best. I think people have different motivations. Some people are just very competitive. I’ve seen people look at their dog more like a tool, like a means to an end. Our dogs are our family that we do things with. I live with them more than I compete with them, and I enjoy just the day-to-day of interacting with them. So, for us to be able to do things together is amazing. My main competition dogs — Mona, first, was my first Schutzhund dog, and boy, she was amazing. She was a rare individual that did things simply because, it seemed, because I would like it. Little extra things that you never see dogs really do. Like one time, my keys were on the floor and she picked them up and brought them to me and she went like this, like, “You dropped your keys on the floor.” Like she just made stuff up, stuff that I didn’t teach her. She was incredible. Veebee…is a difficult dog, but her joy Is jumping off of a dog and she was quite good at it. Driving the miles, staying in hotels, going to someplace new, meeting new people, competing, and it all came down the last day and we were all close in scores and who knew until that last event what would happen, and she pulled it off a lot of times. And so, all of that…it just makes for such a deep, meaningful relationship with these animals, to do that. To drive the miles and to work hard in between. Putting in the work, putting in the work with that dog, it makes for a relationship that’s amazing.
What do you think it is about dogs that makes the relationship we have with them worth all that?
I think that I get so much back…it’s reciprocal. It’s a reciprocal relationship. They enjoy my company, and I enjoy their company, and we have these things that they love to do and that I love to do, and then we do them together and it enriches both of us. A dog that has a fair amount of pack drive, they want to be with you and they want to do things with you, is fantastic. Because, again, it’s a relationship.
My theory is that relationships with other people are complicated. The more you become vulnerable to another person and invest in them, the more power they really have to hurt you. We all have the ability to hurt each other, and we do so all the time. But dogs, that relationship is pure. They’re not going to hurt you. They might make your life less convenient or they might make it a hassle, but there’s no bad intentions, and so can just give and give and pour into them, and they’re just going to give you love back.
And I don’t think there’s a mistake that “dog” is “God” spelled backwards. There’s just no mistake. Because I feel like they are the Father’s way of showing that kind of agape love that is just abiding and forgiving, and no strings, no expectations — I just love you. I just love you.
The sun comes up every day, and your dog loves you every day.
Every day.
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