While many people elect to get a dog purely as a companion, there are many ways in which you can increase your bond with your dog and spend quality time together. Dog Sports cover a vast set of regulated activities that tests your ability to work with your canine partner and to develop new skills between you. Most dogs thrive in a variety of sports as it gives them the ability to demonstrate their skills and complete the jobs that they have been distinctively bred for over many generations. When considering potential homes for our dogs, we always consider it a positive when a potential family is interested in or has goals to participate in a dog sport of their choosing. Many local training facilities have beginning handler courses that you and your dog can go. This provides many great opportunities for socialization and exercise; reducing potential boredom and destructiveness in your dog. If you are interested in participating in a dog sport, please reach out to discuss potential ways to get involved and connected to various resources. Here are a few different sports that Berners often participate in and often excel in. For more information visit the CKC website.

CKC Regulated Events

Obedience Trials

The purpose of obedience trials is to demonstrate the usefulness of the dog as a companion of man, not merely the dog’s ability to follow specified routines in the obedience ring. The basic objective of obedience trials is to produce dogs that have been trained to behave in the home, in public places and in the presence of other dogs, in a manner that reflects credit on the sport of obedience. Obedience is a sport and all participants should be guided by the principles of good sportsmanship both inside and outside the ring. All contestants in a class are required to perform the same exercises in substantially the same way so that the relative quality of the various performances may be compared and scored. Obedience trials were designed to test the dog’s suitability as a good companion. Basic tests include heeling (on and off lead), Sit, Stand, Stay and coming when called. At more advanced levels, dogs are asked to jump, retrieve, respond to signals, and identify and retrieve articles carrying their handlers’ scent.

Draft Dog Tests 

Originally developed to show off the traditional carting and weight-pulling skills of the heavier breeds such as Newfoundlands and Bernese Mountain Dogs, draft-dog competitions are now open to all breeds. The test begins with some basic obedience exercises, then the dog is harnessed and hitched to a cart or wagon, and taken by his handler through a series of manoeuvres designed to demonstrate his usefulness in hauling a wheeled vehicle safely and quietly over smooth terrain. The dog is also asked to pull a freight load over rougher terrain, which includes natural obstacles, and at the advanced level, backpacking exercises are added to the mix of required skills.

Tracking Tests

The awesome power of the dog’s sense of smell is almost beyond belief. Because we can never completely understand how canine scenting processes work, we don’t ‘teach’ dogs how to track – we provide some guidance, and a framework in which they are able to learn what is expected, and they go on to show us how incredible their noses really are. At a tracking test, the dog follows an unmarked track laid down some time before by a stranger. The dog must follow it to find one or more articles dropped along the way and at the end. He wears a harness, and is attached to his handler by a long line, but the handler is    pretty much just along for the ride. The dog is the one that knows where he’s going.

Herding Trials

Dogs have been used for centuries to gather and herd all kinds of livestock – the large number and variety of herding and droving breeds in existence today attest to the importance of their work. Herding tests and trials, open to all breeds, require dogs to move a group of animals (ducks, sheep or cattle are the livestock commonly used) through a designated course of gates and into a pen, guided by the commands of their handlers. The dogs must be forceful enough to gain the respect of the stock and maintain control, yet quiet enough not to panic or scatter the herd.

Scent Detection 

A fun event open to all dogs to enjoy the challenge of locating a scent and communicating with their handler that the scent has been located. The trial is done in a variety of environments allowing a dog to use their strongest natural sense. There are five classes, starting with the entry-level “instinct” class, and in ascending order the novice, open, excellent, and master classes. Each class tests the dog’s ability at a new, more challenging level, encouraging greater perseverance and focus on fine-tuning of olfactory senses. The scent source may be within a container - the only option for the instinct level - interior of a building, or exterior - the great outdoors! Dogs will be divided into height divisions within the classes based on the height indicated on the entry form. Titles are awarded upon the dog acquiring the required number of qualifying scores within the class entered.

Conformation

“Form follows function,” as the saying goes, and a written standard for each breed describes the appearance of a dog built to perform well at the job it was bred to do. Conformation Judges make their choices according to their understanding and interpretation of these standards. Dogs are assessed both standing and on the move, and compete first within their own breed. The breed winners go on to the group (breeds are loosely classified according to their purpose, gun dogs in one group, herding dogs in another, and so on), and at the end of the day the seven group winners vie for Best in Show honours. Best Puppy awards are also offered at breed, group and show level. 

Additional Opportunities

St. John’s Therapy Dog 

Learn more here.

Canine Good Neighbour (CGN)

Learn more here.