Dog sports are hugely popular and look great in a reel on TikTok or Instagram. Periodically a client will ask me, “Should I train my service dog prospect in agility (or another dog sport)?”
There is no one right answer. There are wonderful benefits to training for dog sports or competition with your service-dog-in-training (SDiT) and there are some potential pitfalls. I asked our clients to share their experiences and pictures in this post. Perhaps one of the most important takeaways is what order you start training in, and with whom you train. This article will help you determine whether and how to pursue sports with your service dog so that it enhances your service dog training.
Downsides of Dog Sports for Service Dog Owner-Trainers
The downside to adding dog sports to service dog training is that it does increase the amount of training you’re doing, sometimes considerably. Time and money will be divided between your two training pursuits.
If you are already overwhelmed with the amount of time, effort, and money you’re spending on dog training, adding a sport will probably increase your stress, which will also negatively affect your dog. If you are struggling to train everything on your service dog training “to do” list, speak with your service dog trainer about how to simplify and streamline so you are training smarter, not harder. Don’t feel pressured to add a sport right now. You can always add a sport in the future, when the time is right.
The biggest con is probably money. You’re training a service dog which requires specialist classes and then you’re doing these extra things which also require specialized classes and sometimes you have to choose between fun and work. Also energy for the same reason. Unlimited energy days you may have to pick one or the other.
A pro for me was trying all kinds of different things to see what Nova really liked. We have stuff we do for work and stuff we do for fun. So I wanted to give Nova something she could do just because she liked doing it. She liked agility OK, but she really enjoys tracking. –Ellen Pattee
Benefits to Dog Sports
On the other hand, for both the dog and the handler, dog sports can be fun, enriching, and deepen your relationship. Unlike service dog training, dog sport classes are low-stakes (if you don’t plan to compete), which can add joy and lightness to your training routine. This can support your training goals by reducing training-related stress.
When trained positively and safely, dog sports usually increase both partners’ confidence, which is invaluable.
Which Sport Is Best?
Which sport you take may also affect the balance. You want to pick a sport both you and your dog enjoy, which is offered in a convenient and accessible location, and which fits your dog’s interests and physical structure.
Additionally, some dog sports highlight skills that are extremely relevant to service dog training. Tricks classes are a popular choice because they’re offered almost everywhere and have little-to-no equipment requirements. Also, many tricks are actually service tasks or foundations for service tasks. Rally obedience can help you train positioning and heeling skills that are helpful in public access.
Important: Differentiating Context
In addition to possibly training different skills (e.g., spins, jumps, or other tricks) for the sport, you must spend time training your dog to differentiate when to behave differently. For example, in a dog sport, you may want your dog to heel very close to you, looking up at you the whole time, and eagerly springing into action at a moment’s notice. In public access, you want your dog to have a comfortable, relaxed gait, paying attention in a peripheral way, and laying down whenever nothing else is indicated. This means you’ll need to teach your dog these different types of walks, and their different verbal and hand signals, reinforcing both in those different contexts.
There is also a greater risk of injury in agility, parkour, freestyle, or some other dog sports than in service dog training. The risk of injury in Obedience, Rally, or Canine Nosework is low. Before you start the sport, tell your instructor that you’re taking the sport for fun and not for competition, ask about the chances of injury and how to reduce risks. For example, while your dog would take 20-inch jumps in competition, if you don’t plan to compete, you can request 12-inch jumps to reduce impact on your dog’s joints.
We take virtual Frisbee and movement puzzle courses and competitions. We’ve really enjoyed having something not tied to my well-being to focus on. The pros are that it prevents burn out, gives us something to look forward to, allows us to take a break from service dog stuff, and helps involve different muscles groups we don’t typically use in service work which makes her stronger.
The main con is, first and foremost, spending more money. Frisbee and movement classes are the “extras.” Elena’s body isn’t really “built” for Frisbee. We are adding some injury risk, but so far she has never been injured. –LS
Handler Orientation: When “Dog Sport People” Train their First Service Dog
While every dog has inborn tendencies of temperament and personality, because we are in a relationship with our dogs, our own propensities and habits also affect our dogs’ behavior. Perhaps you have a friend who is very high-energy and excitable whose dogs also tend to be high-energy and excitable, and another friend who is very low-key whose dogs always seem to be couch-potatoes? These tendencies can be exaggerated with dog sports. This is why it’s critical to also work with a service dog trainer if your focus has traditionally been sport.
It’s not unusual for dog training enthusiasts, including pro trainers, to decide to train their own service dog after being steeped in the world of dog sports. They may unknowingly bring both helpful and counterproductive training habits from dog sports into service dog training.
My Own Experience with Shifting Point of View
There is nothing wrong with having a training passion or point of view. In fact, it’s impossible to escape. I have been owner-training service dogs since 1998, so my trainer POV is very “service dog oriented.” A few years ago, I got a dog who loved running, jumping, and chasing more than anything else. I knew he would love agility, so we started taking classes. Agility class were So. Much. Fun! Combining a sport with my dog and training? Yes, please!
It was also humbling. I’m a professional trainer. I’m used to feeling like I know what I’m doing around dogs. But I was a beginner in this realm.
I loved agility. I learned so many valuable skills that I now bring to my service dog clients — how to better train around or with obstacles, what our arms, legs, and torso communicate to our dogs, additional tricks for maintaining focus on the move. I am not an athletic person, so my dog’s career was limited by my limitations — and because he got injured.
My year of agility classes also helped me to understand and help service dog clients who have a background in agility or other dog sports. When I started agility, I had to unlearn a lot of the ways I reflexively train because some aspects of training dogs for agility is the opposite of how we train dogs for public access. (Hint: Notice that the best part of Kismet’s run below is his start-line stay!) I was so focused on having my dog be calm, quiet, and controlled, it was strange for me to be in a class where those skills were not prioritized.
It also taught me why my clients with agility backgrounds tend to be great at some types of service dog training and struggle with others.
The 4 Foundation Skills for Public Access Training
For context, let’s look at the four central components for public access work:
- Attention on the handler
- A default “leave it” (ignore food on the ground, other dogs, people trying to get your attention or pet you, etc.)
- A long, relaxed down-stay
- A relaxed, sustainable loose leash walk
Handlers who come to me with a background in dog sports usually have a higher skill level in general in rewards-based training, along with more skills in motivating and maintaining connection with their dogs. They often have trained their dogs to have a remarkable ability to pay attention to them around high-level distractions. This puts them way ahead of typical owner-trainers when it comes to the first and second items on the list above — attention on the handler and the ability to ignore and work well around distractions.
Where agility folks almost always struggle is in training their dogs to relax and settle. I’ve had clients argue with me, pointing out that training for competition should mean the dog has a great settle because there is so much down-time between events. I agree that that makes sense. But my experience has been the opposite. Virtually every service dog I’ve worked with that was being trained by a dog sport trainer has initially struggled with a truly relaxed settle for public access. This includes clients who are professional agility instructors. The methods these handlers knew from their dog sports careers were not helping them when it came to this aspect of service dog training. Fortunately, with our support, they were eventually able to train a functional, long, relaxed down-stay for public access. But they could have avoided a lot of frustration, time, and expense if they had started with us sooner.
A sustained loose-leash walk is also often a challenge for competition veterans. In Obedience, Agility, or Freestyle, the dog needs to have precise, laser focus on the handler. A service dog, on the other hand, needs to conserve energy at the same time as it sticks close to its handler, unobtrusively making their way through their day. Again, it’s not impossible, but it’s usually a struggle because of how they started training.
It depends who your [agility] coach is. People like Megan Foster and Sarah Stremming hugely emphasize life skills (crate and settle anywhere, reliable loose leash walking, calm waiting ringside, accessing reinforcement, and modulating arousal before ever thinking about an agility behavior). Galaxy decided she did not want to be a public access service dog, but it was really easy to start training her in public because she already had really strong basic skills in a variety of environments and distraction levels from working with Megan Foster for agility. –AT
The Difference between Agility and Service Dog Training
The reason these skills tend to be a challenge for trainers with a sport background makes sense if you think about the different jobs of a canine athlete versus a service animal. An agility dog should move as fast as possible with a high degree of attention on their handler for a very short period. Agility is all about precision and immediate response to very specific cues while maintaining arousal — typically for less than a couple of minutes.
A service dog, on the other hand, is being trained to work all day, every day. A high degree of arousal is a problem for a service dog. The dog needs to be taught to disconnect from its handler and just zone out or nap for hours at a time.
Because precision requires a lot of mental (and physical) energy, training for unnecessary precision also burns out a service dog. While some degree of precision may be needed for specific skills, such as positioning for guide or forward-momentum pull tasks, in cases where precision is not needed, it is best to train for “good enough.”
There is where our video/internet culture might make some service dog owner-trainers feel compelled to join dog sports. Training for precision is really fun and looks snappy! A highly trained competition obedience, freestyle, or agility team look exciting. A well-trained service dog shuffling along with its handler at Costco is not going to draw a huge TikTok following. A dog prancing along with its eyes glued on its handler and then exploding with grace and running obstacles or performing complex dance moves is really exciting. It’s sexy. For a dog training nerd like me, it is sometimes so beautiful it brings tears to my eyes.
But what also moves me deeply (and some of my clients have seen me get choked up when they achieve this with their dogs) is the service dog team who can just amble along together down a grocery store aisle. The handler stops to look at something on a shelf, and the dog just slumps to the floor and sighs, seeming to ignore their handler and everything else. It doesn’t look sexy. But, it’s sustainable. Because, let’s face it, trying to be sexy all day, every day, is exhausting.
The photo of ribbons and him on the couch are one years worth of ribbons. He exhibited for three years and we had a good deal of fun. It was good for both of us, made for a very good team. I decided to stop exhibiting due to the politics and personalities that made it not fun at times. Our last run was in Buffalo, NY, in UKC Rally Obedience. We had a clean run for a first place. When we finished the run, I knew it was the most fun we had ever had in the ring and I dropped to my knees to snuggle by best friend. I did not really care about our score or placement since we had so much fun on that run. We could have been last place and I would not care. We were in perfect synch. I love Bento so much and am so proud of what he has accomplished. –James Johnson
What’s the Best Way to Combine Service Dog Training and Dog Sports?
If you’ve decided to add sport training to your service dog’s repertoire, the most important step for success is to also get coaching from a service dog trainer on the aspects of service dog training that are in opposition to the dog sport you’re pursuing. The best time to do this is early in your puppy’s life, before you have started in their sport.
You may decide to hold off on sport training until your service dog’s foundation skills have a solid start. That way, your dog’s default behaviors will be the ones needed for work, not the ones you use for fun and enrichment.
But even if you start with both sports and service dog foundations at the same time, if you work with a service dog trainer from the start, you can train your dog to context-specific cues: In the agility ring, keep moving, stay fired up. When wearing your service dog vest, chill out and mosey.
Different arenas require different skill sets. Nobody can know everything, and specialists can help you with crucial details that would evade a generalist (or a specialist in a different area. Just like you wouldn’t see the gynecologist for a broken arm, get Freestyle training advice from a Freestyle trainer and service dog coaching from a service dog trainer. The greater clarity you can provide your dog about how to behave in each context, the easier, faster, and more fun the training will be.
If you’ve already started training, that’s OK. Get in touch with a service dog trainer today. We can help you adjust training so your dog succeeds with public access and tasks.