Dog sports are fun activities for you and your dog, but with so many to choose from, it can feel daunting to get started. We demystify dog sports with trainer Ayoka Bubar, a Rally Obedience judge who has taught (and tried) many different sports. She shares the details and tells us how to match sports to dogs.

We talked about:

• Why Ayoka loves dog sports
• Why dog sports are good for dogs
• We get examples: rally o, tricks training, barn hunt, and carting
• Which kinds of dogs and people these sports are best for
• The best place to start if someone is interested in trying a dog sport
• The role of a dog's breed in choosing a dog sport
• Which dog sports are suitable for reactive and fearful dogs
• What Ayoka has learned from doing so many different dog sports
• The kind of community that is found amongst dog sports people
• And as always, we get a book recommendation

Ayoka chose Atomic Habits by James Clear as her book choice.

Ayoka Bubar is an approved judge for the Canadian Association of Rally Obedience and she never passes up an opportunity to try a new sport with her Rottweilers. She has trained or trialed in Flyball, Agility, Tracking, Trick Titling, Herding, Rally Obedience, Mondioring, IGP, and Scentwork, so she is the perfect person to tell us about dog sports. As well, Ayoka believes that dog training should be fun for dogs and their humans, which we love to hear. And she likes to use positive reinforcement techniques to help handlers communicate more effectively with their dogs.

Learn more and get details of classes at https://ayokabubar.com/

Ayoka on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ayoka.bubar

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theogrottendog/ 

Also mentioned in this episode:

Bark! The Science of Making Your Dog Happy by Zazie Todd. Available wherever books are sold. 

Tricks classes by Erica Beckwith of A Matter of Manners Dog Training https://www.amatterofmannersdogtraining.com/

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About the co-hosts:

Kristi Benson is an honours graduate of, and now on staff with, the prestigious Academy for Dog Trainers and has her PCBC-A from the Pet Professional Accreditation Board. She lives in beautiful northern British Columbia, where she helps dog guardians through online classes. She is also a northern anthropologist.

Kristi Benson's website Facebook

Zazie Todd, PhD, is the award-winning author of Bark! The Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful, or Reactive Dog, Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy and Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy. She is the creator of the popular blog, Companion Animal Psychology, and has a column at Psychology Today. She lives in Maple Ridge, BC, with her husband, a dog and a cat.

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