Dog sports

About dog sports

Dog sport is the biggest working discipline in Britain by numbers, and the most open: a crossbreed on the Royal Kennel Club (RKC) Activity Register can compete in agility, obedience, rally, flyball, heelwork to music, canicross and working trials alongside pedigrees. Breeders matter because sport dogs are bred for it, with pedigrees full of Agility Champions, Obedience Certificates and IGP titles. This hub explains the sports, the grading systems and what a buyer can verify.

What this discipline is

• Agility: timed courses of jumps, tunnels, weaves and contact equipment. RKC competitors progress through grades 1 to 7, moving up on wins, with championship classes at the top grades leading to the Agility Champion (Ag Ch) title.
• Competitive obedience: heelwork, retrieves, stays, scent discrimination and distance control, in classes from Introductory and Pre-Beginners through Beginners, Novice, Class A and Class B to Class C, where Obedience Certificates count towards the Obedience Champion (Ob Ch) title.
• Working trials: the oldest all-round test, in five stakes: Companion Dog (CD), Utility Dog (UD), Working Dog (WD), Tracking Dog (TD) and Patrol Dog (PD), each at open and championship level. Tracking, searching, control and agility (a scale, clear jump and long jump) run through the stakes, and PD adds patrol work. Two wins in TD or PD championship stakes make a Working Trials Champion (WT Ch).
• IGP (formerly Schutzhund, then IPO): tracking, obedience and protection in one trial. A dog first passes the BH temperament and traffic test, then IGP1, IGP2 and IGP3, needing at least 70 per cent in each phase. IGP is not run under RKC regulations; in Britain it is organised under FCI and WUSV rules by bodies such as the GSD League Working Dog Group (into which the British Schutzhund Association merged) and BAGSD.
• Rally, flyball, heelwork to music and canicross each have their own grading and clubs; flyball is organised through the British Flyball Association as well as RKC events.

Who trains or supplies these dogs in the UK

Handlers train their own dogs, in clubs and with private coaches. There is no market in finished sport dogs; a titled adult occasionally changes hands between competitors, but almost everyone starts with a puppy. Any dog can be entered on the RKC Activity Register, pedigree or not, which is why so many top agility dogs are crossbreeds bred deliberately for the sport. IGP, by contrast, is dominated by pedigree working-line shepherds because the breed organisations run it.

Breeds and lines

Agility: Border Collies, Working Sheepdogs, Shetland Sheepdogs, Cocker Spaniels, Papillons, Poodles and purpose-bred crosses such as collie x spaniel. Obedience: Border Collies and Working Sheepdogs above all, with Golden Retrievers and German Shepherds. Working trials: German Shepherds, Border Collies, Labradors, Rottweilers, Dobermanns and Malinois. IGP: German Shepherds, Belgian Shepherds (Malinois), Dobermanns and Rottweilers from working lines.

A sport pedigree is readable. Ag Ch, Ob Ch and WT Ch are RKC titles that can be checked; IGP titles are recorded by the trialling organisation. The traits sought are drive, focus, biddability and structural soundness, and the health baseline is the same as elsewhere: hip and elbow scores, eye tests and the breed DNA tests under the RKC Health Standard. In collies that includes tests for collie eye anomaly and trapped neutrophil syndrome; in Malinois and shepherds, hips and elbows are decisive for a jumping career.

What a buyer should ask a breeder

• Which sport do you compete in, at what level, and which titles do the parents hold?
• Can I see the parents train or compete?
• What are the health results for both parents, and are they on the RKC database?
• If the puppies are crossbreeds, what was the purpose of the cross, and are both parents health-tested?
• How do you raise the litter for confidence on equipment and surfaces?
• Are you licensed by your council if your breeding requires it?

Titles belong to the dog that earned them, not its puppies. A breeder selling “agility puppies” or “IGP puppies” is selling lines and potential, and should say so.

What breeders can list here

Breeders may list their breed or cross, the sports and titles in their lines, health results and the training support they offer. They may not describe puppies as trained, titled or certified sport dogs, and Canine Breeder does not supply or vet sport dogs. This site is independent of the RKC, the GSD League, BAGSD, the British Flyball Association and every club.

If you breed the collies, spaniels, shepherds or purpose-bred crosses that win in agility, obedience, working trials or IGP, list your kennel in this discipline.