Looking for something fun to do with your Wheaten, but not sure where to start? There are a variety of dog sports that you can enjoy and compete in with your Wheaten. If you want to have some fun and give your dog some exercise, but not necessarily spend extensive time training, I suggest you try barn hunt, scent work or lure coursing. These three activities don’t require much training at the entry levels. Your dog will either love it or leave it. You will know immediately if your wheaten is a barn hunt enthusiast.
In barn hunt your dog is searching bales of straw for large live rats which are hidden inside opaque PVC tubes that have small breathing holes. Along with the tubes that contain the rats, tubes containing dirty rat liter and empty tubes are also hidden. Your dog is off leash and you simply follow your dog around and when they find a rat you call RAT and you pick up the tube and hand it to a rat wrangler who is also in the ring. Your dog also has to negotiate a tunnel made of straw bales and climb up onto a bale of straw. Barn hunt is a timed event and depending upon your level there can be from 1 to 8 rats and varying numbers of liter and empty tubes. The rules are very easy and the search area is always securely fenced so there is no worry that your dog will leave the ring. Barn Hunt is run by Barn Hunt Association and you can register your dog online and find trials and clinics listed on their events page. If you go directly to a trial register for instinct and novice the same day and you will be on your way. The website is barnhunt.com and you can register, read the rules, and find a clinic or trial in your area. Barn Hunt titles are recognized by the AKC and can be transferred for a small fee.
Scent work is another fun activity that takes minimal training and relies on your dog’s sense of smell. In scent work your dog hunts for scents such as birch, anise, clove. The scents are a drop of oil on a Q tip. There are five different search types at each level and the scent is hidden in different environments. The easiest is container where the scent is in a cardboard box. In interior room search the scent is taped out of sight on a piece of furniture such as a table leg. Exterior room search is done outside and usually includes some outdoor children toys or lawn equipment. Because of the wind can be more of a challenge. Buried is where the scent is hidden in one of 6 bins of sand and at higher levels under water. The fifth scent event is called handler discrimination where your dog is asked to find an article such as a glove that you have been wearing. Your glove and the Judge’s glove are hidden in boxes together with eight empty boxes and your dog must find your glove. Scent work is a team effort; your dog is doing the work but you are working with your dog to recognize when your dog is on the scent. When you think your dog has found the scent you say ALERT. There are varying time limits and numbers of scents hidden depending on the level. In the higher levels there are food distractions which are particularly difficult for my girl. It is hard to pass up a suitcase with a piece of liver inside! Scent work is done on a long leash, one dog at a time. At a trial you can take food in the ring and reward your dog for finding the scent. Scent work is an AKC performance event and AKC titles are earned. You can learn more at AKC.org and dogs must be AKC registered to participate in scent trials. Many dog training schools in Florida teach scent work. I found the Dog Training Club of St. Petersburg, the Obedience Training Club of Palm Beach County and K-9 Obedience Club of Jacksonville all have them. Again, this is an activity that your dog will either show great enthusiasm for it or won’t.
Lure coursing is a fun event that requires absolutely no training. AKC allows all breeds to get a coursing ability title but only sight hounds are allowed to compete at higher levels. In lure coursing a wire is staked to the ground with a motor that moves a white plastic bag at a high rate of speed. In FAST CAT the dog chases the lure in a straight line 100 yard dash. In Coursing Ability the dog chases the lure along a series of turns in a 600 yard course. The dog must chase the lure making the turns and following the movement of the lure. The only hard part of this event is at the end when the Judge tells you to collect your hound. When a wheaten has chased something 600 yards and finally catches it there is a bit of neck braking to be done! The cost of Fast Cat and Coursing Ability is the same. Being cheap I went for the Coursing Ability, 500 more yards for your money. Many conformation shows offer both Coursing Ability and Fast Cat allowing day of registration. Several also allow you to try a practice run to see if your dog is interested for just $5.00. If you want to earn an AKC title the runs are usually about $20.00 and you need three qualifying runs for a title. After you have a title you can still let your dog run for fun but Wheatens are not permitted to earn advanced titles.
If you want to spend some serious time training with your dog the more traditional performance and companion events are for you. These activities are far less reliant on the dog’s natural instinct and more on working as a team. No food or rewards are allowed in the ring making these events much more of a challenge.
Rally is a series of signs in a ring that you proceed through with your dog stopping at each sign to perform the exercise that is printed on the sign. The signs say things such as sit your dog and walk around your dog or back up three steps and call your dog. In rally you can talk to your dog, repeat commands and praise your dog throughout the course. The novice level is performed on a loose leash and higher levels are off leash with more difficult exercises like having the dog walk backwards. Obedience is similar to Rally but the handler is extremely limited in what they are permitted to say to the dog. For example your dog must sit every time you stop walking without being given a command. At the higher levels, dogs perform jumps and retrieve objects, find objects that contain your scent and sit, and stand and drop at a distance of about 30 feet in response to hand signals. Agility is also a great sport that develops your working relationship with your dog and takes a lot of training and team work. Obviously it is all off leash and requires your dog to climb, jump tunnel and ride a teeter totter. Rally, obedience and agility are taught at many dog training schools in Florida.
Spicy has tried all of these activities she loves barn hunt, scent work and lure coursing. It is heartwarming to watch her doing the things she was bred to do with such joy and enthusiasm. Spicy enjoys training obedience and agility for food but performing at trials with no treats has been a real challenge. We train everyday at home and try to get to classes two or three days a week. I think Wheatens like getting out and trying new things with their people. Providing enrichment is an important part of our obligation to our Wheatens and these are just a few ways we can make their lives happy.