I'll get you started on this one.

In view of all the bad press we dog lovers get - dogs locked in cages, not exercised, only brought out for shows - how may of us do any or all the above.

Ill get you started.  All my dogs are shown, do agility, obedience and walk for miles.  I think this is a happy state of affairs for my dogs.  Any takers. 

Not just after pedigree answers here, please everyone with a best friend join in.

Mine work, show, race and play! 
Dawn.

My boys attend approximately 15 shows a year...which they LOVE!My girls are not show dogs and stay at home to gurad the house LOL. Other than that they are thourghally spoilt brats ...ooops I meant pets who enjoy the normal doggy things!
Archer

My dogs do maybe 10 -15 shows a year, the two youngest that live with me go everywhere with me(the older ones prefer to chill out at home) They all love to race around the garden etc getting thoroughly messy digging holes, rolling in the mud & on the grass, chaaing the d*mn ducks off the garden ;). The youngest go to dog training but the two cavaliers use it as a chatting up of other dogs social night out

I'll be doing some obedience shows & possibly a few sheepdog trials with my puppy eventually :D but if not it doesn't matter he enjoys himself

I show and the dogs also do agility, obedience, flyball & work on shoots during the winter (whatever they enjoy most!!). I tried one at working trials as well and she was good, but being at uni, showing all round the country, competing locally in agility & obedience and working on shoots during the winter - I don't seem to have time!

My crossbreed dog goes to shows - companion shows. It's introduced me to showing and I now want to get stuck in more seriously with my next dog, but I'll continue going to compantion shows with Holly for as long as she enjoys it :)
We used to do agility and she loved it! We stopped a few years ago for a few reasons - mainly my load of schoolwork and her tendancy to ignore me halfway around the course ;)
We're starting competition obedience classes on monday I must be mad! She's nearly 9 years old now, and I'm wondering whether I've made the right decision. She wont enjoy it as much as agility but it'll be less stressful on her joints!

In addition to that of course we have our daily walks! About 2 hours free running in fields, and in the summer we go and find some public footpaths and get lost in the countryside :P
She also goes swimming in the river whenever I give in to her. She stands by our usual place on the riverbank staring at me with her tail wagging slowly until I throw something in :D

Well my dogs vary, because I have some oldies that can't do what the others do. But generally speaking, apart from walks etc, those that are shown are shown perhaps 20 times a year (plus exemptions in the summer which the non-show dogs will come to as well), I do the VERY occasional obedience show at breed limit and exemptions only so far (due to having a problem with getting certain stubborn individuals to see any point in retrieving, LOL), and I go to various training classes (ringcraft, pet obedience aimed towards the GC tests, and competitive obedience) 3 times a week and  try to give everyone a go so I vary who I take, except for the oldies that can't cope with it any longer.

Tara does both agility and obedience. Bramble used to do obedience and is currently having a rest from agility due to problems with his back legs, hopefully will be back when the weather is better. They get four walks a day (of varying lengths) in all weather, off lead. Two of the walks each day, they take their balls and have a long play with them. They also get play in the garden when the weather is fine. We have a stream within 100 yds of the house where they play if they want (like today :D :D ) and a river at the bottom of Beckingham Palace's garden, a 15 minute walk across the fields. Bramble is also an unofficial PAT dog, visiting hubby's 91 year old father every week :)

We don't do shows :) Tara won her class in the only companion show she entered - but I don't like the atmosphere at shows.

Daisy

but I don't like the atmosphere at shows.

You must be in the wrong breed. ;) In my breed each show is very much a social gathering, bit like a family reunion, and it's the best part about the day, as everyone is so friendly and so fun and helpful and supportive.  I was immediately drawn into the crowd when I started showing this breed, welcomed from day one -whereas in the breed I had showed for many years (on and off) earlier, virtually nobody would say anything to newcomers.

The only thing I find a bit hard at times is when you get to a show and people call to you "Hi Marianne!" or even come up to you and great my dogs by THEIR names -and I haven't a clue who THEY are, it's a bit embarassing, LOL!!! I'm terrible with names and faces.......... Usually take a sneaky look in the catalogue!!

Nothing to do with breeds - (I can't show my girl at other shows anyway as she is a mismark). I don't want to go into details as I'd probably offend those who do show :D :D I just don't like the whole show thing. We only did the show because it was a local one in aid of a local dog rescue and daughter wanted to do it :)

Daisy

i just do obedience dont breed show. Flynn is all obedience lines & id get kicked out the breed ring. that said hes a fabalous looking dog with the xfactor,so whaT if he dosent conform to the breed standard , he has a great will to learn & a fantastic attitude.

re walks im spoilt for choice i live at the seaside & on exmoor, so have beach/moor & woods to walk in, i also live RIGHT next to a park, perfect for a quick run

Hi, I am rather lazy so mine go for about 2 hour walks each day, and Veg out with me on the sofa or sit by me most anytime they can. :D  We go to about 20 shows a year (that includes championship, Open and Companion).

They go to training classes when they are pups, until I or they get bored with the basics, as I haven't the commitment to takw things further.

The girls will have two or three litters in their lifetimes, and get to help with puppy rearing if they wish about once a year or so.

They get bathed a couple of times a year, and go to bed in an outdoor kennel most nights, and come in and out the house at will when the weather permits the backdoor to be open.

They only get shut in a crate when I need a loo break at shows or to show another dog, or go for meals if staying away in a hotel.  They get shut in the kitchen If I have to go out without them so that they can't bark and annoy the neighbours.

Mine do showing , agility , flyball , obedeince , heel work to music, and all the ykc biathlons and triathlons. No couch potatoes here!!!! They all love their hobbies and get so excited when they know they are going to do something. They also know what they are going to do depending on what lead we take.

Three dogs here, oldest(Chloe) is a total spolit little madam who loves nothing more than a good 2 hour run in the wwods on a morning and spending the rest of the day in front of the fire or curled up on a settee somewhere!

Middle girl(Kayla) is occassioanlly shown and we have dabbled in a bit of agility which she loved so may start that up again. She also loves her long walks, playing fetch, she loves clicker and target training, get the target stick out and her expression changes completely, she loves it!

Youngest, boy is Idõ and he is a very busy boy too! He is shown a fair bit, we usually have an open show once a week/twice a month and our last ch sh was Mid Counties, as we don't always have breed classes we don't do every single one. I am also training him to be, eventually, a working gundog, we've been to working training days and I train him at least once a day, every day...he loves his 'work', and its pleasure to watch him doing what comes naturally. We've also just started obedience classes, ie Thursday! which he has taken to like a pro and I would love to take that further. He travels all over with me, he loves to go in the car coz he knows something fun is going to happen :D

I think its ok if all someone wants to do is walk with their dogs then lounge about with each other the lrest of the time, my parents have no interest in getting involved in anything like showing, although my dad does want to learn how to shoot so we can work Idõ together but apart from that they just love to go out for a good walk in the woods, over the moors..thats how they enjoy the dogs...all of the above is how I do!

Just edited to say, all of them are crate trained but we only keep a crate set up for a young dog that cannot be trusted yet! Chloe was bout 18 months, Kayla was 2 and a half years and Idõ just a year, we ut his crate away before Xmas as the tree had to go where it was and its not been up since, he's fine being left(with anything chewable out of reach!) in the kitchen, with or without the girls and more often than not sleeps IN my bed at night..not always though!

They are firstly our quite spoilt pets who also happen to show and we think they lead a pretty charmed life!

My dogs go to about 15 shows a year although the last couple of years have only done about 6 a year.  I do obedience, agility, water training, occasionally heelword to music with them :d  All of this is for fun and I don't care less if I get thrown out as I enjoy the socialisation and so do my dogs.  My 12 year old still loves diving out of the boat, diving and retrieving and looks as though she'll have a good few years in her yet.

They also enjoy going out to the park diving in the mud.  Making me look the dirtiest scruffiest thing alive and they also like to lie in front of the fire.  I actually can't remember the last time they were in a cage!

Mine do shows - breed, obedience and agility. They also swim daily and run for miles and run in harness.
They also eat and sleep a lot and  go training several times a week at club and daily at home - and eat and sleep some more.

I've never taken a dog into the show ring (with the exception of the embarassing day at the Village Fete when Bob and I won the "dog that most looks like it's owner" class ) and couldn't show Nips anyway because he's the "wrong" sort of JRT and not KC registered. But he's bright, lively and has the makings of a dog who really wants to do some work so I'm thinking of mini-agility when he's old enough and almost certainly terrier racing. Not very grand ambitions I'm afraid in comparison to the serious stuff some of you are doing though.

Hey Just taking on a pup is serious stuff.  Terrier racing sound fun.

Mine do breed showing, obedience classes and have just started at agility (ive attempted obedience classes at companion shows and they have gone drastically wrong :D :D ) .  They have two walks per day EVERY day without fail (ok some weekends they just get one extra long walk) weekdays we walk locally in the woods and fields (or round the streets if its very dark, or sometimes over the back field with flashing collars and torches :rolleyes: ) at weekends if we have a show they have a run when they get there and then we always stop off on the way home somewhere special and have a nice 1 - 2 hour walk, sometimes with a swim :)  when we dont have shows we go to the beach a lot or to a nearby forestry commision place which has lakes and huge long walks with no worries of livestock or pheasant shoots :)

I do have a cage and occasionally one dog is shut in, either to separate for dinner time or at the moment Alf has to be shut in to rest his poorly leg, not all the time but if he doesnt get shut in he doesnt stay still, otherwise the only other time I use cages are at open shows where there is no benching.  I did know a boxer breeder when I was younger who kept her dogs in cages ALL day, and they werent big cages either :( I dont see the point in having a dog myself if you are going to do that.

I've shown mine 5 times last year, hoping to do more this year :) Also went water rescue training but not much cos of algae problems in the lakes, again hoping to do more water training but with both dogs this year. We also go to ringcraft, occasionally, and obedience training. Socialising includes going into town and at the old peoples home down the road :) Not many doggy walks round this way so we  have to 'walk the streets' as it were :P when possible I will drive them to football with the kids and we walk while they play.
They have a nice big back garden to play in and spend most warm/cold/mild/wet/windy days mooching about in it as they love being outdoors. They have nice big vet beds each which take up all the floor space at night, when they're not taking up the sofas!

I think its ok if all someone wants to do is walk with their dogs then lounge about with each other the lrest of the time,

Ah but it depends on the breed. With mine you simply couldn't do this, they are too active to just be pets. They need some form of work or they'll go nuts.

Any one else out there

What do you do with your dogs.  Show, Agility, working, obedience, fly ball, pat dogs, Walking swimming having fun, come on there must be more.

When my husband was alive we used to show most weekends all over the country, but we also enjoyed long daily walks and obedience classes with our dogs.
Now i am on my own I have a JR and a crossbreed but we walk twice at least every day, I do obedience with one and next month when the other is a year old I will start agility too with him. We also do the odd companion dog show.
My dogs are and always have been my friends and companions.

Bev

Paddy is my first 'own' dog and before I had him I didn't realise the extent of the 'doggy world 'out there :)
I don't show or do anything else but he is walked at least four times a day no matter what the weather, plenty of offlead and swims 2/3 times a week in summer, we play a lot and do a bit of training most days.
We go to training classes when we can but due to transport problems and the training ground is too far to walk to it is not as often as I like (about every 2/3 weeks) .
However the lack of transport and a wish to try agility has finally spurred me on to learn to drive (I have my test in a couple of weeks!!) It's funny really how I managed to bring my kids up without driving but I get a dog and I NEED to drive :)

Hiya,

My hounds are worked (so LOTS of free running), biked every day, shown Nationally and Internationally and are very much loved family members!

Pam

mine likes a long walk then a trip to the pub to be admired!!!! I was impressed by how much everyone does, I feel a bit guilty now as we only do obedience class once a week, but then hes not a show dog. Going to the pub now.

I have two girls the nine year old doesn,t go to shows now just out for walks and playtime twice a day.
I would like to show my three year old more than I do but as I don,t drive  we make it to perhaps ten or fifteen shows a year thanks to very kind freinds giving us a lift.
both my girls love obedience and the younger one especially likes jumping in cow troughs full of water when out playing in the fields( usually the night before we go to one of our very rare shows) she,s never more happy than when she,s dirty and wet.
Both my girls have the run of the house and my other half for company when I,m at work but its still me they look for when its time for walks.

In my doggy family :
Louis is shown at Champ and sometimes open shows
Milor is shown at open and sometimes  champ shows - he also does obedience with Trevor
Lola used to be shown but has now retired and does obedience ( well her own interpretation of it ;))
Xena does Agility and is supersonic at it - I just can't keep up !
Lily used to be shown but is now retired ( nearly 10) and is a PAT dog she comes into work every Friday to provide therapy for the autistic kids I work with
Folly has now firmly retired from everything except for hugging the best spot by the radiator and grabbing all the titbits ( but she is nearly 13)
Max who is 5 months will be another show dog providing he makes the grade and if not then he'll join either Xena or Milor to heap further humiliation on me by doing agility/obedience in his own unique style :D :D :D

Belgians - dontcha just LOVE em !!!

Yvonne

Remy does agility (nowhere near competing yet tho), and Opi will as well when I can get her in a class.  They both get at least an hour on-leash walk a day - much more exercise once the recall's in place!!

I'm hoping to do flyball with Opi as well in the not-too-distant future, and dry-rigging with them both very soon - assuming I can get Remy to control his perpetual motion problem and actually *stop* when I tell him to!

Mine has been doing obedience. Now she is 10 months old she can begin training in flyball and hopefully will do agility at some point in the future.

Well, all my dogs do fun obedience/clicker/ hwtm classes for advanced dogs (each has their own class during the week) and all three do agility. Meg competes seriously (collie) but the other two only really do it for fun although i have entered them in nursery classes as uka shows. Meg also competes in flyball, but i'm hoping to try murphy at it soon. None of mine are show dogs (they aren't registered or even breed standard), but i occaisionally will enter a fun dog show, but i can't stand the rejection when they aren't chosen!! I am hoping to do some gundog work with ellie and murphy in the summer (if i have time), and i really should try some beginner obedience competitions with ellie as she does show promise, but that means putting some work in!! Apart from that they also enjoy long walks in the new forest. I think they would say that they had a good life!

I love showing although i do love obedience and i would like to be good at it, i think i'd quite like to explore agility aswell

Warm regards Susan

I've got 5 dogs aged from 2 - 13yrs. My youngsters do 10 -20 shows a year, they also do obedience once a week, all get walked nearly every day (distance depends on age) & have 3/4 acre for free running (usually free digging ). Also done some agility & would like to do more.

Working Trials, Schutzhund, breed showing, gundog working tests, agility, K9 multisports, PAT dog as well as long walks etc etc etc

My borzois go for two walks a day, around 45mins to an hour each of off lead running and playing. They go racing every week in the summer. My collies go out with the borzois and then also for a socialisation/training walk seperately every evening, they are both currently doing agility training. All 4 live in the house and sleep on the chairs and follow me around. When I did show my dogs they actually got more exercise.. they would also get an hour or two of roadwork every day.

I have two border collies.

The first one does Aglity and Flyball. Did some showing with her but she lost interest.
The second one I do show. Just started agility with him as he's now the right age.
In between they have good walks, then laze out with me on the sofa before retiring to bed and nicking most of the duvet.

Used to have a PAT but unfortunately she died last year.  Keep on saying that I will register Anton but I really don't have the time to do it, wish that there were more hours in the day.

IF i had a dog,  how sad am I on a dog board, no dog:rolleyes:

I would do agility, obediance and show if i knew what i was doing!

Tanya

there are some cracking mini schnauzers in obedience! ;)

Thanks Michelle

I am so sad, have a list of potential names!!!!!!!!!

My husband thinks i have gone mad.

Tanya

PS

Even sadder, have contacted local agility club last week, to see if I could get involved with helping. Explained that was thinking about getting a dog, but work commitments at moment causing constanation!....She has responded with a positive "yes", and has invited me along to help with class!

SO I could be the first person on these boards, doing dog agility....WITHOUT A DOG!

It is fantastic fun to watch, you will be grabbed by the atmosphere

I show 15-20 times a year. My dogs love travelling and staying in hotels. My two oldies have been used for tracking wounded game, the youngest one isn't really interested in that. They get at least one off lead walk at the beach every day, lasting about one hour, or more, depending on the weather. Once a week we take a longer walk in the woods. My dogs spend all their time with me, laying in sofas and in my bed at night. They have free access to the whole house at all times, if left alone they seem to spend that time sleeping in the furniture. I don't own a cage.

I show my Cavaliers and do pet obedience with them (Good Citizen). Did a Starters obedience at a companion show with the puppy once for a laugh and was 3rd out of 4! My Yankee has been shown but is always last. He's also tried agility, and does pet obedience like the others. And they all get proper walks practically every day, and good long hill walks and climbs when we are on holiday. I'd like them to sleep with us but my OH wouldn't let me - mind you, one's a fidget and one snores horribly! We only use crates in the house when the girl is in season, they're just for transport and at shows otherwise. :-)