Who participates in dog sports and why? Interesting article!

[Annette47]

Who Participates in Dog-sporting Events and Why? | Psychology Today

[Labradorks]

Thanks for sharing! No big surprises, but it was sure fun to read.

[Tanya]

interesting! Would be curious on the difference between sports to - dock diving tends to be younger than the stats listed (also mostly held on summer weekends and requires significant less, or no, training). But I have gone to Rally-O and yes it's very true!

And man on man - if a guy wants to meet lots of dog-loving girls dog sports is teh way to go! unfortunately not super helpful for me as a single 30 something year old woman

[Annette47]

And man on man - if a guy wants to meet lots of dog-loving girls dog sports is teh way to go! unfortunately not super helpful for me as a single 30 something year old woman

LOL ... I’ve had that same thought about it being a good place for a man to meet a woman. I see the occasional guys at shows, but definitely WAY more women, and we don’t have any men who train with us regularly. One of the local Obedience judges pops in for drop-ins now and then, but he’s the only one.

One thing the article didn’t mention as a factor (in my opinion) skewing the age of the average exhibitor older is that as I know from experience, it is darn hard to find the time to do this stuff while you still have kids at home who are busy with their own activities. That’s the main reason that I only do one dog sport. Maybe once they are out of the house I can branch out a bit more. Only 6.5 years until I am an empty nester, LOL.

[Tanya]

most of the guys I meet tend to be in serious relationships too. Same with all my rescue work. Very few single men in the dog world

Agree about the kids, they sorta mentionned that families with kids would have a harder time finding money but time as well. Especially doign 12 a year! wow. I honestly can't imagine familes tryign to get out to many events, unless one of the parents were VERY keen before the kids came and made it worK (ALWAYS so shocking to see newborns/babies at flyball tournaments or at dock diving, but only the true passionate parents do this). They seem to come back once kids are teenagers and can be left home alone

I found flyball, dock diving and hunting to have more men, considerably more than say obedience or rally-o/anything "obedience-like". The one hunt traiing class I took years ago had possibly more men than women (i am going far back in my memory haha - it may have been even).

COST is a big issue. I try not to think about it but even just a weekend of dock diving at $35/heat plus getting there and back (and assuming no cost for hotel here). I hope to do 3 locals this year, maybe 1 I will travel to.

[TuMicks]

Interestingly, our (hunt test) training group is mostly female and (except for the pro) retired. But I would say that at hunt tests, there are more men than women. 30 years ago when I was doing Field Trials, I can tell you, some of the guys were sometimes a bit randy. But none of them were looking for a relationship!

[LabraGal]

Great article!, thanks! I think you all are right on about women and raising kids. There was no way I had time for a lot of training and trials when I was going to baseball and ScoutIng and everything else my kids did. Much less the $! Now that mine are grown, I have more time and money to spend on dog competitions and training. Hence the next 5 of 6 weekends doing dog stuff!

[Blue]

I can confirm that for me, the cost of trial entry fees is why I do not enter in more trials. I love to go, but financially, even as far as classes for sports go, we are limited to one class at a time per dog, and we only enter trials when we have extra money to do it. Other times we will go watch trials. We don't do more than one sport related organization that way we keep registration fees for various organizations to a minimum... but I am proud when we do earn titles. I often say if I worked enough to afford to do all of the things I would like to do with my dogs, I wouldn't have enough spare time to actually do those things! So we find a balance with being active and doing things for free on our own, then budget for taking weekly classes, and competing in trials here and there.

At times, I have also thought it's a shame, because my dog always does very well in competitions. I can't imagine how well he would do with someone who could really afford to go after titles... but then I think, he really has no idea what titles he has. He's happy to be working with me whether we're working at a park for nobody but ourselves, or whether we are in the ring at a trial in front of a judge. So, as far as I'm concerned, it's nice to know that we can get great scores, but it doesn't matter much whether we rack up titles or not. Either way we have fun, stay active, and enjoy each other's company!

[Labradorks]

And man on man - if a guy wants to meet lots of dog-loving girls dog sports is teh way to go! unfortunately not super helpful for me as a single 30 something year old woman

Right?!?! I'm hoping one of the ladies I take classes with will soon try to set me up with a grandson!

[Annette47]

Right?!?! I'm hoping one of the ladies I take classes with will soon try to set me up with a grandson!

Oh, I didn’t even think about that .... that could certainly happen if you let it be known you’re looking, LOL. Never occurred to me that the surplus of older women could be useful for their connections!