Choosing Activities That Match Your Dog’s Personality and Interests
- Avril Young
- Jul 23
- 5 min read
Understanding the Importance of Your Dog's Preferences in Hobby Selection
The Dream vs The Dog
We all have hopes for our dogs: maybe you imagine your pup weaving through agility poles, working a trail like a pro, or visiting care homes as a calm therapy dog. And why not? Dogs are brilliant, and there’s joy in dreaming. But sometimes, in chasing the outcome, we forget to meet the dog in front of us - as they are, right now.
What if, before preparing them for sport or service, we first focused on building a confident, secure dog who feels safe in their world?You can shape skills, but you can't re-programme personality. And nor should you want to.
Meeting Each Dog Where They Are - our dogs over the years
Like many dog lovers, we’ve had dreams for each of our dogs - sometimes they worked out, and sometimes our dogs gently told us otherwise. Here's a little about our dogs of the last 20 years (there were many amazing teachers prior to our ridgebacks but let's start back in 2007).
Loki was our first “show dog” and absolutely loved being in the ring - he lit up when the spotlight hit him. We had hoped he’d sire a litter, but sadly, through no fault of his own or ours, that wasn’t meant to be. He took to trick training with joy and became one of the first Ridgebacks in the UK to gain DMWYD Trick Titles.
Sifa, our next “show girl,” was cut from similar cloth - confident, elegant, and very much in her element strutting her stuff. As life and work evolved, she found a new outlet in casual agility (never competed) and, like her housemates, also earned her trick titles. She went on to have our first litter, and we couldn’t have been prouder of the amazing puppies she and her carefully chosen “boyfriend” produced.
Inca came into our lives with dreams of being Loki’s “girlfriend.” But she had other ideas. A sensitive soul, Inca wasn’t keen on puppies and found showing a bit of a stressor. So we pivoted. It turned out that Inca loved sniffing! She became the catalyst for our entire journey into tracking, scentwork, and mantrailing. Her confidence bloomed in these quieter, more cerebral activities. She too loved tricks and is also on the DMWYD register!
Mika, our first homebred Ridgeback, inherited a bit of both lines. While she showed beautifully and even joined her mum at agility, she wasn’t a fan of heights - jumps were her limit! Like her great-auntie Inca, she adores scent-based work and continues to enjoy mantrailing and scentwork into her vintage years at a reduced rate! Her most important job now is supporting and settling her housemates - the Greyhounds. And not to be outdone on the tricks front, she was the 4th ridgeback in the UK to hold her DMWYD trick Titles (after her mum, her uncle and great auntie).
Argento joined us in May 2024 - a retired racer with a nose for the trail! He took to mantrailing instantly and adores it. Scentwork doesn’t light him up quite the same way, and that’s okay - we’ve made it his secondary sport, not a forced job.
Izzy, another retired racer, arrived in May 2025 and is still settling in. A little more sedate than Argento, she’s dabbles in mantrailing but hasn’t shown a great interest in chasing human scent. In time, she’ll be gently introduced to scentwork, and if that’s not her thing either? No problem. We’ll keep playing and exploring until she finds her “bag.” And from what we’ve all seen so far, it might just be a future as a therapy dog - she’s already winning hearts everywhere she goes.
Each dog I’ve shared my life with has taught me the value of truly listening - not just to what I hoped they’d become, but to who they already are - and the importance of meeting them there, with curiosity, respect, and patience.
How to Ethically Prepare a Dog for Future Hobbies
So how do we begin to prepare our dogs for future activities in a way that respects who they are today? Here are five dog-centred approaches that can be applied to puppies or adults alike:
Develop emotional resilience through play and exploration: Confidence grows when dogs are given safe, supported exposure to novelty. Think varied textures, smells, sounds, and gentle challenges. Games like treat scatters, investigating novel objects in the home and on walks, or casual hide and seek games are perfect starting points.
Teach consent and autonomy: Whether the goal is agility, trailing, or therapy work, dogs must feel safe in their bodies and environments. Start with co-operative handling and use training approaches that offer real choice: teaching a chin target as an opt-in cue is a great start.
Focus, self-regulation, and working around distraction are built gradually. Teaching simple but meaningful skills like targeting, stationing, and disengagement gives your dog the tools they’ll later rely on in more complex tasks.
Work with - not against - their genetics and temperament: Breed tendencies give us clues, but your dog’s personal preferences matter most. A gundog who prefers scentwork or a sighthound who thrives on slow problem-solving is no less brilliant for it.
Check in with your ‘why’ - and let it evolve: We can choose the hobby, but we must stay tuned in to whether our dog enjoys it. Are they engaged? Growing in confidence? Able to rest afterwards? If yes - you’re on track. If not - it’s never too late to change your hobby.
Never stop asking, why am I doing this, and who am I doing it for? Me or the dog?
Final Thoughts: Let It Be Joyful, Not a Job
We may have a plan in mind when we bring our pup/dog home, but dogs - like people - grow into themselves in unexpected ways. If your dream was agility and your dog prefers tricks, or if you hoped for therapy work and your dog finds it too much, it doesn’t mean you’ve failed. It means you’ve listened. And that’s what really matters. We don’t know what we don’t know. But once we do? That’s when we can truly support our dogs to be who they are - and not who we hoped they’d be.
Want to Take the Next Step?
Whether your dog is a curious pup or a seasoned sniffer, my classes and 121s focus on growing calm, confident learners - with fun at the heart of everything we do.
Preparing for a new puppy? Download my free eBook to get off to the very best start: https://www.avrilyoungdogtraining.com/product-page/preparing-for-your-new-puppy
Looking for enrichment ideas to help build confidence and resilience in your puppy or rehomed dog? Download my free eBook to get some ideas
Or get in touch to book some 121 training (Puppy training, teenage training, general training for every day skills like loose lead walking, focus and connection, recall) or our specialist classes for scentwork, mantrailing, or trick training (email for info on our trick club)
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