Recently, my friend has bought a puppy of a Staffordshire bull terrier. It didn’t take long for her to find out, how much energy is hidden in this tiny bitch. And not even several hours long walks weren’t enough to tire her. And that’s precisely what led her to bull sports which focus on strength, endurance and determination – such a typical characteristic of bull breeds.
I questioned her for a bit, so that I could learn more about bull terrier sports, as they seemed incredibly interesting from her narration.
“Bulls” are very versatile and easily motivated and they are happy to engage in any activity. I first met with these breeds when I attended the last years’ II. Record Bull Meeting. It took place within the World Animal Day and its aim – among other things – was to overcome the previous record in the number of dogs. The record from 2014 was 330 dogs. Last year, 394 dog participants from the bull breeds were successfully registered and this way, the record in the database of the Museum of Records and Curiosities has been rewritten.
The whole event allegedly took place in a relaxed spirit, my friend got to know many owners of “little bulls”. This way, she also came to these sports and today, she can’t praise it enough. The dog vents out her energy, besides, in a way that is entertaining for her, and where she has the opportunity to really use all her assets. There are many disciplines of sports for bull terriers indeed. Usually, they focus on weight pulling, high jump or hang time (biting into a bait): just on those things in which the “bull” breeds excel. I am going to shortly introduce you at least to the following ones:
Wall Climbing
A vertical wall fitted with corrugated rubber is used, alongside a pulley to mount the bait on a rope onto. Dog has the task of running up the wall as high as they can and then stay hanging onto the bait for the determined period of time. The average jumps are up to 2 or 3 meters high.
Monkey Track
This is a 150-200 metres long track with 10 obstacles. Similar to agility, the goal of the dog handler is to lead the dog on a leash as fast as possible to the finish line, if possible then without any mistakes. However, contrary to agility, the obstacles are built more with the physical strength of the dog in mind.
High Jump
The bait is mounted on a rope onto a special construction with a pulley. The dog is supposed to jump as high as they can and then hold onto the bait for a determined amount of time – within several seconds. A regular high jump is around 1.5 to 2 metres. Mostly American pit bull terrier excels at this discipline.
Weight Pull Sprint
The dog has a load bound to the harness – a tire, with which they have to cover 50 metres on a flat surface as fast as possible. While the bitches run with the load of four kilograms, the dogs with loads of up to seven kg.
Weight Pulling
Here, in comparison to the weight pull sprint, it is not as much about speed, as it is about strength. The competition takes place on a special track and the dog in a special harness has to manage to pull a load as heavy as possible for the distance of 4 to 6 metres in a determined period of time. The best ones can pull up to a one hundredfold of their body weight!
With this list, I wanted to introduce you to a wide range of sports for bull terriers, but it definitely doesn’t end here :-). If you would be more interested, I recommend you to take a look, for example, at the website of Club of Staffordshire bull terriers.
Have you ever tried any of these disciplines? Which one is your pet’s favourite?
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