There are plenty of fun activities that you can enjoy with a Barbet, they love training and games and spending time with their people. One activity which is very suited to this lovely breed is KC Rally Obedience. This is a relatively new (to the UK) competitive dog sport, however you don’t need to have a desire to compete to just enjoy training with your dog.

Rally involves you and your dog working together to go round course with numbered signs indicating different tasks to perform, such as sit, down then sit, sit and stay while the handler circles the dog. As the levels progress in the competition the exercises become more complex and include distance work and jumps. The course is set by the judge or trainer and you and your dog work together through the course. You are encouraged to talk to and praise your dog during the round.

There are Barbets training and competing successfully in rally obedience all over the World including in the UK, any dog can take part but if you want to compete it must be registered with the Kennel Club on either the Breed Register or the Activity Register.

There are clubs scattered around the country who hold classes in rally obedience and these can be found either via the KC website or www.rallynews.co.uk however there are also lots of informative videos on YouTube and much training can just be done at home in the garden or even inside the house as the individual exercises do not need a great deal of space. It is great fun and a good way to keep the minds busy of this intelligent breed.