Welcome to the Yappy Hour, powered by Yappily the podcast for dog lovers who want to better understand and connect with their four-legged friends. I'm your host Nathan Dunlevy, and today we are diving into one of the most excitable and accessible dog sports out there. Hoopers. My guest is Carrie Ann Selwyn, the founder of Canine Hoopers World, a platform dedicated to making hoopers a fun and inclusive activity for dogs and their humans. In this episode, we explore why hoopers is the perfect sport for all breeds. Ages and abilities, how it strengthens the bond between dogs and their guardian guardians, and how you can get started even in your own backyard. Whether you've got a high energy pup, a senior dog, or just want to try something new. This episode is packed with inspiration and practical advice. So grab a cup of tea, settle in, and let's get started.

Welcome back to the Yappy Hour, powered by Yappily. I'm your host, Nathan Dunleavy, and I'm so excited to bring you another episode today. Even more exciting that we've got the Queen of Sparkle herself, Carrie Anne Salwyn, from Canine Hoopers World. I'm so excited to have Carrie on today it's going to be such a fun episode. So Carrie Anne, welcome to the Appy Hour. As I've said, I'm so excited to chat with you today. How are you doing?

am super. I'm really good today. Thank you very much. How are you? I

Wow, I've had a few tech gremlins today and me and tech. Do not go well. Give me people in dogs any day, but give me tech. I was recording with Dr. Conor Brady this morning and it was all going a bit Pete Tong. But we've man, I've been on with Rosie Robinson the last hour and a half from Yappily trying to get this sorted. So, so far, so good.

mean, I feel like you've invited a chaos goblin onto your podcast. So this is possibly why everything's going a little bit wrong. Harry's

Right. We'll see how we get on anyway. So Carrie, is it Carrie Anne? Carrie, what do you prefer?

fine.

Carrie, right.

but we'll just go with Harry.

Carrie, for those who might not be familiar with Hoopers, I dunno how, can you give us a quick overview of what it is and how it differs from other dog sports? Like agility?

So Hoopers is a It's a sport but it's an activity. The reason I love Hoopers is that all the dogs can get involved. So it is a series of obstacles and the dogs navigate a course and I bet people are thinking this sounds like agility. The difference with Hoopers, they're are no jumps. no kind of leaving the floor type obstacles. Everything is either they run through it, they run past it, or they run onto it. So from that point of view, it's lower impact. If you watch Viper, Viper makes it look very exciting and fast, but the dogs don't have to go fast to do it. Vee's been doing, so Viper is my Malinois

I was about to say that. Yeah. Viper.

she has

Wow.

introduced to the hoops and the kind of equipment we use since she was about eight, nine weeks old, just as stuff. my old dog, who's now 13, with one eye and a bit of arthritis and not many teeth left, also still plays a bit as well. So I have kind of the two extremes of dog in, size, and energy levels. The SAS level is identical in both of them. But the thing I love with Heepers is just all the dogs can do it and you don't need loads and loads of room to practice bits at home. You can practice bits in your living room. So

Yeah. Absolutely love that. So we'll be learning a little bit more about that as we go through this episode. So Carrie, what inspired you to create Canine Hoopers World and bring this sport, this activity to more dog guardians?

So for me, I Discovered this sport back in like 2017, I think it was that I first kind of went, Oh, what's this thing?

Yeah.

It looked cool. And then I did a few instructor courses and I found that they were quite tailored to people that were already doing agility. And coming from the pet dog world,

Yeah.

I didn't have an agility background. So I wanted to create a course dog trainers so they could teach it to their clients. Feeling like they had to be a sport dog handler, you know, I

Yeah.

be more accessible. And the best way to make Saint more accessible is to teach trainers how to teach their clients. Because rather than me teaching 15, 20 people a week, if I can teach. instructors then they can teach 20 people a week and actually now we've got over 600 instructors

That's amazing. That's

loads of

amazing.

access to hoopers.

Yeah, I absolutely love that. I love that it's so worldwide. So we're going to be moving on to our next section then. So, which is all about why Hoopers, the benefits for dogs and their guardians. One of the things I love about Hoopers is that it's so accessible. We've mentioned that already. So just touching on the accessibility side of things. Why do you think? It's such an inclusive sport compared to other activities.

I feel like not only about the dogs kind of thing, but also thinking about the handler side of it, because Hoopers, you can distance handle, which is kind of the big goal with Hoopers, or you can run with the dogs. So if you have little younglings come to class that want to run around with the dogs, that's cool. If you've got adults that care to run, they can also do that. I mean, I don't care for running,

The same. I

And I love the fact that if you've got handlers. are maybe wheelchair users or to use a walking aid of some description. They can still be handling Hoopers without worrying about having to keep up with the dog.

love that.

have fun with their dog. Also, we've had some dogs that are actually assistance dogs for wheelchair users that kind of use Hoopers as a bit of an outlet for them to do things as a team. without them being close to the chair and working closely with the handler. It gets them to kind of work away and maybe tap into some of the genetic things that we've bred the gun

Yeah.

herders to do for years and years,

Yeah.

know, because we have a lot of retrievers and Labradors that are assistance dogs. And actually. They're working close to their handlers a lot, whereas when we look at what they were originally bred for, they're designed to kind of work away. So Hooper's is quite a nice bridge between that genetic need and what the handler is physically capable of as well.

Yeah, absolutely love that. No, it's great that everyone can get involved. So many people assume that dog sports are only for your high energy working breeds, but Hooper seems to be for everyone. So what makes it so different?

I mean, I started originally with my Chihuahua, so

Yes, I've heard this story because I've got three chihuahuas. So yeah, love it.

Lynx is kind of the reason I went, Oh my God, I love this thing because I was looking for an activity to do with her and she does a bit of tricks and she does a bit of this and she does a bit of that. But when we found Hoopers, it was like it just clicked.

Oh,

was

yeah.

click and we went, thing's fun together. And one of my favorite photos is of the first workshop I did with me and Minks, and you can just see in one little image, how much fun we are having.

Oh, really? I love that.

big thing for me. It's about building trust and teamwork with you and your dog. And that's what owning a dog is about, right? Trust and teamwork.

Yeah, so you've got from the size of a Chihuahua all the way up to a German Shepherd and a Malinois, you know, all shapes and sizes.

had Danes doing it. Irish Wolfhounds, Bulls, Dr. Bordeaux's. Like it's not a size this sport.

No, good. Oh, I love that the little Chihuahuas got involved. So how does participating in Hoopers strengthen that bond between a dog and their guardian?

So, for me, doing anything with your dog is going to strengthen your relationship, right?

Yeah.

that bang on about training, they think about training as always being obedient stuff, but actually it can just be doing some tricks, it can be doing a bit of enrichment stuff, it can just be You and your dog hanging out together, but I think more and more people are getting dogs that were previously designed to do working stuff. Like I said, you know, the gundogs, the working breeds, but also a lot of these cross breeds that we get, you know, the kind of designer breeds. Think of, prime example would be a Cockapoo.

Yes.

a Cocka and a Poodle, both of which are technically working breeds,

Yeah.

and then go, Oh, can you live in my house and be a pet? I mean, yes, but,

But there's going to come all this.

dogs and the handlers a way of doing some work together whilst having fun as well. And because it's something that you can do at home in your garden and practice, it's not like you can only do it once a week at training. You can do a little bit every day. I mean, this morning, Viper hasn't been walked today. We've had a training day.

Why?

we did a bit of hoopers in the garden.

Yeah, and it's been nice, it's been nice weather down

it's a

here in Southampton. Has it been nice where you are?

It has. The bottom of London has actually had some sun today, which is a lovely thing. So, you know, typical Brits, right? We're already talking

Yeah,

and we're not even 10 minutes in.

it's funny because I went past earlier at like a park and people were out sunbathing. I'm thinking the sun's out, but it's bloody freezing, bit of sun and then us Brits are like, ah,

Show me you're British without telling me you're British. Sun comes out, so do the legs.

yeah.

on earth?

Sun's out, guns out for a lot of them down this way. That's true. Is that viper with you? I can see the pointy ears. That'd be

oh yeah, you can see them in the back of the flyer park. Do you want to come and say hi? She's

Oh,

hello.

yeah, we're saying hello. Oh, she's absolutely stunning.

She,

Dunnan, look at

biased, but she is pretty.

She is absolutely stunning.

Yes,

Brilliant.

boy.

And I think I heard you say as well, that you started doing Hoobers in your garage at one point.

Oh

know, so like from a space perspective.

when it was freezing cold

Yeah.

news flash, Chihuahuas don't do cold. It's one of the reasons I like them as a breed because they just don't do, they don't do rain, they don't do

No,

like,

they don't.

I concur. And with Minx, yeah, I had like a little area of the garage set up where I just had like a hoop and a barrel just to practice some like

Yeah.

just to build up on that. We call it like a commitment to object. So the dog having value in. The hoop. So hoop value, barrel value,

Mm.

hoop is really a teeny tiny little thing. It's only kind of a couple of centimeters wide. So for the dog to be able to be precise enough to find that obstacle, they need to understand what it is. So just doing loads of reps of one hoop is how we build that and how we start building up the distance handling and stuff like that. All

Yeah.

stuff is just foundations that's done really well. So

I love that. So yeah, you can use your garden, use your garage, you don't need loads of space. So moving on to our next section, which is all about how Hoopers support dogs emotionally and mentally. We often hear about the physical benefits of dog sports, but how does Hoopers support dogs emotionally and mentally, Carrie?

for me, it's A big confidence builder. So Minx is Jenny. Minx can be quite worried by other dogs. She's been charged out a few

Oh,

she, she's tiny. You know, she, I mean, in Chihuahua world, she's massive. She's five kilos,

okay. A bit like mine.

dog world, right? She's big. Most people's Chihuahuas are like two, three kilos. So I've,

teacup ones.

Chihuahua,

So far I've got chunky ones. That's

Finding an activity she could do where she felt comfortable and safe working around other dogs was really cool. Now,

lovely.

this is where I need to kind of hold myself together because the boy's no longer with me, but my main competition boy Dodge,

Yeah.

Shepherds like patterns, shepherds like predictability, and Dodge had very big emotions in the world. He had some physical and arguably some mental glitches going on, God love him. And Hoopers was something that we could do and he could work and it was just a fun thing for me and him and the thing I loved for doing Hoopers with him is it was just me and him. All the other stuff goes away, all that. My dog needs space. My dog, you know, is reactive. My dog has big emotions, all that stuff with comes as an owner. I'm like having a dog that is like that because owning a dog with issues, glitches, however you want to phrase it is exhausting. being able to do an activity with that dog was just so much fun. And just loved it. And one of the things, That I think was a really cool achievement with Dodge, not just our competition achievements because he won leagues, he won competitions like he did really well, also if I was judging friends could handle him

Oh, good. Yeah, yeah.

working with other people doing that assignment. For me, that screams confidence because a dog that isn't comfortable isn't going to work for someone else. And I'm not saying that every dog should just go up to anyone and work, but the people that were in his circle, would

a circle of trust. Yeah.

Exactly that. So

Mm.

for me, Hoopers has been an amazing outlet as an owner that has a dog with big emotions. It's been a brilliant thing to play with my tiny dog that frankly didn't really want to do much training of any

They're just lapdogs.

Right, but for it's been a brilliant game to play while she's growing up and

Yeah.

maybe she shouldn't be doing as much as she feels she can in terms of development because Malinois don't come with self preservation button. This, app was not downloaded into the system. So being able to say to her, well, look, rather than you jumping on top of the garden storage area, has happened. Why don't we try running through some hoops around some barrels instead?

Yeah.

for her, she plays hoopers and goes, I've done some work. I'm tired because as much as it's you as a team, the dog is still having to think and process what they're doing. It's

Mm.

next to you, with you telling them every single thing.

Mm.

It is when the dog becomes competent in what they're doing, can literally shut up and watch them work, which, that's really cool.

yeah,

you forget that you're actually meant to be steering, you're like, oh, shit, cue, sorry yeah,

yeah,

goes wrong, but that's also part of the fun, is that even if the dog goes wrong, they don't know they've gone wrong, and you're just having fun together.

Yeah. I bet cause obviously they've probably quite got a lot of energy, haven't they? So it's probably, yeah.

yeah, I'm gonna say that if, if you have a spare few hours a day to mentally and physically work your

Yeah.

know what, yeah.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Cause you know, got to burn off a lot of that energy. So get her using her brain. So for nervous, sensitive, anxious dogs, how can Hoopers be a confidence building activity carry?

It becomes a pattern. It becomes something that's predictable. So once they understand what the equipment means, once they've got that equipment value that I spoke about earlier, they go, Oh, this thing. you can start off in your garden and then maybe. You go to a field and try it. Maybe you go to a relative's garden and try it, know, and being able to do something with the dog that's predictable in different environments is a great way of building that dog's confidence.

Yeah, pretty.

me, I think the environmental side can kind of come into it and actually once you are able to go to competitions, a lot of the Hoopers competitions are set up for dogs that do need a bit of space, those dogs that do wear those yellow ribbons that

Yeah.

need a little bit more room, a little bit more understanding. Some of the shows are going to be a big agility show, so they may not be appropriate, but some of them. Maybe a single ring in an indoor arena where the dogs kind of secured in on three sides. So actually, that sort of environment for dogs that find the environment a lot to take in

Yeah.

brilliant way to kind of start getting them into the world and competing they're doing something that they understand.

Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Are you going to be competing with Viper or like? Yeah. Yeah.

literally counting down

Chomping at the bit.

the weeks because we are at the point now where we are weeks away from being able to compete.

wow. Okay.

a lot of the sports, some of them start at 12 months,

Yes.

because we start officially at 15 months.

Yeah.

I've been taking her with me when I've been judging and testing my courses with her. And she's already, like, having so much fun with

She's ready.

some of the other judges have let me try their courses, which has been really nice. And she'll finish the run and I'll give her her toy. run up to the judge to give them the toy to play with. She's just like, we did a thing. We love it. So,

Oh,

I'm literally, like excited and I know some people are gonna Possibly criticize that because they may think that i'm doing it too early

right.

for her It's not too

No. Yeah.

she's probably done about half an hour's hooper training a week roughly You know, obviously sometimes we've done workshops and we've done stuff that's a little bit more, but in terms of kind of over training stuff, really don't think we have. I think because everything is on the ground and she understands the game, you can go on any of my social media and see her journey and how she's progressing, You just see a dog that's having fun.

Yeah. That's the important thing.

She'll come and get cross at me. She's like, wait, what are you doing? Sort your shit, mama. Come on, let's do the thing. So it's just us having fun together. And the other thing that's been really interesting with her journey is we've started to dabble a little bit in agility. And who has has been a cool foundation Agility training, because.

I bet.

I mentioned this not running thing agility. Allegedly you're meant to do the running thing a little bit more in agility. Now I'm never going to be one of those handlers that's sprinting like an a

Say.

y part of my dog. Like, it's not and going through tunnels because She can do it with hoops. And if you go onto my social media we had a training session with some of her siblings last week

Oh, okay. Don't eat it.

music of me just stood still while she's just running in a circle doing jumps. I wasn't telling her to do anything. She was just running around in a circle doing jumps because it was fun.

Yeah, I think that's what comes down to, as long as the dog's having fun. How do you

have fun when you're training. If

Yeah!

you're not doing it right.

Now, I've always said that when I was doing in person training, it's got to be fun. The moment it's not fun, then, right, you need to move on. So, how do you ensure that Hoopers remains a low pressure, positive experience for all dogs carry?

Oh, oh, this might get controversial.

Oh, I like that though.

me, I have been big, big advocate for baseless hoops. When hoopers first started, there was a base on the floor. Baseless hoops were introduced. God, it was. the pandemic. Now. I've only trained Viron basis hoops. I would only run Dodge on basis hoops. MX prefers basis hoops. I watch clients, dogs that I've trained on both, and the dogs just have a smoother run Bars.

Okay.

people will argue that it's just pole on the floor. There have been injuries.

Oh.

faster dogs actually because they're not always watching where their feet go and they've either Stood on a bar and said I've watched Collies literally flick a hoop in the air

Oh, gosh, right.

I've seen dogs Slip on a base bar and I've seen dogs catch feet on a base bar So for me basis hoops are a big way of keeping it more accessible. Also, when it comes to course design, making sure that there's no tight turns, there's no of things that are requiring the dog to do fast lead leg changes or stuff like that. Some of the organizations do allow hoop slaloms. I don't like them. I will not train them.

What is it?

part of Hooper's World.

What?

are not dissimilar to a Weave in Agility.

Right. Okay.

The dog

It's not heard that word before.

things. Yeah, exactly, because I don't have them in Hooper's World. As far as I'm concerned, not a thing.

Right.

I do not care for them. The other thing that we see in some of the courses in of Scandinavia and those areas Germany is the dog going round, round a barrel and back through a hoop. Now, we do that at the start when we're first teaching the dogs equipment, but we kind of come off of it quite quickly in the UK. I think part of the reason for that is in the countries where you see it more commonly in courses, the course distances are bigger. The dog has eight to ten meters to go from a hoop to a barrel back to a hoop, a big distance. If the dog only has five meters, obviously a tiny dog like Minx is going to find that relatively easy. A dog that's bigger and faster like Viper, that's a very difficult thing to do. Can she do it? Yes, would I want her to be doing it once they're picking up speed? No,

Aye.

we did it when she was younger and learning how to do things, but now she's doing it faster. The only time I would do a barrel wrap basically is if we were working 8 to 10

Okay.

for me, that's another thing that I hope judges consider when their course designing. I think in general because courses should be flowing. There shouldn't be tight turns. That's how we keep it accessible for more dogs

Brilliant. Love that. Thank you so much. So moving on to our next section, which is all about getting started and what pet parents, dog guardians need to know. So if someone is completely new to Hoopers, what's the best way to get started?

So have a look and see if there is a Hoopers instructor near you. the canine Hoopers world instructors that are listed on our website are the ones that offer the Hoopers awards, can work your way through. progress awards with your dogs and get pretty ribbons without having to go to competition. But there are of instructors and places that are teaching Hoopers all over the UK, Australia,

Yes.

Canada, Europe, Africa, like it's spreading to so many continents now,

That's amazing.

much it's spreading and I think speak to local clubs because if they're not training hoopers yet, if they know there's an interest then they might want to take the course. Also tell them Canine Hoopers World do an instructor course. If you are in an area where there are no instructors, there's no access, do have a Hoopers at Home online course

Oh, okay.

on the Canine Hoopers World website.

Brilliant.

So if you go onto the website and go into I can't remember it's either courses or shop also you can do progress awards with your dog so they are called the achievement awards on the website and you work through the exercises with your dog so if you've maybe started a little bit with hoopers with your dogs and you think oh I don't know what to do next. I don't know what exercises do. You can sign up for the achievement awards online and work your dogs through those. I've also get pretty ribbons for in post. So

That's nice. So what equipment do people need to practice at home and are there any simple exercises they could try?

if you can kind of make a couple of hoops, that's a good place to start. Now the hoops. are the way we make them when we're kind of doing them for at home is plumbing pipe under floor heating pipe is our little secret weapon because it holds its shape but a hula hoop with a coat hanger undone will also help hold the hoop shape

okay.

worrying about getting any underfloor heating pipe. so you want some upright bits, which is plumbing pipe you can get at any good hardware store.

Hmm.

feet on both sides and then a hoop that makes the arch. So I believe they are 50 or 60 centimeters wide at the bottom and then they're between 80. and a meter high at the top. So you make yourself an arch, then you have barrels, laundry baskets, pop up garden waste bins,

Yeah. You can get them from Screwfix, the pop up garden.

prefix if you're in Australia Bunnings, if you're in America Home Depot, like basically any hardware store will sell pop up garden bins and the pipe you need for making the hoops. You can get them from,

Mm.

you don't need loads of equipment. And the

No.

love is that you can store it in a small area. You don't really need to worry about tunnels and maps and stuff at home. As long as you've got hoops and the barrels to practice.

Mm.

That's bundles, and if you just have one heap and one barrel, you can sit on a chair in your living room, get two little bowls out, and the dog just goes from one bo Oh, sorry, Viper's getting

Don't apologize. Mine are always like that.

to another. Via the hoop.

Mm.

And

Brilliant.

how you build the

Is that simple?

play the game. Super simple.

Yeah. That's what people like, isn't that? Yeah. Brilliant. Yeah.

can go, Right, the dog has to go through the hoop. I need to say yes as the dog goes through the hoop. And I give them a cookie on the floor. Like, that's really easy to see, right? The dog goes through the hoop, you say yes, the dog gets a cookie.

Hmm.

That's, that's pretty simple. It's easier than explaining how to make a cup of tea. I

I may find that difficult. I love it. She's giving you a wash. Normally my I've got an essay dog and he's got. Normally he's sat on me, but he's actually just settled at me. And then his sister, she's very needy. Typical poodles drama queens like their dad. They just, you know, want all the attention. So they normally take turns of setting up in my lap, so I don't mind dogs making appearance.

be fair, if, if you never ever want to go to the bathroom on your own again, get mum.

Get out of the set. I can't even shower. Valkyrie dogs.

the drama is strong as well.

Oh, okay. Right, we've got another drama. You call me a drama llama. We've got another one there.

Massively, massively.

with that. Oh, actually, I might have to show you my llama, because you're going to love it. Before we come off this call, I'm going to go off camera and show you my llama, because it is sparkly. As well. And I love

drama

Yes.

It's

I'm gonna Let me grab it now. Hold on.

That's it. Nathan's getting it. Nathan is going to show me his

Here is the sparkly, secret, rainbow, dra llama.

Oh my goodness. Wow. I mean,

Someone got me that because you called me a drama llama before, but one of my friends called me a drama llama and this is what they got me.

I mean, if the crown fits babe, if the crown fits, right?

Anyway, I've gone off track now, but who cares? Right, that's,

on a podcast that I'm involved in and we've gone off on a tangent somewhere else.

it's all good. It's all good. So, do dogs need prior obedience training or can any dog give Hoopers a go? Okay. Yeah. Hmm.

be going to a group class, I'd probably suggest your dog being able to stay with you and not run over and say hi to all the other dogs is helpful. But if you're training it at home or one to one, then absolutely not. And this is one of the other things that's cool about Hoopers. It does help with your dog's listening skills and your communication skills. Because to start with, your dog's not going to have a weight. They're not going to understand that you're going to be a bit away from them. But once you start adding those little elements in, then if your dog can do a weight in front of a hoop, then they can do a weight. While you're maybe wanting to clip their lead on to put them back on at the park or you know If your dog can go A little bit of a recall, so it's kind of a good way of cementing some of those other behaviors in without it feeling like it's obedient.

Yeah, I'm not a massive fan of the word obedience, but they need to have, I like life skills, maybe some basic life skills or,

I feel having a mal, you, there is a level of obedience needed because

yeah,

of self preservation. you know, has to mean sit in

yeah. Okay. Well, but basically any, any dog really can give it a go though, is what we're saying. Yeah.

percent. 100%

Brilliant. So we're going to be moving on to a normal line of just going crazy and you'll probably hear something outside. Hopefully it won't pick up. So our next section is all about busting myths about Hoopers. So Carrie, what are some of the biggest myths you hear about Hoopers and what's the reality? Yeah. Oh, okay.

sports, but I think a big one is only Collies do it. Like, no, all the dogs can do it. Pollies dominate a lot of dog sports.

Yeah.

To be fair, Malinois and German Shepherds also dominate a lot of dog sports. You don't have to have one of those breeds to do Hoopers. We have all sorts of dogs coming to play. Affenpinschers, Airedales, Boston Terriers. Datsuns, like all, pretty much like name a dog breed and I'm sure one of the Hoopers trainers will have gone, pardon me, one of the Hoopers trainers will have gone, yeah I've taught one of those,

Yeah.

it's super accessible. It's also quite good for the breeds that maybe some of the more high impact sports may not be physically

Yeah. That's,

for,

that's true. Yeah.

I'm phrasing that carefully because obviously Everyone knows their own dogs, but like no one needs to see a chunky dog like trying to do disc and jump in the air when they probably aren't fit enough to do it. Whereas Hoopers is quite a good way of building a dog's fitness and stamina as well.

Hmm. Okay. So we've already touched on this, but another myth is that you need to have a big garden or training field to get started.

No, not at all. So if you've got a mat that's about, I don't know, if you've got an area that's maybe two meters by a meter, you can train one hoop. Obviously dog size dependent. If you've got a tiny dog, that's loads of room. If you've got a bigger dog, you might want a bit more room so the dog can get through the hoop before it's rewarded. but yeah, in terms of size, like was working Viper literally on a five meter circle this morning, just doing a bit of a barrel and a hoop and a barrel. And I had some stuff, I spaced the obstacles out. five meters apart and I managed to get three obstacles out in a little bit of grass area.

Mm.

if you have access then you have more room to

Yeah.

but you don't need bundles of room you could do it in your hallway as long as the surface you're training on isn't slippery

Yeah.

don't need loads of room you just need it to not be slippy.

That's it. Not slippery. Brilliant. So would you say hoopers is more fun and enriching, or is it more of a competitive sport?

I think It's both.

Mm

I

Okay.

both. It depends on the team doing it.

Yeah.

with Minx, I did it for fun. It was something we could do together. With Dodge, oh my god, so competitive. With Viper, I'm gonna be competitive. Because, naturally, I'm a competitive person. Like,

Okay.

I like Doing sports and winning prizes and that that's just my personality. got lots of clients that never ever want to compete. But actually, this is why I bought the Progress Awards in and the Achievement Awards online. So people that maybe didn't want to go to a show, but maybe wanted to achieve something could still do that. Sign. That's kind of why I introduced those awards. So people that wanted to have fun with their dogs without having to go to a competition could,

Hmm.

if you want to go and compete for your dog, then absolutely you can. And you'll have the best time. International

Okay, cool. So just another question. You've taught it all over the world, haven't you? Australia? Yeah. That's amazing that it's took you.

trainer and judge. Cause I've judged in Australia as

Have you?

that was super fun. Yeah.

Yeah. Whereabouts in Australia was it, Carrie?

done say we Hoopers World have been to Perth. I'm hoping that in the not so distant future, we will be hitting other parts of Australia.

Oh, okay. Well, I mean, I love Australia. I don't know if you know, but I met my husband there in Perth,

Ooh!

And I've got family in Perth and friends in Sydney. So I was just really interested because like, we, we love Australia. We've been back a few times since we've been married, but it's, I love it. So I just wondered where you'd been. I know you'd been there, but I didn't know quite where. Wow. Okay.

trainers as far over as Queensland now.

Perfect. Yeah. Oh, okay.

Hoopers Australia now they have competitions out there as well. So it's really cool. Yeah. So for any of the, anyone in Australia listening, like you can access the instructor course obviously online, but there is access now to competitions and other Hoopers trainers out in Oz as well. So yeah, it's cool.

Yeah, because you said that you'd like, it was international, so it's, it's sort of go, it's hitting a lot of different countries. That's amazing. You must be saying, right, right,

I'd say, roughly 10 years now. It's kind of, it's, it's coming up to that decade mark. It originally started in America. Sharon Nelson, who sadly is no longer on this mortal coil with us invented the hoop. And

right.

be eternally grateful to her for up with this little skinny obstacle that has created this whole fun activity around playing croquet with your dogs.

Yeah. Oh, brilliant. So original, originated in, in America.

Yeah.

Okay, perfect. Carrie.

over from America

Well, yeah Well,

shouldn't say that, should I?

it's okay. So actually I just want to I'm just gonna rewind a little bit so You started off as a pet dog trainer, but what actually made you to like launch Canine Hoop as well day.

So I was teaching classes. I was starting to kind of do workshops, doing stuff with other trainers. And when I discovered Hoopers, I was just like more pet dogs need to do this.

Mm

Just

hmm

So my goal is that pet dog trainers will be teaching Hoopers rather than agility.

Oh, okay

I know is maybe a bit controversial, but for me, especially now I'm learning about agility properly and I'm kind of training my own dog properly.

Okay

You need a lot of specialist equipment. You need to know what you're doing and agility trained badly dangerous.

but yeah

having dogs go over jumps. and not understanding the heights of things and just how to progress dogs and the techniques that are required. Whereas a dog running through a hoop, I mean, they may catch a toe, maybe, but the risk of a dog Going through a hoop as opposed to over a jump is massively less. And

Yeah.

just feel for a lot of dogs that maybe don't have the fitness levels to do agility

Mm.

a lot of pet dogs, let's face it, aren't fit. They are overweight.

Yeah.

of times I get told my dogs are skinny,

God.

dogs aren't skinny, my dogs are fit,

Yeah. They're fair. Yeah.

my dogs are the weight they should be.

Yes.

often are you in a park and you see fat dogs? But people see that as normal.

I know. I

in general, right? I mean, I'm carrying a few more pounds

was saying my, my love. I'm like, yeah.

But we don't go, Oh my God, I'm drunk because you walk down the road and most people are a similar size to us. But you notice the people that are very, very fit because they stand out it's not the norm. And I think it's become the same with dogs. So dogs doing hoopers is a much better form of fitness than

Hmm.

doing sports that are going to require them to be. jumping or doing lots of repetitive body movements that they may not be physically fit for.

Hmm. I don't know if it was you or the other person that was interviewing on the podcast, but did it, did you or the other person just fully do only Hooper's classes and nothing else? That was you. Yeah.

was

Yeah.

I took a huge leap of faith and when I don't

Hmm.

other stuff,

Anymore.

I

And you just sort of niche down to that.

oh, I, I like super niched.

Super niche. Everyone goes on about niching and you're super niche.

I super niched. I like niched within a niche. Like So, it's kind of, I, I feel like you hear my name and you straight away think of Hoopers without even necessarily knowing what Hoopers is.

Yes. Yeah. You're right. Okay. So I went off.

all about the brand, babe.

It is all about the brand babes. Yeah. I'm all about the brand. So I did go off on a tangent. So Carrie, if you could give pet parents, dog guardians, one reason to try Hoopers, what would that reason be, please?

It's fun. Well, that

It's fun.

right

What more reasons do you need?

wasn't it? It's fun. Boom.

What more do I need to say? You want to have fun with your dog. That's what I was saying the other day.

Exactly that right. If, if you can do something that fulfills your dog, mentally and physically, and is fun for both of you, why wouldn't you?

Yeah. Yeah. Cause it built.

the question would be like, why shouldn't you,

Yeah.

like, just try it. You

it's,

until you've tried.

yeah. You don't know until you try, but it's all about building that bond, that relationship. You know, that whole sort of connecting with your dog and yeah. Yeah, I love that. So if anyone or someone was feeling about a bit unsure about trying a new activity with their dog, what would your advice be?

So. Speak, speak to a local club, speak to a local trainer come and look at the Canine Hoopers World stuff on Facebook if you want to watch some fun training stuff Canine Hoopers World on TikTok I'm always Viper doing stuff and it's not always Hoopers, like, it's just Viper doing crazy Mali stuff and it's. features occasionally bless her heart, although she's pretty much retired. She's basically a sophomore but for me, it's, it's something that you can try at home. And as I said, if you're thinking that you're not sure whether you'd want to go to a class and do it, you can have a look at the online stuff and do it online with us. It's

brilliant. Okay, so we've literally sailed through this episode Carrie, so we're going to start wrapping up

a change.

We're going to start wrapping up the last sort of five minutes or so So just a couple of final questions. So what's next for canine Hooper's world? Where's the sparkle going next? What, what's your plans? Any reveals for our listeners? Anything going on?

I'm kind of evolving the way that the instructor course is being taught, so it will be staying online, but I'm kind of, I'm going to use one of my favorite words now, I'm amalgamating.

Now that's a big word. I love that.

day. I am bringing Level 1 and Level 2 as one course. And there's going to be a lot more Carrie Sparkle because I'm also going to be doing live coaching on Zoom. So, when you did the instructor course online, you

it was a while ago now.

of set free to work through it at your own pace,

Yeah.

want to change it is that you're going to have 6 months to do the course.

Okay,

you're going to have access to me for six months to ask questions

really?

and do that kind of stuff.

That's amazing.

like that's the way I want to do it. So I will still be doing some in person stuff and around, around the country to do things and maybe other countries as well. But there's going to be a lot more A lot more Selwyn Sparkle as we call it.

Need more, we need more Salwyn Sparkle.

1 needs more Selwyn. The Viper's like, I need more, you don't

Yeah,

Sparkle. You're

we, we, we love the, we love the Salwyn Sparkle, so any more we can get. All right, so that's interesting. So we could see a bit more then. Mm.

yeah, we'll be, that's kind of how Canine Hooper's world is evolving. In terms of me I'm back to doing Facebook Lives.

Oh, okay.

on a Tuesday. Now,

Oh,

did this

okay.

back on Facebook and do my Facebook lives, and then I was on holiday for a week and then I was ill. So I

Oh,

weeks, which was rubbish, but I've just done one today before we started recording, and

okay.

an exciting one, because Viper has just got her first sponsorship.

Oh, fancy. Of

to say who?

course you can. Yeah.

big shout out to Good Chaps, who are now our treat sponsors.

Oh

all those training treats we get through,

yeah.

we are now sponsored. But, they are doing A trainer's box. So they do small, like small packets that you can sell onto your clients,

Mm,

they're also doing it so trainers can bulk by. So when you are using treats for yourself in consults or in group classes,

Mm.

can bulk by the treats and no artificial colors, no additives. No nasties and the they've got a few different types, but the ones I'm most excited about are single protein. So if you've got dogs that are maybe a bit fussy, but also maybe have food allergies,

Hmm.

they're literally single protein. So they've

Oh, okay.

Buck, venison, salmon and chicken

Hmm.

sausage and you can order a big two box of

Yeah.

value treats at a discounted rate for trainers. So

Okay.

anyone is interested in that go on to the Good Chaps page.

never heard of them, but I'm glad you've mentioned them.

Right. They're based in Bristol

Oh, nice.

the ingredients are all British. The packaging is eco friendly and they do a range of eco friendly tug toys as well. So we're kind of supporting. the local economies,

Yeah,

supporting British farmers, which is very important

Yes.

giving our dogs really good high value treats rather than being in a panic having to get hot dogs or treats that are full of

Crap.

Let's face it, you probably shouldn't be eating them.

Yeah,

can give our dogs really good quality reinforcement. And as we know, the more reinforcing the reward is, the more likely the dog is to repeat the behaviour.

that's it.

just going to improve your training.

Amazing. I love that she's got her first sponsorship. Congratulations. Right,

Can I just,

go on.

do, can I do another quick

You can do, you can do whatever you want. Antinol. No,

so now she's a year old, I've just started her joint supplement stuff. And I know people are probably thinking, a year old and you're putting her on joint supplement,

definitely. Why not?

right? Once the dogs are a year old, and I've done this with all of my dogs,

Yeah.

supplement. But having a breed of dog that does a lot, she's very active, very wacky. She does. Lots and lots of stupid shit. I want to know her joints are

Well, it's actually still growing as well, isn't she? So.

she's still growing and developing and this is why we didn't start till she was a year old. But now, kind of, the development stage is slowing and she's

Mm,

do more stuff.

Mm,

if you go onto the Antenna website and use the code CHW sent me, all uppercase,

Mm.

so K9 Hoopers World sent me, but CHW sent me, you'll get an extra discount on top of the discount you when you sign up.

Oh, okay. Brilliant.

that one comes with a discount code.

That'll be in our show notes. Brilliant. Right, any more reveals before we move on to our last question? Or

I,

anything else?

so the main, so World have been in partnership with Antonelle for a long time.

Love it.

also we, we fully support the muzzle movement. Have you had the muzzle movement

We've had them on, we've had Clara and The Muzzle moving on.

thought you had. I'm, because I've been away in Ila, I'm behind on episodes

No, no, it's all right.

Clara had

Yeah, she's amazing. Well, they're amazing.

So, Dodge always had a muzzle movement muzzle because he couldn't leave the house without a muzzle because, you know, health and safety.

yeah.

is being trained how to wear a muzzle

Right.

her muzzle movement muzzle that comes in very pretty colors

Oh,

video of that on our socials as well so.

amazing. Yeah, love the work the Muzzle Movement are doing. But yeah, they were, they were literally one of my first, well, first guests on, so.

what they're doing is

It's,

and

it is.

can't support them enough so we're sending them big big love.

love it. So, Kari, where can our listeners find out more about you, Canine Hooper's World, and to get involved?

if you are a trainer and want to and find out about the instructor courses and stuff the website, the new, the new evolved edition will be out in the next few weeks. I'm just kind of tweaking before it goes live.

Excuse me.

looking at the end of March for the, the changeover. So, if you want to kind of look at that stuff Eva, drop me an email, info at caninehoopersworld. website is allthews. caninehoopersworld. Instagram, now, there is a caninehoopersworld Instagram, but I'm rubbish on it. I forget to post all the time. at doddshepard, because We've still kept the boy's name on it. That's where you can see all the cool stuff I'm doing with Viper

Oh, okay.

TikTok is more Viper and me playing Hoopers and other stuff. then we have Facebook page group for the Hooper stuff. And if you want to kind of touch base with me and find out more about the Carrie Anne sparkle and It's, it's more kind of me and my personal Facebook page, but if people want to find out the sparkle insanity levels that are my world, then they can find me on Facebook as

Is that where your Facebook lives are? Are they on the canine hoopers? Right. Okay.

Facebook lives The Carrie Anne Selwyn

And

I'm the only Carrie Anne Selwyn on the whole of

I heard this the other day on the, on the podcast. I heard you on. I was like, wow.

it's all about the

just quickly, are you going to mention your podcast? It's on a break, but you've got a podcast and tons of episodes. I listened to it for the first time the other day with Joe pay Joe pay Joe. Yeah.

Oh, oh, Joe's been on it. I've there's like 200 episodes.

Yeah. So let's shout out to that if people want to go back and have a listen.

yeah, if, if you like what you're hearing, then yeah, there is a Canine Hoop as well podcast. You can get it wherever you're listening to this. I'm assuming we're on Apple and Spotify and Google and. those good places. But it started 2019. I think the

Wow. Right.

favorite episode was the one with Sharon Nelson. That was episode 100. That episode will always have such a Very special place in my heart now. But advance warning. If you go to the very beginning and start from episode one, I think it's about eight minutes long.

Okay.

By the time you get to season three, It's about two hours long.

Okay.

I think the longest episode was something like two hours forty five minutes and it's either Claire Brown or Tom Candy.

Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah.

of the longest episodes. So, had some amazing guests on. I mean I've just mentioned three of them. From all different walks of life, all different places. Trainers I've trained with personally, trainers from, pardon me, trainers from around the yeah, it's a cool podcast. So if you want to kind of, I think the best way to explain it is if you were a fly on the wall in a pub listening to dog trainers. That's that's kind of the vibe of the podcast.

I like that.

with children. There will be swearing

Right. Well, I only found it the other day and I listened. I've listened to one, but it's on my list now. Right.

it the other day. Where have

Yeah.

you been?

I don't, well, I didn't, I didn't used to listen to podcasts until I set up this one. So I thought I need to do my homework and my research because I've never been a guest on one. And I was due to go on to Carly Edwards one last year and we've had to rearrange it. But I thought, well, I'm going to listen to it. But now I love them. And I listened to like. Non dog ones and then I found I knew yours was there, but I got it on my list This is what i'm saying and I list I think I listened to the last one with joey So is it coming back or you're not sure yet?

I am planning on it coming back but Full disclosure with the malinois and everything

It's full on.

i'm taking a break but I'm, not saying it's never going to be back. But at the moment we're we're on a little holiday, but I always did breaks. I used to do between 25 and 50 episodes before a break. And there was either four or five seasons, something like that.

Yeah

there's a few episodes to catch up on. Excellent.

fine for me right carrie, thank you so much For joining me on the yappy hour powered by yappily today. I've had so much fun. I knew it would be thank you for your time your Knowledge and expertise. We'll have to get you on again in the future if you're up for that. But it's absolutely been amazing to speak with you today and we will look forward to chatting again soon. Thanks for coming on.

Thank you so much for having me as a guest. Take care. Bye.

Thank you.

What a brilliant conversation with Carrie Ann Selwyn. Here are some key takeaways from today's episode. Number one, hoopers is a low impact inclusive sport for all dogs. It's great for puppies, seniors, and sensitive dogs who need structured but low pressure activities. Number two, it strengthens the bond between dog and their guardian. Hoopers focuses on teamwork, trust, and clear communication rather than speed or competition. Number three, it's more than just physical exercise. It's great for mental stimulation. The sport helps build confidence. Calm, focus and problem solving skills in dogs. Number four, anyone can get started. No fancy equipment or big space needed. You can provide simple exercises. You can practice simple exercises at home, and it's all about having fun with your dog. Carry on. Thank you so much for sharing your passion and your knowledge with us today and to all our listeners. If you want to learn more, check out Canine Hoopers world and give Hoopers a go. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review, share it with a fellow dog parent, and subscribe so you never miss an episode of the yappy hour. Thanks for listening, and I'll see you next time.