Obedience training, dog sports such as fly ball, dancing and agility, shows, and trials are all excellent ways in which to stimulate and create 'work' for the energetic intrepid hovawart. 'Work' can be any form of activity which exercises the brain and body of a hovawart and involves the owner doing things with the dog. As a bare minimum any dog must have daily walks and be given toys, they need to be played with, and provided with human company. With inappropriate care and upbringing, such as hovawarts that are chained up, left alone and ignored can become bored, noisy, and even neurotic. They can become lethargic or exhibit destructive behaviour and attempt to escape (these "symptoms" are sometimes confused with separation anxiety. This is why most breeders will quiz the potential owners about their lifestyle and about their experience with other breeds of dog.
The hovawart is capable of so much more than just being an excellent companion living with you and your family. Training for a purpose or 'work' for the Hovawart, rather than merely general obedience for example helps give both focus and meaning to the hovawart. One of the more modern day jobs he is suited to is that of Search and Rescue, since the training involved encompasses a broad spectrum of skills that the hovawart is very capable of carrying out. Hovawarts were, amongst other breeds, used in the search for survivors after terrorists bombed the federal building in Oklahoma City. Hovawarts can easily track and search large areas, collapsed buildings, in snow after an avalanche or in water, all with great enthusiasm; and given their "farmyard" history hovawarts can also be good sheepdogs; and some in the United Kingdom have even been 'trained to the gun' for retrieving purposes.
