{"id":12312,"date":"2025-11-17T18:39:35","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T10:39:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=12312"},"modified":"2025-11-17T18:39:35","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T10:39:35","slug":"what-is-hobby-dogging-trend-of-training-imaginary-dogs-goes-viral","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=12312","title":{"rendered":"What is \u2018hobby dogging\u2019? Trend of training imaginary dogs goes viral"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Believe it or not, a new leisure activity called \u201chobby dogging\u201d is becoming popular among animal-lovers in Germany who do not want hairy carpets, drooling or expensive vet fees. There is also no need to pick up poo or deal with aggressive behaviour or barking when leaving your pet at home.<\/p>\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\">Hobby dogging \u2013 essentially dog training without dogs \u2013 follows in the wake of \u201c<span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">hobby horsing<\/span>\u201d, a previous trend that saw children and a surprising number of adults gallop through obstacle courses on stick horses. In Bad Friedrichshall, north of the German city of Stuttgart, you can even get professional guidance in walking your imaginary dog.<\/div>\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\">It sounds like some viral <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">AI-generated<\/span> prank, and as might be expected, it has been met with much head-shaking, scepticism and ridicule online. After all, the dog only exists in the walker\u2019s imagination.<\/div>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cWhatever they\u2019ve been smoking, I want some,\u201d writes one internet user.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Some respond with humour: \u201cI took the dog\u2019s harness off and now I can\u2019t find him.\u201d Others share their disbelief and contempt: \u201cThe world is getting crazier and crazier.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"image-inline-container e1a5rv550 css-1llrc1m e1yqhwb40\" data-qa=\"Component-renderMap-StyledDiv\">\n<div class=\"image-inline caption e1fvabeq0 css-19sk4h4 ea9pn0s0\" data-qa=\"Component-Container\">\n<figure class=\"image-inline caption ea9pn0s1 css-1qeofuq e1gf69pb0\" data-qa=\"ArticleImage-ArticleImageContainer\">\n<div data-qa=\"ArticleImage-handleRenderImage-ImageContainer\" class=\"css-0 e1gf69pb3\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"People in Germany train imaginary dogs as part of the bizarre \u201chobby dogging\u201d viral trend. Photo: dpa\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/img.i-scmp.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto\/sites\/default\/files\/d8\/images\/canvas\/2025\/11\/17\/bdbdfb31-99da-47ef-b0f6-909a768b931e_741ac6ff.jpg\" title=\"People in Germany train imaginary dogs as part of the bizarre \u201chobby dogging\u201d viral trend. Photo: dpa\"\/><\/div><figcaption data-qa=\"ArticleImage-DescriptionContainer\" class=\"css-1ixmelf e1gf69pb1\">People in Germany train imaginary dogs as part of the bizarre \u201chobby dogging\u201d viral trend. Photo: dpa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Dog trainer Barbara Gerlinger simply shrugs at the ridicule. She takes her job seriously and designs her own courses for \u201chobby dogging\u201d, complete with cones, obstacles and a good dose of imagination.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/lifestyle\/article\/3333042\/what-hobby-dogging-trend-training-imaginary-dogs-goes-viral?utm_source=rss_feed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Believe it or not, a new leisure activity called \u201chobby dogging\u201d is becoming popular among animal-lovers in Germany who do not want hairy carpets, drooling&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1864,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[9793,231,9792,9794,673,7400,810],"class_list":["post-12312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bored-interesting","tag-dogging","tag-dogs","tag-hobby","tag-imaginary","tag-training","tag-trend","tag-viral","wpcat-33-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12312\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}