# Selecting a working dog



## Bentwings (2 mo ago)

So this will probably really stir the pot. 
what I’d like to see is how experienced trainers select a candidate for a working dog . This might be a obedience dog agility dog K 9 dog
Narc dog,

tracking dog , search dog K 9 patrol dog

.
I know this covers a lot of ground I’m not the expert, truth be told I might fail medical service dog . Or any of these .

I invite others to kick in . Over all I’m just looking for tips to be sorted out.
I’ll start by looking at a sport dog for Schutzhund or IPO feel free to challenge me anywhere .

so here comes a new pup say 16 weeks old this happens to be a European import . Nice looking dog , has had preliminaryX rat that looks promising .
So we put a nice flat collar on him or her and tie the dog out on the fence 10 foot line . So begin: here I come dark grey pants covering chrome leather leg guards the same under jacket sleeves plain safety stuff I also have a small whip and bam boo rattle stick leather welding gloves hi dog ! What’s up? Dog stands and looks. 
what is he looking at me overall my face my equipment . I look at posture . Is he showing flight shyness some scared stance tail straight out little wagging dog is not sure , he hasn’t seen this before he looks transfixed , studying me He is not sure what’s going on carefully oh he just looked away , he is looking for escape route we can fix this . Gently crack whip . Barking, ears up tight, he doesn’t like this shake the rattle stick , more serious barking definitely have his full attention he is not out tight to the end of the lead not fighting but barking hard to make me go away . I turn my back , barking stops , dog thinks great I stopped that mess

Then I slowly turn back bark, bark lots of barking . He wants me to go away back straight tail now lowered and curved .He is not afraid but still unsure . Now I pop the whip again eyes follow all movement I slowly but dilibertly walk toward the dog . He stands his ground but barks hard looking directly at me he shows no signs of fear but just not sure what this is all about I walk towards him right hand out with whip dog is glued to me. Then as I get in range I reach out gently touch his head . He doesn’t attack my hand indicating compromise . I’ll be good if you are good I gently touch his hear saying good boy in normal voice So far I see a dog pretty solid pretty confident in his decisions . Then I bring the whip close to him and gently touch him saying good boy no more barking . So I’m thinking first test shows a thinking dog he can make decisions already doesn’t need to fight yet . Here I’d say the dog is loaded to his limit time to put him up for a few minutes to relax . So far looks like a good dog . Way to destroy this guy by over doing it at this point . We will repeat this exactly probably half a dozen times today. We don’t want the dog to break down and lose it . I YHINK this is a very critical time . Notice we have not given any bite training . I don’t think he is ready today .

So let’s have comments


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## Omerhaus (Mar 18, 2021)

Can’t tell much from such a young pup based on a single eval and x-rays at that age are of little value.


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## Bentwings (2 mo ago)

Omerhaus said:


> Can’t tell much from such a young pup based on a single eval and x-rays at that age are of little value.


I agree this young age is really too young .
I agree on this. A real eval can take several look see. If I err making check marks an see a dog with few links to imports I’d probably put the fist black mark ifvits American dog . Because ther have been so many back yarder breeds that the real qualities have been altered or bred out . European dogs have much tougher standards to be registered . These go across virtually every aspect of the breed be it GSD Mal Dutchie or others . Many things can be tempered as the dog grows but you need decent breeding to start with. I spent a month every day with a guy that trained mostly detection dogs and tracking dogs he would get had a dozen dogs in at a time . He had two in his big trading building he would toss a ball ifvyhe dog went after it and brought it back without calling just on the dog’s own was test on then he had a ligh puppy sleeve he would crack a whip and present the sleeve . If the dog grabbed it he would give only slight resistance the let the dog have it . So far good then repeat the test I later in the day if all went well he kept the dog any that failed twice went back in the truck kennel for return to sender . He had been in business for many years so it must have suited him well . I asked . What he was looking for . He said he watched every move the dog made from the time he took it out of the truck to when or if it went back in . He then explained many things he looked at . Some I noted above he allowed me to try the tests then give my rival before he gave his . It was amazing all the things he was watching . He did protection work too . His wife was the primary handler then . He just instructed her what he wanted to do and how he would do it. Very methodical . With each dog he would point out what to look at . It was really good training money well spent . Eventually he said , well go get your dog. Let’s see what kind of mess we have . Not comforting as my dog was already a K 9 patrol dog . The man an his wife were both German so had typical accents it was always fun to talk with then as they often left out unnecessary words and occasionally broke into native German . Anyway I brought my dog in and let him test him . I was ready for a blistering . So I stood waiting the worst. He said dog extremely strong suburb conditioning probably never wear out . Dog not toy mean business all time ruin ball with just normal grip very smart know trainer respect trainer when returning puppy sleeve place sleeve right in hand without command dog not afraid of anything you see no fur raise no barking tail not nervous just follow dog very stable dog easy to work this dog then he said what language trained with . I said German English and Czech . We had so called password command in all three languages he said never heard of such stuff what for? I explained how we used them and why. He said student not often teach master so-meting new then I try obedience in al languages. See if student smart as thinks . He did about every thing jumps retrieves climbing wall vertical wall and some agility things we had not practiced much on He said dog happy having good day owner look bewildered . Be careful dog not like that look not react but be worried he do something wrong. I’m just trying to put some ofvthe accent in they ere so much fun to be around we ha good conversations at dinner time they asked about how their English was. I said it was great because it was so direct there are many accents in the USA that are hard to understand . I lived in yhe south atvthe time and had to work at not developing accent and phraseology 
I had shown my dog’s SV registrations and he knew of many of the he lines he the site and dam were probably smuggled out and brought to the USA there were many advanced titles and only a few show dogs . He that was not in common as some people just did not have time to finish training 

it was probably the best training I ever got He asked how much of our draining was done and how I fixed mistakes we did try the bird dog retrieves some really rough brush . He said dog not dumb like bird dog know briars and thorns and wiggles around to avoid them bird dog jus charge in get sticker all over I learned a lot at this guys place some I still can see I’ve backed off quite a bit as sports injury has really slowed me down and some Ned conditions prevent me from doing dogs any more I really miss this but I now have a kitty she is a real challenge to train she does not eat many people foods nor kitty treats it’s hard just to get her to walk on harness and leash I’m trying to get her to come to bed with ultra sonic whistle but there really is not a reward other than pets and praise . I even take a couple pieces of kitty food to bed that I give her when she jumps up on the bed . She has found the electric blanket is nice and comfortable 
Retrieves


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