Next Dog Guarding and Sport Work - Page 2

Northwoods, your absolutely correct. 

Gustav, the proofing is in the trialing. There's a saying about working horses.  If your not training them when you ride then you are untraining them.

Dog works fine on other helpers, but he's not a robot.  When he makes a mistake he needs consistency in his training.  When she attempts to do what works and the helper tells her no, he can fix this his way she has to learn to stand up for herself.  She's an 18 year old girl traveling and training on her own.  Has nothing to do with the dog.  It's all about her finding her confidence to stand up to others and stay the course.  Pretty normal path for a young adult.  I have faith in her that she'll find her way,

Proofing is a one time deal.  He should be able to travel his behavior (and he does).  After a month of working with these helpers it's not proofing anymore, it's untraining.

 

 

 

Maybe not "training" when you ride or work a dog, but APPLY the training the animal knows.Too many people assume a dog doesn't have a skill when, in reality, they have not given the dog the opportunity to utilize the training they have received.

BZCZ, I commend your daughter for her involvement in the discipline and her dedication to her dog and training.     It takes a lot of guts to travel to different clubs on your own as a young person, as we all know some of the people can be a little, hmmm, shall I say quite "strong personalities", lol.      But, for the sake of her training  and the dog's confidence, sticking to the outline of the program you have developed is not a luxury but a necessity.     She will get to the point where SHE dictates the routine, and if the helper doesn't want to follow then she will need to talk with him or go somewhere else.     Of course, there will be advancements and insights into the dog's performance that others may see that you or she cannot, and you may want to consider these for implementation into the dog's program.

I think it's cool that your family is so involved in the sport, we need more young people getting involved to preserve the GSD as a working animal on this continent.

Koots,  I agree with you 100%.  Part of the reason I let her go off on her own for the month is I was hoping she'd come back with something new or that was uniquely hers.  I worry about me being the one in charge all the time she won't develop her own expression in her training.  At the very least I hope she gains more confidence in herself and her dog.

Thanks for the nice comments.

BZCZ, is this her first dog that she's responsible for the training/handling on her own?      The fact that she's venturing out on her own is a huge step to her personal development, I don't think you have to worry about her as she will do just fine.     

This is actually her third dog that she has titled.  The first two I managed all the way.  She has trained numerous Humane Society dogs in Ob and competed with them at local and state 4H shows to help get them placed into homes. 

This is the first one that she takes her stuff and trains where and when she wants.  Pretty exciting as a Dad I gotta say.  (also really hard for me to keep my nose out of it :) )