Dual or Single Purpose K9 ??? - Page 1

Good Evening ; My name is Rick and am from the Florida panhandle. I recently bought a pup who just turned 6 months old and she is an absolute nutt when I put the leather gloves on. She loves to track the school kids in the neighborhood all the time. Real deep nose dog. Trying to work on her bark on command and her area searching....

oh yeah , loves the rag and balls too....
Just from what I've mentioned , What do you think her possibilities are ? I value any and all comments.............. 

Greetings Rick. When you say "dual or single purpose", I can surmize you are speaking about putting 1< profiles on this K9? If so, keep in mind that these profiles will require very distinct/solid alerts. This requires significant imprinting/training. Not impossible, but time + patience+ consistency are crucial. Your best bet is to seek out a local K9 SAR group, and have this dog tested. Though I'm not in your area code, I can offer you further advice...pm me if you want.

Also wanted to add, if you're interested in this type of work, best to start the training sooner than later with this pup.

I have had her for about 6-1/2 weeks now. I started tracking training couple days after I got her. SHe goes part way thru the track, air scents , then goes back to nose to the ground. When she barks at another dog , she sorta snaps her teeth ... I got her for a couple reasons : A. train her to do SAR tracking/trailing work and/or Law Enforcement type work.....All I can say is , for a 6 month old female gsd , she is awesome........

I agree with everyone here, when you say DP, do you mean suspect apprehension, or just other diciplines of odor, search and rescue(finding lost subjects). It sounds like your dog has good prey drive and sound nerves, which are a must when grooming a dog for odor or search work, the one thing about SA, is you have to have natural aggression, which is IMO, just kinda has to be there, of course it can be trained somewhat, and this is just my opinion, this is also something that can not be pushed, as others have stated.
good luck.

Rick...she sounds like she has excellent energy. But I'd make a decision sooner than later, to either A) place her in SAR training or B) put her in Law Enforcement/apprehension training. As you know, you can have one or the other but not both. Typically dogs that have taken the sleeve, are not ever placed in SAR work. As well, there's 2 schools of thought on the trailing/tracking dog vs. the air scenting dog. Law Enforcement push the tracking (and don't usually endorse the air-scenting skill). SAR work can be a combination of both. It's good that you're working the bark alert. Some gsd's do the snapping of the teeth. To some, it's just their style. Try to quell the barking at other dogs. Your girl sounds like she knows her nose. Capitalize on that, and she'll make a good partner, in whatever direction you decide to take her in. Good luck!

I agree with most that has been said previously but disagree with the statement, "Typically dogs that have taken the sleeve, are not ever placed in SAR work." As we know, most dogs that bite the sleeve, especially for sport, are biting primarily in prey drive and are not really being serious but playing a game.

SAR air scent training is the same game but usually uses a tug toy and don't transition to the sleeve. The aggression or defense is never utilized or built upon. At 6 months of age many dogs that are doing bite work are not worked in defense.

But I do agree you need to make a choice sooner than later because SAR work requires lots of socialization and sometimes handling by other people besides yourself. This desensitize your dog and take away from "SA" Law enforcement work that does utilize high defense.

I think it's all in the handling. A friend of mine in K9 sar has a lovely Sch titled gsd, who she's wanted to get into cadaver work, but there's been some pushback , since he's "taken the sleeve" and some are of the mindset that this "apprehension" behaviour could move into SAR work. She's a great handler, and has an excellent working relationship with this dog, I have/see no issues with it. At the end of the day, with SAR work you absolutely want & need a well-socialized K9.

Kacey I understand what you are saying. You are correct in the SAR community there is def. some pushback when it comes to dogs who have had any type of sleeve work. But i believe it is misconcieved and comes from the population of SAR personnel who don't have any experience in protection work (those $@R@ retriever folks, lol)

I've always said that a prey driven SCH SPORT DOG aka (sleeve dogs)  would make a great SAR dog. it's just a game

...lol...yes us retriever folks. I'm more partial to the G.R.'s (as you can see by my avatar) than labs....{sigh...we like what we like eh?}. But my next working dog will most likely be a gsd (hence the reason for joining this forum and doing research)....although I have toyed with the Malinois option as well. I indeed agree with you...it's all just a game. The prey drive + play drive + nose + energy + stamina are all key ingredients in both areas.