Changes in personal preferences.... - Page 1

How has your personal preference for your personal dog has changed over time?  I know when you 1st start what you like is probably different from what you like now b/c of the amount of dogs you have seen, worked and your overall experience.

Ace,
I am sure this doesn't happen to often, but the best dog I ever had was in 1957. He was my first, and I have had many since that time and even today he is the standard I look at when mating. He would die for you in a heartbeat, and in the end did.
Hank

Ace
I still like the same kind of dog,
I just wish I could go back in time and
apply what I know NOW  with training/handling
to that poor "first dog"  

Still like a dog with nice balance of
natural aggression, prey and play.
A dog who wants to work with you
not only for himself. You can use a simple
pat on the head, or "atta dog" to bring
drive back up after stress/pressure,
a dog that will also recover from
pressure/stress on his own.

Natural deep nose, strong hunt drive,
and just overall mental/physical soundness.

Hank,

Have you come close in producing a pup that was just like him?

Nice description workingdogz.  lol@your first dog.  Man I am right there now looking at mine and he is only 18 months old and I am already saying to him, "please don't hold it against me.  I had and still have no clue wtf im doing". lol

You know I always wanted great defense and never really knew what I wanted.  Thought I wanted high prey and defense and then I wanted low prey and high defense.  Now after 18 months into dogs (still so blind) I feel like I want a good balanced dog.  I am not going to Nationals or going to be a K-9 handler so I don't need super high drive.  I want a good medium drive dog so that we can live in the house together.1-10 I would want a prey drive of a 7.5 and defense of a 7.5.  I want more than anything strong nerves with the ability to bounce back from anything.  I certainly agree with mental/physical soundness.

 I have dogs that are similar in alot of traits, nerve, protection, athletic ability, but the dogs I have raised are a lot higher maintenance. They require more focus on them. Garr was just as good in all these traits, but was never on a leash, never had a collar, and was loose 24-7.
  I'm sure I told you how he died, If not let me know
Hank

I think sometimes we look back on the
dogs we had and perhaps we remember
them as being "easier", we talk about this at
training. Everyone always remembers that "one"
dog that made it all easy. Do you think that maybe
once that dog "got it", we just forgot about all the
times he/she wasn't so perfect?

Our "first" dogs are always the victims
They suffer through our learning curve,
thats why I maintain, if I could roll back time,
well, I bet I could have made that "first" dog
just as good, maybe better, than what we have now

Biddability, pack and good play makes life
way easier with training. It's much easier to
accomplish a goal if a dog wants to work
for you, and with you, not against you to satisfy
him/herself. And of course, good strong nerves.

Health goes without saying, but if you have a
loose screw, all the tricks in the book won't get
you what you want.

Good possibility,
I think in this case being only 10 years old at the time and training was looked at as sit, or roll over. Every thing else was just called daily living. I never looked at it as training. I just was always with him and figured he could do anything. I know we had a big field where as kids in the neighbor hood we would play army. We would dig fox holes and throw dirt clods for bullets. He would lay in the foxhole and we would crawl around on the ground to keep from getting hit. He would stay down untilI told him to go then he would charge when I did. He would knock the other kids down, never hurt them. It was all fun. He would go to the brick yard with me and we would catch crawdads, and at night I built a old raft and we would go frog giggin. I remember spending several days trying to get him to climb a old umbrella tree so we could get on top of the house. I never doubted he could not do it, or anything else I could do.
   As I got older and learned more, training dogs became regimented. Dogs were rated by their ability to learn and follow your commands. I'm not to sure we want a dog to be what he is, instead we want them to be what "WE" want them to be. A robot. We work dogs and train dogs and judge dogs by their ability to be what we want them to be.
   I think the reason Garr was such a good dog is I never saw him as anything other than a friend both being equal, and he taught me more than I ever taught him. 55 years later I still love and miss him.

hank

hank
This is why it's important to also let the dog
'be a dog'. Sometimes I think all our 'refined'
training methods have made weaker dogs
appear better than they are. Not saying we need
to go back to 'yank & crank', but sometimes
all that 'positive' isn't a good thing.

All the excuses in the world come out
about a dog being "too valuable" etc to
work and risk being hurt. I'd like to think
when you were a kid, you didn't really stop
to think about putting a price on your Garr,
nor did the fact he was priceless to you stop
you both from doing normal crazy kid stuff.

Our dogs run in a pack, get along or get a boot
up your ass  

They live with us, they get stepped on
chased off the furniture, out of the kitchen etc.
We don't allow dog aggression etc, they are
'normal' dogs that we just happen to work.
We also don't chase points , so perhaps
that is why we don't worry about doing
damage to a dogs precious and delicate
psyche

I think we are fortunate in that the dogs we have
now are very similar to what we had as kids, just
now we have better more expensive toys to
take them places and do things with. 

I admit though, my days of youth are
passed me, I don't bounce like I used
to, crash landings hurt way more and
for way longer than when I was a kid

Ace, I read your OP the other day, but didn't have the time to post. So, to answer you, yes. I didn't grow up in a working dog home. I had to learn about dogs and training through trial and.error. People change when they grow and expand their knowledge. People that don't know dogs will look at a nerve bag, piece of shit barking, and think it is "tough". I see people posting pics on here, where the dog has all his teeth bared and stiff, etc. "Badass, dude."

My preference  hasn't really changed.  My second GSD was my idea almost the perfect GSD.  ASL/GSL cross.  He was aloof, even with us for the first years of his life, but even though he was confident and dominant, he remembered what was asked of him. He would fetch and search forever till he found it, ignored other dogs completely, ignored people until they got in his face ( then he was a force to be reckoned with, very civil), and he was calm.  Dominant with adults, but absolutely perfect with children.

I have a dog now (WL) that is loyal, tough, civil, (a little too aggressive to men), takes a correction really well, but also forgets a correction too quickly.  I can't trust her when I am not around to do the things she knows (well, should know) she is not supposed to do at almost 4 years of age.  
  Another thing I'd change about her is the hyperness.  For example, she gets so excited and worked up when she *thinks* she is going for a car ride that she spins out (literally), bangs into things, including cars, people or anything that happens to be in the way.  She gets too excited, which makes her hard to live with.  She does calm down in the house though, thank goodness.
However, her excitability and  hardness makes it that much harder for me to get through to her with a command.  She just doesn't hear it, or chooses not to hear it, and is quick to do her own thing.  I find I am always having to crack down on her, and it is exhausting. 
 She has some qualities I prefer that he didn't such as, she is more loyal and has better focus(by this I mean looking me in the eye)  (She is also wonderful and totally submissive to small children.) 
I would just like her to be more biddable, and easy.  I miss easy.   I miss calm.