Your Heart or your Head? - Page 2

RLHAR

I did not mean that your club members were saying it in abad way, i am sure they said it for the best,

But if you look at most Dog trials if your Dog is not up to scratch on the Obedinance then it will surely lose a lot of Points than a Dog who Bites Well but not so hard or flashy in the protection, and at the end of the day its points which count

Now if i have to choose  from a dog which is excellent on Obedinance,and steady on protection and tracking

 or a Dog which is not so good on obedinace but a bit more powerful on protection and steady on tracking

then i will choose the first dog

Females although they can be very good on protection do not usually have the power of a Male Dog, but that does not mean that the female cannot do the job asked of it ,

If your Dogs were mine i would choose the one you are working now and know well

But at the end of the day you have nothing to prove to anyone else but yourself,

Steve

I would go with my heart, we bond to the dogs, but their is always that special one, the one we never forget. That is the one I would not miss out on for anything or anyone.

There is one other thing that you could do...and that is to work with both of them...Really...It doesn't take that much more to work 1 more dog...I mean the hardest part of dog training is to "get there"...I mean to training...to tracking...So it's just very easy to do...See where each one will take you...But have fun at it...If you're not having fun...then just QUIT...If you're not having fun...then neither will your dog/dogs...So just enjoy your time with your dog...

~Bob~

For me, I would work the male but my goal is high level competition.

If you are happy with club level trials and you have a good relationship with your dog, there really is no question. Work the dog you have a better relationship with.

You have to have a good relationship with your dog. You will only go as far as your relationship gets you. Sure the dog will always work for the bite, but you will see it in the OB scores. OB is where you see the dog/handler relationship.

Over here there have been some outstanding females working in ScHh. They have the same drives of the males but overall not the power in the Bite, But saying that it is how the dog does the job that counts and a female is quite capable of getting a very high score in Protection

when it comes down to tracking the male is no better qualified than a female it is up to the Dog and what work  the handler has done with it, many neglect the Tracking side of the three phases

Then we come to OB

this year alone i have been to at least 14 ScHh  trials or competitions 

It is in OB where the dogs fall flat, i have known and seen this year handlers with 30 to 40 years experience, make a mistake or two themselves on the working field in a competition. and one who is a great handler and owns a great dog just recently retired from big competitions when told by the Judge what he had missed out a bit on the OB he scratched his head, still not knowing or realising he had messed it up,

It cost him dearly for that mistake and he was in the running to win until that error

As for RLHAR female she gets on well with it that is half the battle

No one can tell at this early stage that the dog will not go on to improve in protection

one Dog over here who is Famous throught the SCHh world did not even Bite at the Sleeve until he was nearly two years old, He did not want to know, then he started and became a famous competitor, i will not name him but it is true

So what i say is go along with your Female and see how things go always work her with the confidence in yourself that she will make a great dog later on that alone will boost you and it will refect on how your dog works on the field,

She will pick it up from you

Whatever you do good luck

Steve

You said the male bonded with your husband, does your husband want to train and trial.

Recently I went to a seminar with an very very well-known trainer with my male. He's almost 2, but is spooky... I too have heard from my club members that he'll not amount to anything - I'll be lucky to put a BH on him...and so on.  The trainer and I had several discussions over the first day about this dog. The next morning after tracking him (where he did pretty well), the trainer sat down and we talked about him again. What he said to me was "will he make a Schutzhund dog, probably not. He could learn to track and do ob,but in all likelyhood not do protection." I agreed with him. Then he said the most important thing " Do you really care if he doesn't do the whole thing? You love him and he's your boy. And that's the most important thing"  I think that speaks volumes!  I echo what has been said above - do what will make you happiest with your dog. People seem to forget that this is a Sport, not life and death!!!!

I agree with flygirl

If young Goran does not make the grade, he will not be thought any less of and he will still be the same Dog who does his best to please me

Whatever he does on the field or lack of doing he will remain here until he passes on or i go before him whatever, but i would not part with him because he cannot perform to the standard i want from him in the ScHh sport

But saying that i hope he will, for sure he will on OB and Tracking, Protection is at this moment of time 50-50

But we can only work at it

Steve

It's not the first time I hear this "she will not go far because she dose not hit like a tank", well SCH has three part only one being protection, and protection dose not last as long as anything else, now I would rather have a female with a big heart that will fight every second than a male that hits like a tank :). If the assesment of your dog was based on a power when the dog gose in for a bite, I would look to someone else to evaluate my dog, like I said the sport has 3 stages not just one. I am more into PPD so for me females are the choice of weapon :) sure males bite harder, are "somehow" stronger, but a good female fights to the death while male fights for his ego :).

Shortly choose the dog that you have better connection, because connection with your dog is all the difference that you will ever need to make it higher. As you said it's your hobby sure you would not mind to get to national, but it sounds like club level will cut it for you, so stick to your dog :) good luck.

Yes, Hitting like a tank looks and sounds good, but it is not so common as one may think

Few Dogs carry it through and those that do have other faults, well most do, You can have a Dog brilliant on protection but no good on OB or tracking or one of those phases

First and foremost OB is the thing for me to get right, because it is from this OB that the other two phases stem from,

The Dog must listen to the handler and it has to be immediate, otherwise points will be lost

Get a dog really good on OB then bother about  perfecting the other two phases Protection and Tracking

Steve