Clear Headed-ness - Page 1

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Here's my definition....A clear headed dog is on who is able to differentiate between a threat and a non threat and act appropriately.  A dog with a good on/off switch.  A dog that can socialize with people/children appropriately but step into a completely different role when presented with a threat.  A dog that sees in black and white, not grey.

I would not expect a 2-4 month old pup to display this quality, they are not mature enough, nor would I want  to see anything other than prey drive in a dog that young.   The best thing to use when judging a pup that young is to look at both his parents.

you certainly can't judge a dog that young. i had a bitch that showed real potential as a protection dog from 6 weeks old. and blow me she is a real putz . never pass judgement on a dog untill it is mature, and this differs greatly from dog to dog

i agree with gsd fan on the definition.

tigermouse: "i had a bitch that showed real potential as a protection dog from 6 weeks old." You are already making a judgement. At six weeks old, the only thing you can judge is it will have real potential to poop and pee in the future.

I agree with GSDfan's definition. I would also add that a clear-headed dog is still able to think and make good decisions even when it is under high stress and/or at its maximum drive level. A dog can fit GSDfan's definition of clear headeness when it is not under stress and yet fall to pieces when you put it in a stressful situation or gets overloaded in drive.

ddrshep..... i was using my mistake as an example.(should have explained myself better)

 one that i wont make again thats for shue

For me, quite simply, a dog that thinks. I cannot stand dogs that become so over stimulated when they want something they can no longer follow basic direction, or even intelligently find a way to get what the want, simply resort to screaming, foaming, spinning.  DDRshep made an excellent addition to the definition.

I do, however, believe you can see this trait in *some* pups. When a 5 month pup thinks like a 4 year old adult, and can handle pressure like one, I'm impressed. 

Aside from behavior, take a very close look at a canine's eyes; it does not matter if they are blue, brown, yellow, or almost black. A clear headed dog (or wolf, coyote, etc.) will invariably have a "lights are on, and everybody is home" gleam coming from behind their eyeballs. This is no guarantee that your puppy will have a 140 canine IQ, but it is a starting point.

Nicole- I agree 100%, but reading that look is an art many never master.

Back in about 1989, we bought a 8 week old male working line puppy from Larry Filo (steinig Tal) that was out of IPO/Sch V rated Import parents.  He was a black sable with nice conformation and was the most aggressive puppy in the litter.  When we went to pick him, we watched in surprise when one big food bowl was put down in front of the puppies and he charged in and threw everyone off or drove them away from the food, ate what he wanted and then let the other puppies eat.  He was noticeably chubbier than the other puppies.  He was very friendly to us and bold and outgoing. Of course that was the puppy we wanted.  Larry's wife warned us that we could have a tough first year because he was very aggressive alpha male and would probably chew up anything he could get a hold of and that he would need a lot of obediance training. She was right.  She also warned us that without firm training he would try to dominate us and take over the home.  Right again.

After we got him home and a couple of days passed, he became very protective when the doorbell would ring or anyone would approach the house with a car or knock on the door.  He would charge the door.  We would grab his collar and pull him back. Once we would bring the people in we would let him free and he would run to them and sniff them and stare them down, and he would start being friendly.  During that first year we kept him in an inside kennel during the day when we were at work and free the rest of the him.  The first year he consumed quite a few nylabones.  Our kids loved playing with him with his toys and pull toys, but he did play rough.  The dog was truly fearless, ran toward gunshots and fireworks and was tested in real time a number of times with a suited helper.  He performed flawlessly and knew the difference between a real threat and a non-threat and he would bite any aggressive acting "helper" who made sudden moves toward me.  On one occasion he took on a person who broke in our home during the day when I was home and chased him out.  He was about to take him from the backside as this  guy was running out of the house and I called him off because I didn't want to get sued (it was a high school kid looking for money to buy drugs with).

I have never had a puppy before or since that had that much correct defense drive and need to dominate his territory. And yet he was outgoing, friendly and very sound around our kids, neighbor kids and our friends.  Truly fantastic GSD temperament.  At night he patrolled the inside of our home with a vengeance and became more aggressive.  He lived to be ten years old and was a joy every day. It turned out he got cancer at the site of his last rabies injection.  Coincidence ?

Thanks a bunch for the replies and information. A canine that can "switch gears or an on/off switch".......

Do you maybe think that sometimes a dog can acquire this through extensive socialization and consistent handling in many different environments? Eg. don't always overstimulate a dog outside work, teaching it to behave with children & other dogs  from a young age, spending time with it so it learns to read your body language etc. Given allowances that there will be individuals who will probably have more common sense than others but i wonder if this trait MIGHT be something that can be established through proper upbringing.

Or....do you people think it is something a dog has in its genetics..? Or a combination....?