Opinion ? of Hard - Page 1

 I was looking thru the Female ad section and found many of the listings as Hard female. I,d like to see what peoples deffinition of "hard" is, for so many I,d venture to say it is subjective.

I'm not at all an expert but, as an owner of GSD's for most of my life, I'll take a stab at it (in my humble opinion) and agree that many people's opinions of "hard" differ greatly.

To me, "hard" would mean the animal (whether male or female) would have an air about them that would exude strength of mind (not timid, not shy, not aggressive) when approaching strangers, new obstacles, things and places not formally known to this dog.  The dog would approach in a cautious but not at all fearful stance.  No hackles, no tail tucking, no ears back but forward and alert.  The dog would not back down to a threat but, not respond in an overly aggressive way however, always standing his/her ground.  The dog might also come across as a bit stubborn in training (meaning he/she would try to use his/her own reasoning before the handler's at times).

I'm sure this only scratches the surface but, for me, when someone mentions "hard", this is what I think of.

I'm sure there are opinions that differ greatly from what I've described and I would love also to hear those.

Not an expert either but I think of a hard dog as one that is confident in all situations, can take a hard correction and not come out of drive but possibly builds drive, also is possibly civil.

My Personal opinion of Hard.

Nothing to do with agression or civil as a soft dog can carry these traits.

Hard would have more to do with the resilience factor - for example a dog that is trained with alot of compulsion for incorrect behaviour yet clearly shows no loss in attitude or drive to its work. I guess pain barrier and a strong almost stuborn mentality play a part here. Not nesc a favourable trait for a competition dog.

A dogs hardness is usually increased greatly when in drive - example when the protection head is on it is likely to take a fair bit of pressure from the helper or when there is a lot of ball used in obedience it will withstand more leash correction.

A truly hard dog often has a very cold calm demenaour off the work environment and has that glare that looks through you exuberating self confidence - these dogs are quite often burning for a fight due to their confidence in themselves but dont show through screaming and flashing teeth.

Tracking is where you really test hardness - IMO

Having said all of this - Hardness varies through out life and its stages ie age health and experience (training). Hardness is a genetic trait but there is a lot of work that goes into creating that near invincible attitude in a dog.

Please note this is from personal experience and that is limited to around 10 years of breeding and training - perhaps it would be better to ask those who have had hard dogs and managed to train them to high levels about their opinions.

I am a training helper and my other interests are in genetics - Here one really needs the opinions of an Accomplished competitor whatever the discipline.

bob, you are absolutely right.  hardness is subjective & relative.  in an effort to oversimplify things, a lot of folks tend to pigeon-hole dogs just as they do people.  examples:  blonde?.......must be stupid.     black?........must be lazy.  only child?....must be spoiled.  and in the dog world:  schh title?.......working dog.     showlines?........soft.   workinglines?.....hard.  making these generalizations is a lot easier than actually taking the time to evaluate another person or a dog based on individual merit.  conversely, people also pigeon-hole based on one attribute that they deem desireable; such as hardness in a dog.  it would be truly interesting to find out how some folks have arrived at their descision.  personally, i don't think that the ability to take hard corrections is proof of hardness in and of itself.  it just means that the dog is not handler sesitive.  we have all seen hard dogs that are handler sensitive.  and that does not make them soft.  i get really irritated with people who come to these hasty conclusions; especially where young dogs and pups are concerned.  dogs do mature at different rates.  while nerves may be more obvious in a young dog, hardness may or may not be.  a lot of young dogs are wrongly evaluated, end up in the wrong hands.  a problem. 

a wise person once told me, "flight is sometimes the correct response."  so flight is not always an indicator of hardness or softness.  i think it is important to observe a dog in a number of different situations at different times in order to get an accurate assessment of hardness.  i'm sure some folks advertise their dogs as being hard because they bark at the helper or bite a sleeve..........or scare the neighbor kids away.  :)   subjective and relative.

pjp

you guys can go on and on trying to describe it in your own subjective way but fact remains that a hardness is as described by some the well known trainers,a dog's ability to work under pressure and still stay in drive pure and simple.don't make it too complicated there is no reason for it . have a nice one.

held,

when you say, "trainers,  work under pressure, and stay in drive" that is also subjective..........to sport training/schutzhund. 

pjp

Certainly not an adjective to describe easily.

and can only be described upon a dog that is observed from everyday handling,, Here is my description  of Hard boys and girls in our breed....

Invincible,                                 never ending loyality to handler /owner,   brains   brawn and  die hard love

full mouth bite

Ability to make turn on and turn off decisions

Alarming alertness

Calmness

Ready

hardheaded

high fight drive

high prey drive