Obedience in protection work - Page 2

Hmm.. As other posters stated, it's all VERY subjective and what works for one dog may or may not work for another. Also, your's dog's age was never mentioned? My example.

I screwed up my pup (a litttle, nothing major), by bringing him to our sch club at 14 weeks (so, he can "watch" older dogs work and "soak" it up. Well, he soaked it up, alright. We would stand by the fence while the other dogs were doing obedience and protection, he will sniff, walk around, relieve himself, get petted a bit by people etc...

Now, he is 8 months. When he comes onto the field, he is absolutely NOT in drive to do puppy tug or pillow work and biting etc... We will get out of the car, will show up at the field, close the gate behind us, it's us 2 and a helper and the goof will:

maybe I'll sniff a bit here and there

hey' what's that plant? I better investigate.

Uh oh, time to go potty in front of the helper... here goes!

Might as well stretch while I am here...

Ok, the boss and the guy in a suit are getting mad, let's so some work! Switch on: bark, bark, boom, bite, shake the tug, fight the helper etc...

Stuff like that goofing off goes on for about a minute, while we try to discourage it etc... Finaly, like mentioned, switch goes on, the dog is in drive, high spirited and he is rock solid and does what he is supposed to do/what we want him to do in the first place and he does great.

Lesson? What happened here, or rather what was happening? It was learned behavior. The dog has learned that in the begininng it's almost a social function, I'll screw around a little bit, then when they get on my butt and won't tolerate it no more, I'll show the helper who's the boss.

That's just an example, has nothing to do with your case, but the point is dogs pick up stuff and they pick it up quick, good AND bad. To directly answer your question is tough, without actualy seeing your dog etc... etc.. as other posters said better than me. Generaly speaking, if the dog does solid work and you are pleased with his progress, what's the point of doing obedience before he enters the field? To jazz him up? Focus? Please explain the reasoning behind your thought process and what do you think you will (or try to accomplish) by doing obedience.

If the dog is excited, animated, spirited and anticipating gettgin onto the field, I don't see no problem with that. On the other hand, said by the other poster, obedience is obedience, the dog can do it anywhere and anytime you want. Sit means sit in yoru backyard, SCh trial, in the park - anywhere, so why do you want to do it at that particular time?