Possible New puppy

puffy137

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Madeline my bunny is lying under my chair as I type. She has a lovely hutch which she uses only at night , its painted pink , with wallpaper at the back & a beige carpet. It also has a 'bathroom' & bedroom . However she likes the run of the house & garden , no dangers for her , only one neighbours cat that is almost as scared of her than she is of it. She has one tray indoors which she uses , she has never had an 'accident' yet . bless her.:):):)
 

Tom

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So you're working dogs you let them "go" and your pet dogs you recommend keeping them on a leash, crate kennel etc. just clarifying. if this is what you mean it would be interesting if guide dog schools would follow the same philosophy.

No. They are all on a leash or somehow under control, I just don't "teach" a dog that needs to have high drive and confidence to settle down or "stop it", until they are older. I'll start squashing drive and settling down a pet dog right away.

There is and axiom from my business that holds true: The best workers make the worst pets, and the best pets make the worst workers. We get the majority of our dogs from the pound or rescues. They usually ended up in the pound because they were buck wild and out of control. I take all that wild drive and channel it where I want it to go. If you want a calm house pet, you don't need wild drive. If you want a field worker to retrieve your downed game, you need LOTS of drive.
 

leigti

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No. They are all on a leash or somehow under control, I just don't "teach" a dog that needs to have high drive and confidence to settle down or "stop it", until they are older. I'll start squashing drive and settling down a pet dog right away.

There is and axiom from my business that holds true: The best workers make the worst pets, and the best pets make the worst workers. We get the majority of our dogs from the pound or rescues. They usually ended up in the pound because they were buck wild and out of control. I take all that wild drive and channel it where I want it to go. If you want a calm house pet, you don't need wild drive. If you want a field worker to retrieve your downed game, you need LOTS of drive.
Thanks for clarifying. I think that just proves that my dog would have made one great hunting dog. It took a heck of a lot of work to make her a great pet :) Guide dogs must have very good manners and be under control, but they must also have the drive to work and be confident and the intelligence to ignore a command when it is not safe. It is a hard combination to come up with.
 

Tom

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Guide dogs must have very good manners and be under control, but they must also have the drive to work and be confident and the intelligence to ignore a command when it is not safe. It is a hard combination to come up with.

Guide dogs, war dogs, police dogs and a few movie dogs can reach a very special place that few dogs ever reach. Everyone loves their pets and some have amazing relationships with their pets, but when you work with a dog all day every day for years on end, something unexplainable sometimes happens. I've had pets my whole life and always loved them, but something new became possible when training became my profession. Most people will never have this thing I'm speaking of happen. I believe that most of the people who rely on a guide dog daily know exactly what I mean. I've solidly reached this level with 6 dogs in my life, and several others were right on the verge. I'm not going to call it psychic or anything like that, but it is a state of being VERY highly "tuned in" to each other that I've only ever seen achieved within a working relationship on a long term basis. I could basically speak an English sentence to any of these six dogs and they'd do what I wanted.I had one dog that I worked a lot who would simply look me in the eye a certain way to tell me he had to go outside for a quick number 2. When Bullet was 9 years old I got us lost in the wilderness at dusk/dark. I told him to "get us the "fudge" out of here" and that darn dog immediately backtracked himself to the trail we came in on and stood there looking at me like, "Well... I did what you said. What are you standing there with your mouth open for? C'mon. Lets go." He performed this action three more times before we got back to the trailhead. I'd never trained him to navigate or even track really. He was never much of a nose dog and preferred to go by sight even when hunting hidden "bad" guys. Still, he knew is "leader" was lost, and with a sentence he'd never heard before, he knew exactly what to do. I've got lots of stories like that. I had one dog who I could stand in front of and simply think a behavior while not moving a muscle, and she'd do it.

Anyhow, yes. I agree that guide dogs are a very special sort of dog.
 

abclements

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Hi all, I thought I would share a picture the breeder sent to me yesterday. We visited her on Saturday and after passing my tests, we put the down payment on her! We get her on the 14th and we can't wait!! :)

1422463116006.jpg
 

abclements

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This is why I do not go to "look" at a litter of puppies. Last time I did that I came home with one :)

Haha well by "look" I really meant that I went down there with the intention to get her as long as she checked out lol but I know what you mean! They're just so hard to say no to! :)
 

weldorNate

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MY dog that I had I used the treat method to train and used verbal commands and different tones of voice. I also gave my dog lots of time to run around to help burn there energy. I could ride bike with my dog and never worry about him trying to chase a cat or another dog.
 

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