I'm just curious to hear from those who have lots of experience. I am looking for generalities here, as I know each dog/line is different. At what age would most folks consider "washing out" a dog for the particular program he/she was gotten for? In other words at what point should you be able to determine that the dog just doesn't have what it takes to do the job (i.e. Schutzhund, KNPV, police service dog)? Basically this question is geared towards starting with a puppy (7-8 wks. old). Any thoughts are appreciated.
Randall
i think that depends on a lot of different factors. such as:
-how far do you want to go in that area? do you want a dog that will compete for the top dog in it's sport? do you want the best PSD in the land? or are you willing to accept a dog that will take a lot of work, but will still get titled or be a serviceable PSD?
-what kind of access do you have to another, better dog? if it took you 6 months to find the dog you have, do you want to wait another 6 months? or can you find a better dog quickly and still have it be economically viable for your situation?
i think these decisions need to be made around the 10-12 month range. sure, there is the late bloomer that if you gave up on them at a year, they could blossum, but i think by a year, you're pretty safe.
genetics play a big role here too. if the dog has good genetics, i'd be willing to hang on a bit longer. if the dog has questionable or unknown genetics, then a year would be it for me...
1st selection at 6 weeks: do they show any interest at all?
2nd selection 6 months: Do they still bite like wanted after teething?
3th selection 1 year: can they jump?
4th selection 18 months: can they do the muzzle excercise?
5th selection 2 years: are they capable of doing the whole programme?
5 major selection points for BR but in fact it's a continious process every training is part off the ongoing selectionprocess
To answer this i am going to make the following assumptions.
First that the handler is not so attatched to the dog that they aren't concerned over the quality of the dog or its performance, and that the question really is do i have a working dog at the end of my leash?
Second that the handler is concerned about having a dog that will always like to work for the sake of the work not the sake of the handler.
The first and well document ed point in time that you can wash a dog is 7 months. Puppy tsting is not really helpful but rearing practices are. Yep, lots of research behing this one folks.
Then reevaluate at about 14 months.
Who should evaluate...NOT THE OWNER!!
Give your dog over to someone trusted in the work to evaluate. Someone who will be brutally honest with you. Someone who has a lot of experience with working dogs and buying selling and training the dogs so you can be sure they have enough experience under their belt.
Will they be 100% no. 90% yes.
At 8 months of age, I know if I am going all the way to Sch III or not. Now what will be unknown is if the dog will be a good club dog, or a serious competition dog. The answer to that question comes on the trial field.
Akino v Kanonsburg SchIII, 05 IFR Team member (HOT);
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