Have looked all over this site & have yet to find any information on the best way to pick a pup with a good prey drive. Are there any of the videos that cover this subject? Wanting to start in some sort of Search & Rescue but have no clubs here so will have to rely on videos. If any one can help me I would appreciate it. Thanks
Check *Elements of Temperament: Drives, Nerves and Thresholds* on my web site.
Beyond that, if you are serious about SAR, have a qualified SAR team leader or experienced handler go along w/you when you are ready to select a pup. Look for pups whose parents and grandparents are *working*, not show dogs or byb pets. I would not recommend a novice go into it alone and hope to pick a pup w/the right stuff for SAR. There is a lot more to it than prey drive, like nerves, etc.
Cannot seem to find a team close to us. The closest is Denver, 2 hours away. One guy here wants to start a team but has no idea what he is doing, & from what I have read on this site will be going about it totally wrong. Don't want to get involved with someone that will ruin my dog. Does anyone live in Colorado that might know of several teams or how to find them?
Try http://www.nasar.org. They have a searhcable SAR Resource database. Just enter the parameters of your search. I tried k9 teams for Colorado, and got five hits.
Ed has an excellent video on picking puppies called Bite Training for Puppies. It is a must have. If money is no object then I would also purchase The First Steps in Bite Training which covers drive theory in more detail. Otherwise you can read his drive theory articles or ask some of us.
Vince, if she's picking a puppy for SAR, then bite training is not a consideration. Would the video still apply?
The book that Ed has for sale, Search-and-Rescue Dogs Training Methods by the American Rescue Dog Association, hard cover ($25.00) , has a section on choosing the right dog for SAR.
Good point J but the original post was how to select a puppy with good prey drive. You might only get 1/2 hour out of a 2 hour tape but if money is of little concern I still stand by my post.
Thanks! Will do my homework before I decide what to do. I have another goofy question. What breeds are people using the mostly in this type of work? I have seen everything from Border Collies to Newfoundlands. I realize most of you raise GSDs but want to know what options there are. Also have seen a lot of shelter dogs used, but isn't it better to train & select a dog out a breeding line known to work. Sorry about all the questions but we trained Labs for hunting for years & you go a lot on pedigrees with working lines.
Best to talk w/the team you intend to join. There can be some real prejudices against GSDs, I won't mention team names, but geeeeez, there is one that is scared silly of GSDs and does not want any new ones to join. Also, consider the degree of sociability you need, they must be dog/human friendly. GSDs can definitely do the work, just use the same skills you learned in choosing Labs for work and you'll be fine, IOW, stay w/dogs who can *work*.
Labs are very popular in SAR, btw. They certainly have the prey/play/hunt drives w/the social skills. There could be a time when you can only take 1 vehicle into a location and have to stick 5-6 of your dogs in someone's vehicle together, Labs handle that sort of thing pretty well <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
For the record, *none* of my GSDs are dog aggressive (knock on wood), we've got a zero tolerance policy on that.
Grew up with Dobermans & Border Collies as a kid. Maybe will check into them first. Most people I've talked to about Dobermans have show lines. We had one lab with show lines & he was a beautiful dog but didn't have the ambition he needed to hunt.
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