i would like to know the difference between what they call sharpness and a dog having so called thin nerves?for other people they translate sharpness for thin nerves if they wanna criticize and vice versa if they wanna praise,just would like to know ,how do you really define each?especially if people say your dog is showing teeth and growling,they might say its got thin nerves but for others they interpret it as the sought after character SHARPNESS,so what made each iother different,pls elaborate,many thanks in advance

I don't lump sharpness and nerves into the same category. If it meant the same thing I would only use one term. There would be no use for two terms if the meaning was the same.

My personal definitions of sharpness and weak nerves:

Sharpness pertains to how easily the dog is put into defense/showing aggression.

Nerves deals with pressure and stress - how easy it is to push the dog into flight/avoidance and the time it takes for the dog to recover from stress and pressure.

A Sharp dog responds more quickly with aggression to stimuli. It takes less pressure to move a sharp dog into defense.

A weak nerved dog does not respond well to various stimuli - loud noises, strange sights, new environment. A weak nerved dog becomes stressed easily and shuts down, "breaks" and retreats or takes a greater amount of time to recover from the stress than a dog that has good/strong nerves. A weak nerved dog cannot take pressure/stress and is more easily pushed into flight/avoidance.

There are verying degrees of sharpness and nerve quality. Some would say that a sharp dog is always a weak nerved dog and I Think it depends on the handling of the dog as much as its genetic makeup.

IMHO People are often too quick to punish/correct a dog that is sharp as it can be annoying when the dog barks at everything it thinks it a threat. This puts more pressure and stress on a dog that already sees threats everywhere. It is your job to deal with the threat and settle the dog. A dog that thinks it is the only line of defense against threats is more likely to be unstable and over stressed.

Just my take on it

Beautiful post, Jennifer. I agree with your explanation and definitions.

 Quote: sandy moore

Beautiful post, Jennifer. I agree with your explanation and definitions.

Ditto...

Little Em is sharp but more than willing to "go to" whatever interests or spooks her.
IMHO, her nerves are good, but she just may be the dog that bites first and asks questions later.

With the socializing I am doing she is much better.

My favorite kind of dog is a sharp dog with good nerves. Realize that in the bringing up of such a dog, you are going to see behaviors that are not pretty and sometimes it can appear to be weakness, as the dog figures things out and comes to grips with the feelings he or she is having.

as they get older they learn to discriminate a bit, if handled properly and don't light up at every thing they see or hear. These same dogs can become dangerous if handled wrong (as Jennifer pointed out)

 Quote: didier jimenez

i would like to know the difference between what they call sharpness and a dog having so called thin nerves?for other people they translate sharpness for thin nerves if they wanna criticize and vice versa if they wanna praise,just would like to know ,how do you really define each?especially if people say your dog is showing teeth and growling,they might say its got thin nerves but for others they interpret it as the sought after character SHARPNESS,so what made each iother different,pls elaborate,many thanks in advance

in reference to growling and showing teeth, it totally depends on the context of those behaviors. What is happening around the dog when he growls and shows teeth? Is it during bitework training? Is it in the house with family?

Lots of variables need to be considered whenever you are talking about things like nerves, sharpness, etc... there is no black and white answer to this.

 Quote: Cindy Easton Rhodes

you are going to see behaviors that are not pretty and sometimes it can appear to be weakness, as the dog figures things out and comes to grips with the feelings he or she is having.

Ive never heard this before but it sounds fascinating, do you mind explaining it a little bit for me?

Mary, not to answer for Cindy but my take on her statement is such:

A sharp dog responds with aggression to stimuli. When they are young that stimuli could be anything from an apple falling off a tree to someone honking their horn down the road. They are not weak nerved because they go towards the "threat."

BUT They can appear weak because what they perceive as a threat can seem like nothing so it may seem like the dog is afraid of everything.

They need consistent and fair handling by someone who understands the behavior and how to work with it.

To add:
A sharp dog that has strong nerves is what I was referring to or sharp dogs in general but a sharp dog with strong nerves.. heh.. well think really forward moving aggression that won't back down..

I agree with Cindy, I like a dog that is on the sharp side with strong nerves. A great mix IMO. There is a category of not sharp enough and also too sharp but it depends on how the rest of the dog balances out and what the dog is being used/trained for.

thanks, Jennifer. so the dog coming to terms with its own fewlings would be (probably) a narrower feild of stimuli that make it react aggresivly BUT when it does percieve a threat it is very convinced? Like it now knows what to dismiss and what to hold out on?
Lady is, I think, sharp to a degree. what I said above kind of applies to her; when she does alert or bark she is very confident that what she is doing is right, as if shes already weighed it in her mind and is completly confident in her reasons. Ive never had a problem handling her but I have known other dogs that were like that whos owners were constantly struggling because they viewed it as insubordination (to be that self assured) so I think now, the dog was probably sharp, not JUST dominant.
Does any of what I said make sense? I know, I need to work on clarity....

It does make sense.. I think Don't worry about clarity it can be difficult to put thoughts on a computer screen and make them sound right.

A dog that alerts to an apple falling off a tree for example, would investigate the threat and eventually dismiss it and retain that memory that apples are not a threat.

With proper handling as the dog matures the category of threats shrinks to what the dog has learned or been conditioned to see is a threat. New things always need to be assessed by the handler and the dog but as the dog matures it will be more inclined to investigate a bit before "declaring war."