First let me say, Ive enjoyed all the videos Ive bought, (basic OB, establishing pack structure, and now Building drive and focus)Im very new at this so be kind, my focus at this point is a well behaved companion, but Im also interestd in Search and rescue.
Kane has lots of prey drive, and Ive just started the ball on the string part of the video,he loves this and I have a ways to go , my question...do I need to be as particular with the grip and the out as per the video? because we did the Typical "drop it "" with treat and clicker to retreive socks, shoes and other items, as well as playing "fetch the squeeky ball," (and his favorite, the pucks my 15 year old son practices with outside hes gettting really good at stick handling around 4 feet and a mouth, and this is bringing Kane into major drive! he will drop it because he knows Luc will start playing again,) He will drop the socker Ball because he knows Ill kick it again, hes a bit more apprehensive about any other ball because he wants it more than anything, have I messed him up?

What discipline in SAR are you interested in?

If the dog has intense prey drive then you could have him evaluated.....

How you play with him as far as tugging or fetch will not effect any he may have for SAR.

I do not see any conflict in watching the Flinks video if you are getting into sar.

I would say that grip IS important for a SAR dog that will use a tug reward, something I wish I had known about when my dog was younger. His intense desire to tug with less than a full grip is hard on the teeth.

Maybe you care less about your dog being mouthy (as did I), but again, a calm grip comes in handy to reduce "rebites" and if you neeed to perfom any kind of formal retreive for your SAR group it will help too.

Also I would say that a clean out with your ball toy is desirable. Teach it so that a clean out means he will get to re-engage the toy (and you). I think that it is better if the reward is engaging in the game with you (or whomever) than mere possession. That is my personal preference however.

 Quote: Jennifer Coulter

I do not see any conflict in watching the Flinks video if you are getting into sar.

I would say that grip IS important for a SAR dog that will use a tug reward, something I wish I had known about when my dog was younger. His intense desire to tug with less than a full grip is hard on the teeth.

I agree with this, however, I was thinking the OP was wondering if it how she played with the dog would affect his ability to search.

If the dog has intense prey and will hunt for a ball or whatever thrown in the grass or whatever, then the behaviors can be trained and the reward can be molded into the correct way to play with the dog.

 Quote:

my question...do I need to be as particular with the grip and the out as per the video?

Perhaps I misread, but I was trying to answer this part

 Quote: Jennifer Coulter

 Quote:

my question...do I need to be as particular with the grip and the out as per the video?

Perhaps I misread, but I was trying to answer this part

Nope, I missed that part.....must be my age....I agree with you 100%.

Thank you for your replys,sorry I get a bit rambly. I will keep working with him. I will be looking for an organization in my area and do more research. He will find a toy or treat in the bush next to our house, and once when I was in the hot tub he took my flip flop and when I got out I let him smell my other shoe and I said go find it, and he came back with it . he seems to understand these things without really training...hes really a fun fellow