Hello, my name is Austin. I have been a long time reader but this is my first post. Any help will be much appreciated!! I have a 7 month dutch shepherd pup that has no intrest in playing with anyone other than myself. For example, when we are at the local dog club and a decoy tries to get Rocky to chase the sack or tug, he just ignores them. Shows no sign of fear or avoidance just no desire to play whith them. I could grab the toy seconds after the decoy drops it and rocky goes nuts! Its very frustrating because during the week we play and I see his progress but when we work at the club with someone else he dosent care. Rocky's drives are great,comes from fine working lines, I have raised him by the book, everything seems to be in place... except he wont play or work with anyone else hahaha Big Problem. If anyone has seen this or experenced it with another pup or has any advice please let me know!!!!~ thanks!!! Also i have tried several different decoys, no response to anyone. please help

Have you tried tugging with him and handing it to the decoy while he's still tugging?

Yes, that works pretty good but once he wins the tug, it starts all over. My bigest problem is when the decoy is trying to agitate and build him up. I can get him crazy barking, snaping teeth ect, but does nothing for the decoy. Maybe im missing something? I guess my question is what am I seeing when he is doing this? Am i wasting my time working him in prey and foundation bite work? My end goal is to compete in PSA with him.

What does the breeder say about this?

I wouldnt say wasting your time, just keep in mind that so much of this is between the helper and your dog. He needs to develop a relationship with him, kinda like you did and it can take time.

Have you raised him to ignore strangers and be more indifferent to them, keep his focus on you?

Stop playing tug with him, or working him on yourself in any way. All you are doing is giving him an outlet for his drive that he prefers, if he wants to play, then he plays with the decoy, otherwise he doesn't play at all.

I've seen this behavior in a Malinois pup before, weird behavior. The pup was totally social, would run up to people and jump in their laps, but had no interest in playing tug with them, only the owner and occasionally close friends. The owner was doing most of the foundation work on themselves, they finally quit playing with the dog, it was other people or nothing. He did outgrow it eventually, kind of, he always preferred to play with the owner but did eventually do nice bitework with the decoys.

I think it's some sort of weird nerve quirk, although I've never been exactly sure what I'd call it, since the dog in question was very social as a pup, grew up to be a neutral adult, accepting of handling by strangers, but no interest in seeking it out. His sister was similar as a pup, the owner never did bitework themselves, only used other people, and she grew up looking like a normal dog, and titling no problem as an adult.

What are the decoys telling you, Austin?

Yes, I have raised him to be neutral to anyone other than myself and my girlfriend. I let close friends pet him every now and then. My next question is this, if i stop all tug work myself whats the best outlet for his energy? I live a couple hours away from the closest club so he would only be getting worked twice a week? Is that enough? I would be totaly fine with doing that as long as i was sure it would be good in the long run. I guess its worth a shot huh.... Thank you both for your help, any other advice would be awsome!!!

The idea is that the outlet for his energy will be the decoy. I did something similar for a problem with the retrieve, it helped a lot. It may not be an exact comparison, but it took about two weeks of playing with nothing but the dumbell to convince him how much he loved it.

The decoys and more experenced club members are a little confused. They have seen his drive and excitement for the prey but they cant bring it out personally. A few thought he may be slower developing, mentally. They kinda thought that this behavior was something you see in a much younger dog.