Originally posted by Vince P.:
Cindy:

Your knowledge and experience by far exceeds mine but my philosophy is that a dog can be a 299 World Champion by living on the couch but the same dog would be a 300 if he was kenneled. Make any sense?

Hey Vince,
Glad to see you are 'back in the saddle' <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

To respond to this I must say that it is a personal choice.....I don't have dogs because I want a World Champion. I have dogs because I (most of the time) love them. I would not be willing to put one of my dogs in a kennel all the time just for a point or two on a schutzhund field. Don't get me wrong. The dogs I have now all spend kennel time. I do this mostly because they don't all get along but even if they did, each dog gets individual time alone with me this way.

I think the bond you get by keeping a dog in the house with you enhances a sport dogs performance and attitude.....but I raise my dogs from puppies and I don't have rank or pack issues. Some people can not keep a dog in the house with out screwing these things up. That's a whole different thread though. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

I also want to point out a valuable lesson Cindy taught me from the very first dog I bought (which was from her by the way, and no it wasn't a Dobe it was a Shepherd <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> ) She always said to socialize your dog BUT do NOT let people schmooze your dog. Let the dog hang around people during critical socialization ages but no one is to love on them or feed them or pet them or play with them. This way the dog can be around people but they aren't looking to them for affection, rewards, play time etc.. All this comes from the handler and no one else. If they are not getting this from other people and only the handler I believe you get a lot more attention and focus. She raised Elka this way as well as in the house and I can remember a t.v. crew doing a hightlight on the regionals and they were heeling with the cameraman walking backwards eye level with the dog. Elka never looked at the guy and never lost her focus or concentration on Cindy. But like Cindy says it all depends on the dog too. By the same token I will never forget that advice she gave me and will continue to raise my dogs this way. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> Dave do people play and love on your dog? This could be a factor in her lack of attention.

Karmen brings up a good point. Up until about 7 months, I let her greet people... she LOVES everybody and LOVES to be petted etc. Since that time I have not let her interact at all during training and this has helped somewhat. She definitely wants to "make friends" with every person AND dog... even if they are lunging and snarling from inside a cage... she goes forward with tail wagging.

I am 100% certain that we can train through these issues... just wanted some input from veterans as to what they do to encourage focus when distractions are present. Thanks for the input everyone.

This again is a very interesting topic. A topic he had a conversation on the other day in our club. And there also you see the difference of attention a dog has to it´s handler. Kenneled dog seem to has more attention then the house dogs (by this I meen able to move arround freely in the house)
Of course some dog´s just have it in them. But still I think for a good bond between handler dog house dog is good.
My dog is a house dog too, although I strongly see during periods when she is crated she has even more attention to me.
So maybe what to do is kennel or crate her in periods before she has to do a trial or competition in order to get even more attention.
And then after back in the house freely.
Also I seem dogs who has been in a kennel too long if then taken out some are too excited that they are difficult to handle.