When I discussed working GSDs with a breeder he claimed that in his opinion quite a few of the working GSDs from the common german lines show weakness in different environments that a servicedog should handle without to much of a probelm, slippery floors, stairs, loud noises and such.
Is this a correct opinion, are this quite common and is it because to much focus on SCH only? Most dogs in belgium, german and other european countries spend their lives living in a kennel and back and forth to the SCH-field.
I guess environmental problems are therefore never really tested in many top sportdogs who get a lot of breedings.
Will Rambeau Moderator Reg: 01-25-2003
Posts: 5983
Loc: Idaho
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I use agitation in a poorly lit stairwell with polished landings as an advanced test scenario for mature dogs.
This test has helped me weed out the real dogs from the posers several times. I think that most of the upper level Police Canine vendors also use this scenario for the same purpose.
Needless to say, sport dogs never see anywhere near that level of stress, and *many* top level sport dogs would crumble in that situation.
Our SAR dogs are also put through many senarios that will stress many otherwise good dogs. The first time I lowered over the side of a 50ft tower in a rappelling harness, I thought Thunder grew claws like a cat the way he was clutching me. With his solid temperment, and trust in me, he setteled down quickly and raced back up the tower when we got to the bottom. Some of our dogs wont do it.
Good Morning, I work a dual purpose K-9 inside a detention center. These K-9's come from the same group as the "street dog".As Ed told me it is up to the handler to fine tune our dogs to this very different environment.Elevators,stairways,
slick waxed floors, series of heavy slamming doors,you get the picture. These dogs had no exposure to this type of setting before coming to the jail. You as the handler must use every oportunityand utilize all kinds of situations for training that you come accross in your routine day. Most important, IMO is that your dog "trusts you", if you ask him to do it, he must know it is OK. Take an obstacle course, how often in day to day routine will you come across a tressel walk, part of this obstacle is to build trust with the handler,bonding if you will. My partner had no problem with doorways until getting caught in one, it took time but thru added exposure and calming as we continued
to go in and out as usuall we conquered this hurdle.Good Luck and keep exposing him/her to new things.
K.G.O'CONNOR K-9 OFFICER
GUILFORD CO. SHERIFFS OFFICE
DETENTION K-9 UNIT
"JAIL DAWGS" WE WORK BEHIND BARS.
Hi Stig,
I think you answered your own question in your statement:
Quote:
in his opinion quite a few of the working GSDs from the common german lines show weakness in different environments
Quote:
Most dogs in belgium, german and other european countries spend their lives living in a kennel and back and forth to the SCH-field.
Absolutely, a dog has to have a solid temperament, but it is also up the handler to socialize their dog to different environments/experiences.
I currently don't have opportunity to participate in dog sports, but I have made sure that my dog was exposed to many situations. She swims, goes out on boats, does the agility obstacles, stairs , slippery floors, darkness, tunnels, loud noises (gunshots, ect) slides down slides (yes we go to the playground <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" /> ), flown ON board aircraft and all the airport stuff: trams, elevators, she loves the escalators! She is well traveled! I could go on....one thing for sure, I am confident I can take her anywhere!
She is also from mostly W. German working lines with a touch of East German.
Yes, environmental training is crucial for a servicedog, but even with training some dogs can´t handle difficult environments while others have no problem working in various environments right from the start. And it seems this is more common in the westgerman sportlines compared to lines breed more for servicework.
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