Within the next series of articles I will be covering the beginning
work relative to raising a competitive working dog. The goal of our foundation
work is to raise a dog that is strong and confident, active in his drives
and highly motivated. Compulsion should not be necessary in foundation work.
As we build drive the dog is motivated to the correct behavior with repetition,
reward and suggestion. The handler must always remember that the puppy and
young dog are blank pages. We dictate what ends up on those pages. There
is no room for tempers or being severe as the dog only knows as much and
as well as we teach him. Dogs learn through repetition and in each session
you should briefly go back to what he knows well before moving on to the
next segment of teaching an exercise. Begin with success, end with success
and teach in-between.
The first building block to a good sport dog is a genetic predisposition
to the work. Without the genetic drive your task of training in schutzhund
will be much harder if not impossible. Many people are out there struggling
with dogs who possess medium to low drives. Although this is fine from the
standpoint of learning how to train and enjoying your friend, it is also
very frustrating. And ultimately most of these dogs do not obtain titles.
Spending 4 years convincing your dog this is a fun thing to do is, to me,
a waste of time. A dog which possesses the drive and desire is easier to
train and more satisfying for you the handler. It is your job to search for
a strong working bitch with solid nerves being bred to a powerful working
male. Ideally we are looking for dogs high in prey and fight drive. Active
aggression is a good thing, defense is not always so good. It is your job
as the buyer to investigate the breedings you are interested in. Don't believe
the hype of advertising or be swayed by the never ending trail of titles
after a dog's name. The proof is in performance and often the scorebook.
The prospective sire and dam should possess the traits you seek and should
be producing working titled offspring. The working ability of littermates
and grandsire and granddam are also very important. This is the genetic pool
your pup will be drawing from. If the pool is shallow the work will be
also.
Choosing a pup can be a daunting task. Entire books have been written
on this subject alone. It comes down to a simple matter of elimination.
Littermates come with basically the same genetic material as well as individual
characteristics. For our sport you will need to weed out those pups that
express sound shyness, dominance and sluggish or lackluster attitude. The
so-called dominant male in the litter will rarely turn out to be so brave
away from his siblings. In a large litter there will usually be an alpha
female, a male that is pushier than his brothers and a pup at the bottom
of the ladder. The pups in the middle are the ones I would pay attention
to. Often you will see these middle puppies fairly equal to one another.
They pick on the runt but submit to the dominant sibling(s). Once brought
into their own environment they will likely build the confidence necessary
for schutzhund. All we are looking for in a 6 or 7 week old puppy are the
basics. Interest in their surroundings, basic prey drive and an ability to
recover from stress or intrusions in a reasonable period of time. A little
sassiness is a good thing, a willingness to bite at the rag is a great thing.
It is the breeder's job to put the genetic material together needed to create
a sport dog. It is our job as trainers and handlers to pull that drive out
of them. Excellent bloodlines will make that job easier. As long as the puppy
shows the basics of what we need, their pedigree and what we do with this
pup are far more important than which one we choose.
There are different ways to raise a dog and which way you choose
depends on your own personal choices. Whether the dog lives in a kennel or
in the house, whether you raise the puppy or buy a young started dog. These
decisions are based on individual preferences and have little to do with
the end result. Even if you buy a started dog the foundation is still there,
good or bad. Personally I enjoy puppies, I don't mind some of the unanswered
questions pertaining to conformation and joint health. A common viewpoint
on young dogs is to leave them in the kennel to grow up. Then when the dog
is old enough for serious testing and hip preliminaries the work begins.
I choose to keep my dogs in the house which requires basic good behavior
if nothing else. But I also believe that although you might not be working
them your dog is always learning. Leaving them to grow up only teaches them
to live without you. I want to be the center of my dog's life. Rottweilers
specifically need early drive building and introductions to the concepts
of learning. The breed in general thinks quite highly of themselves and their
decision making abilities. To help overcome this independent attitude, the
handler and dog working and learning together needs to start early. We want
to instill in the dog a desire to please while keeping in mind that a Rottweiler
will always wonder what's in it for them.
When working with our dogs no matter what the age, we must remember
the desired end result. The desired end result is the correct execution of
an exercise in trial. From the beginning of the exercises we will mold the
dog towards that goal. Correct position in the platz command is lying calmly,
straight and on the haunches. Flipping from side to side is not correct.
With our goal in mind we will always be sure that the dog is in the correct
position before rewarding and releasing. A proper sit is performed by the
dog tucking his rear in underneath him rather than rocking back. Later on
a dog that rocks back will be in correct heel position with his shoulders
until he sits, at which point he will rock back out of position. Correct
execution of the sit will show a dog in proper heel position standing and
sitting. Tucking in the rear also lends to a faster sit. Our intention is
a highly competitive dog, correct and fast is the road to that
goal.
