I found dog club very enlightening and interesting this weekend. We had a few behavior dogs and I was able to watch and see how their behavior transformed when handled correctly. The lady (Penny) who I trained under has such expertise and fine handling skills she is a joy to watch when working with dogs. One particular case at dog club was a young six month shepherd pup that is being trained for Schutzhund. This young pup is very stubborn and causing some questionable behaviors for its owner/handler. The dog knows the command to sit, but will only do it when its feels like it. So Penny started asking it to sit the dog refused, it was corrected (you could see the dog didn’t mind the correction) and continued to disobey. After changing equipment the dog still refused most the time but was rewarded each time it obeyed. The dog was worked and put away a few times continuing to refuse to sit, but now was also thinking of biting. She explained the only reason the dog did not bite was its age. She then went into temperament testing of the dog, this was so interesting to watch as she transformed this stubborn dog. Finally the dog obeyed, was rewarded and you could see a real difference in the dog. Now the dog was offering social behavior, being respectful, and relaxed even after an hour of on and off again intense work just to get this dog to obey. This is the kind of challenge I love but seeing someone who really knows how to handle it with such expertise is amazing. I love seeing how the dog transformed and seeing someone with amazing handling skills deal with the problem.
I also was very pleased with Rogan this weekend when Tracking, she did very well for saying it is only the 3rd time I have tracked her this year. At dog club she seemed a bit off and I was not able to get much drive out of her. I have also decided to work more on teaching and developing her skills rather than just building the drive. I will continue to do the drive work, but there are still commands she needs to learn in order for her to try for her BH which is our goal along with her Urban Tracking Dog title. I believe the drive work is important but should not be my main focus. I did work her on the field with her platz and recall and that she did excellent and I was very pleased. I love when I call a dog, and it comes speeding into me without any hesitation and great focus!