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Subject: Re: [working-gundog] prey drive 4 = sharpness 1,questions

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cwalt

MH
Posts:180

12/15/2007 6:55 PM
This person kept his dogs in a kennel. He had lots of dogs. He was first and foremost a hunter, secondly a field trialer. He took this dog out of the kennel and made him a house dog. He also let the dog ride in the front seat of his truck with him everywhere he went. After about a year of this his dog became one of the most cooperative dogs I have ever seen. He became a nice gundog and finished his Field Championship in less than three months. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ That is interesting and not at all impossible. I suspect that a dog kept in a kennel too much can be pretty damned independent. The house dog and with the owner all the time relationships evidently overcame a real sharpness in the dog. Did the dog have a strong personality? Cj ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I have seen dogs that were VERY cooperative with me. I rarely had to give them A command in the field. These same dogs "blew off" their owners. This was a people Problem. As it is most of the time. I have also seen dogs that were very cooperative hunting dogs. Dogs that handled Unbelievably well to the gun and foot handler, but were maniacs in field trials. Totally different dogs. Perhaps this is learned uncooperative behavior. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ No. As Torsti pointed out a big running dog can be cooperative. If the dog is covering a great distance in open country where it can occasionally see it's ower, or even circle to catch a glimpse of him, it can be working cooperatively. With these dogs the difference between uncooperation and cooperation is the dog's choice, if it knows where the hunter is and where he's going and shows it in where he hunts he is quite probably cooperative. I've encountered a lot of dogs that were uncooperative with their owners or trainers and worked well with other people. I thing that this is a matter of body language, many people are 'naturals' and dogs trust them very quickly. I don't think you can teach cooperation but with some dogs you have to bring it out with smart handling. I've seen a number of cooperative close range dogs leave their handlers and hunt independently because their handlers hacked them continuously. I don't talk to my dogs when we're hunting and when hunting with hackers I frequently find their dog hunting in front of me wwith my dog. Cj ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I have trained dogs that had very little interest in birds initially. Especially older dogs (2 to 3) that were not introduced to birds at a young age. After the dogs are introduced to a large number of birds they become "bird crazy". But I think in this case they always had a High prey drive, it was just dormant. I have also found through experience that if you introduce dogs to game At a very young age that they will have a higher level of prey drive as Adults. At least I have found this to be true with my experiences. tc ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Yes, it's a shame to see a potentially fine gun dog that's never been allowed to run free at all. With these dogs the sharpness and drive are all there but there's been no experience to bring that out in the dog's personality. I think that you're exactly right about development of hunting in very young dogs brings greater sharpness. A lot of Europeans don't start training until the dog is about a year old but they do introduce the dog to game and field running at an early age. Some misunderstand the delayed start of training and don't even let the dog into the field until it is a year old. This, I think, can lead to a mental burnout from an overload. I think early exposure and gradual learning are the best combination for developing hunting skills. Cj

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