My Canine

@A. Gorilla yes some from a litter will be better at their job and have better instincts to work. But the fact that a working dog is unsure of his job reflects on the trainer rather than the breeder. It's just human laziness and down to the simple fact that we, as a species, can pass up on dogs with not so strong instincts in favour of others because we know that it'll be less work and we can essentially create a never ending supply of puppies to chose from.
 
Far from an EXPERT, but I've had 3 friends all with reasonable success in breeding what they aimed for. They also did the training involved in their field.

I am very confident in saying that SO many people (if they really want to pursue a particular venue of sport or job with their dog) really let their breeder off the hook sometimes when it comes to basic qualities the dog should have.

They show up to training all excited....and....yikes....some pieces of the dog's brain are kinda missing. And training is just not....quite....going....well. And this is the person who eats sleeps and shits by doing right by their dog. They are so excited. Did everything right.

On the flip-side though, there are some total goof humans who show up with a dog and you want to say: "Um....is he for sale?? Cuz you don't know WHAT the hell is going on and that dog is awesome."

"No, he's not for sale. I really love him."

D'oh!

And then there's the excuses: "My breeder said he still needs to mature...and this and that." That can be valid...but then you see your own dogs hit the ground running so fewer hiccoughs....you start to wonder about this pattern.

Fact of the matter is, when a litter hits the ground, the breeder doesn't want to hang onto ANY of them. He wants his $1500 and the puppy GONE. They are a pain to have around and feed.

It can be a shady business.
 
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Did about 5 hours reporting 3 trees last night. Was that excessively long? They were with bases from about 3 to 8 inches. So. I didn't get to walk Robert at night as usual. But I did give him a light walk and free time wiyh obstacles before my bonsai work, and my wife gave him a much needed bath while I worked my roots.

I've got to downsize my collection more. Sell off or trade my in between sized material.
 
thumblessprimate1 said:
Did about 5 hours reporting 3 trees last night. Was that excessively long? They were with bases from about 3 to 8 inches. So. I didn't get to walk Robert at night as usual. But I did give him a light walk and free time wiyh obstacles before my bonsai work, and my wife gave him a much needed bath while I worked my roots.

I've got to downsize my collection more. Sell off or trade my in between sized material.
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Forget it. You missed a developmental milestone. It's over. No recovering from that.
 
Lol. The cavalry came running out of a room barking at me when they heard me cutting a piece of plywood with handsaw. It was so cute. I woke them up from their sleep.
 
My puppy growing and growing as puppies should. Seems much calmer and quieter than before and does much better on walks. I think walks will be better when I can get him to stay focused on me.

Occasionally he still does some biting for reasons I cannot figure out yet. Still bites leash when he wants to go potty. Still will give chase if a person runs. I'm determined to help him control these impulses.

He's able to not go after his kibbles that I drop while he's in stay command. Spits foreign objects out most of the time when I command him. His out command needs more work.

Pretty fun dog. I continue to train him 3 times daily religiously. Few questions for you train folks. Is the time spent on him training him to walk to be included in the 10 mins of training? At what age can I extend the training time to maybe 30 minutes or more? To what age must I continue training 3 times daily? On my busy days, could I regularly move the lunch training time to a much later time or much earlier time?
 
thumblessprimate1 said:
My puppy growing and growing as puppies should. Seems much calmer and quieter than before and does much better on walks. I think walks will be better when I can get him to stay focused on me.

Occasionally he still does some biting for reasons I cannot figure out yet. Still bites leash when he wants to go potty. Still will give chase if a person runs. I'm determined to help him control these impulses.

He's able to not go after his kibbles that I drop while he's in stay command. Spits foreign objects out most of the time when I command him. His out command needs more work.

Pretty fun dog. I continue to train him 3 times daily religiously. Few questions for you train folks. Is the time spent on him training him to walk to be included in the 10 mins of training? At what age can I extend the training time to maybe 30 minutes or more? To what age must I continue training 3 times daily? On my busy days, could I regularly move the lunch training time to a much later time or much earlier time?
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That's all hard to say because it depends on what your objective is, and I don't know where you are getting your information or who your mentor is.

Let's take Schutzhund for example. There is a large priority given to attitude, flashiness, focus, and drive. That means the emphasis is drive, drive, drive. You train with food when the dog is HUNGRY, and keep it brief and exciting. You build drive for the tug/ball reward by sessions which, again, are brief and manic. It's that kind of excitement which also lends itself to reliability because being on FIRE for the reward is also the glue which keeps him focused.

If Schutzhund/IPO were your focus, you'd be doing the opposite of what is desirable.

If you were doing a ring sport, the emphasis isn't so much on focus and drive, since that aspect of it isn't judged per se (I think there's a SMALL criterion in there about general presentation or something). Basically it's just plain old reliability, and people gravitate towards dogs who are leaking excess drive anyway. On the other hand, multiple sessions per day still isn't really productive, since the real visceral learning takes place during sleep cycles. 30 min is really long too...even for an adult. You don't really work your dog through an entire routine for every training session. It's chipping away at what needs work and ending on a high note.

But, I'm just some random guy so take it for what it's worth. I just assume you got a malinois for a reason as opposed to a Newfoundland. It's about having fun with a supercharger and really stretching it's wings, as opposed to practical transportation.
 
Walking is a big part of the training. While on leash they learn the basics. Sit,down,heel and stay. I have a 10' training leash.
It's uses are more than a leash. It van be fashioned into a quick harness . After it's clipped onto the collar,I run it down their back,loop it around the waist so if they pull (Rupert used to pull like a tractor) it doesn't put too much pressure on the throat,injuring their windpipe. It squeezes their waist and pulls their attention away from what's in front of them. It is also a quick muzzle. It can be brought quickly to wrap around the snout and back under the collar effectively keeping the business end shut.

I believe leash training is a must. Its the building block for all other training. Such as schutzhund. Or being in a ring. Or agility. These dogs are capable of learning all of that and more.
You have one of the two breeds known as superdogs. Meaning they can learn and do anything and everything. They can be taught all of the military and police training and the ring training.
And whatever else you can devise.
All in good time. Get the basics down first then think about teaching other things. Dogs can be taught new things throughout their whole life. Ruperts still learning. He has learned to bring his toys by their name. Purple ball,red ball,frisbee,rope,stick and his little stuffed hedge hogs. Mama,papa and baby. He's nuts for the frisbee. I never had a frisbee dog before.
He also does all of the things he learned on leash without the leash now. Walks next to me at heel. Sits when I stop. Comes when called. Stays where I tell him to. All with hand gestures used as I trained as well as voice commands. In a crowd of people.
It sounds to me like you're on the right track and you're doing a great job.
 
thumblessprimate1 said:
My puppy growing and growing as puppies should. Seems much calmer and quieter than before and does much better on walks. I think walks will be better when I can get him to stay focused on me.

Occasionally he still does some biting for reasons I cannot figure out yet. Still bites leash when he wants to go potty. Still will give chase if a person runs. I'm determined to help him control these impulses.

He's able to not go after his kibbles that I drop while he's in stay command. Spits foreign objects out most of the time when I command him. His out command needs more work.

Pretty fun dog. I continue to train him 3 times daily religiously. Few questions for you train folks. Is the time spent on him training him to walk to be included in the 10 mins of training? At what age can I extend the training time to maybe 30 minutes or more? To what age must I continue training 3 times daily? On my busy days, could I regularly move the lunch training time to a much later time or much earlier time?
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Also, if I'm reading between the lines, it just sounds like you are looking for reason to just do STUFF with him, despite more "training" not necessarily being better. One of my favorite things to do if I wanted my dog to just work off energy, but I didn't want to over-train commands and risk getting sloppy and fatigued, is air-scent work. Chuck something in high grass, restrain him a second or so to get frustrated, let him go and just have him cast back and forth looking for it. Pair that with "find it" upon release of him. At first let him just run back with it. As he gets reliable with commands, you'll notice his nose touch it, and you can pair that with a "down". So then he downs up finding it. Practically speaking, it has come in handy more than once. If it's just recreational, he's basically looking for your scent. I lost a small whistle in a soccer field once, and he found it, as well as other toys which have gotten away from me.

Also, a classic, reocurring, issue (if you are acclimating him to ball and tug) is that many puppies don't seem to like being hovered over. But all puppies like to climb on faces and give kisses. So with early recall work, plop back on your butt and welcome him into your arms for a cuddle puddle. With early tug play, sit on your butt so you don't give that overwhelming presence hanging over him. As he gets physically bigger, it's not as much of an issue cuz he can stand up and meet you almost face to face.
 
Played fetch with Robert a couple times. I keep it to about 15 or 20 mins. I didn't want to work too hard his bones and joints yet until he reaches 6mos. He loves climbing like I did as a child. I let him climb things a few times a day. The more difficult challenges that he's willing to take, I let him visit once a week. Once he's do e it well a few ti.es, usually the third time is so easy for him.
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This morning, he followed along as I helped direct a guy driving forklift to place 19 pallets of product. He got to climb some pallets I stacked while getting used to the big piggyback forklift. See some humans too.

I enjoy the time having him with me learning new things as I learn new things about him.
 
So days ago at a dragon dance festival, we were in a crowded situation. Good learning experience I thought. Robert was sitting watching all the people and dragon dancing. Captivated or intrigued. Then I hear a yelp and experience a quick nip on my leg. I see Robert in front facing me but looking behind. I turned and see a little boy with his mom. The boy had accidentally stepped on my dogs tail. Mom said sorry, and we moved to a less crowded spot.

What should I have done, and what can I do now? I sensed that my dog bit out of surprise and fear. His bite was quick and with quick release. I've had suggestion that I should have given him a physical correction within 2 secs of the bite. Definitely I'll teach my dog to stand in crowded places or well just avoid if too crowded.
 
thumblessprimate1 said:
So days ago at a dragon dance festival, we were in a crowded situation. Good learning experience I thought. Robert was sitting watching all the people and dragon dancing. Captivated or intrigued. Then I hear a yelp and experience a quick nip on my leg. I see Robert in front facing me but looking behind. I turned and see a little boy with his mom. The boy had accidentally stepped on my dogs tail. Mom said sorry, and we moved to a less crowded spot.

What should I have done, and what can I do now? I sensed that my dog bit out of surprise and fear. His bite was quick and with quick release. I've had suggestion that I should have given him a physical correction within 2 secs of the bite.
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Oh hell no. Ignore that. What do you think family dogs go through every day? They aren't Fabergé eggs. They have genes of cop dogs in there. He's already forgotten that nonsense. Don't give it another second of thought.
 
A. Gorilla said:
Oh hell no. Ignore that. What do you think family dogs go through every day? They aren't Fabergé eggs. They have genes of cop dogs in there. He's already forgotten that nonsense. Don't give it another second of thought.
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Ignore the suggestion I was given? I think giving him smack would only make him more confused or aggressive. He's got a lot of fighting attitude in him.
 
thumblessprimate1 said:
Ignore the suggestion I was given?
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Ignore the suggestion and ignore the dog. He had a brain fart from a surprise pain stimulus. Nobody did anything wrong. Just happenstance. Life goes on. No need to correct him under those conditions. It wasn't "intentional" as far as dog-thought goes.
 
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