Post by elana55 on Jun 18, 2011 17:37:20 GMT -5
Just spent the last few hours with the owner of this site
www.german-shepherdherding.com/
sipping on flavored Seltzer and talking dogs.
I did more listening than talking.. and she got into a long treatise on 'waht makes a Working Dog." VERY interesting stuff as she learned from a Schafermeister of the old school (Manfred Heyne).
Ultimately a working dog is more than a dog that is doing your bidding and more than a dog that has drive to work.. but a dog that will work for anyone because they WANT to be a Partner and The Work is the Dog's fcocus.
This is not to say the dog does not form a special loyalty to one person (GSD's are famous for this). It means that the dog will partner with others to gain access to the work.. with partner being the important part of this.
In Schutzhund or herding the difference in the dog is the focus (one is sheep oriented and the other is not), not in drive to do work.
A very interesting take on this subject and a great way to spend a warm late spring afternoon.
www.german-shepherdherding.com/
sipping on flavored Seltzer and talking dogs.
I did more listening than talking.. and she got into a long treatise on 'waht makes a Working Dog." VERY interesting stuff as she learned from a Schafermeister of the old school (Manfred Heyne).
Ultimately a working dog is more than a dog that is doing your bidding and more than a dog that has drive to work.. but a dog that will work for anyone because they WANT to be a Partner and The Work is the Dog's fcocus.
This is not to say the dog does not form a special loyalty to one person (GSD's are famous for this). It means that the dog will partner with others to gain access to the work.. with partner being the important part of this.
In Schutzhund or herding the difference in the dog is the focus (one is sheep oriented and the other is not), not in drive to do work.
A very interesting take on this subject and a great way to spend a warm late spring afternoon.
