Calling all Fur-parents!

Thank you ladies! :D :dance:

Wow, now that is dedication, and here I am thinking all bad just because I taught my dog to sit, hahaha.
How old is your dog?

:rofl: this is so me!


Wow Schutzhund looks like such hard work but definitely worth it! 100% dedication for you that.
What made you decide to train him that way? I've never actually heard of it til now!

xx
 
Wow! I'm not sure I'd want my dog to attack like that, but I sure wish she would walk nicely :/ x
 
Wow! I'm not sure I'd want my dog to attack like that, but I sure wish she would walk nicely :/ x

I'm not sure but I think they'd be trained to attack in certain situations, I think ATM if my house was broken into my dog would lick the attackers to death :L or if we were in the park & somebody tried to attack me I'd rather my dog defend me than just sit and watch haha. I'm not sure how it works but if its like the way they train police dogs then I think it's good! :) x
 
They're beautiful aren't they!

I love this thread but looking at every bodies pictures makes me so 'broody' for a new pet!

Oh my gosh, me too! I have puppy fever and it doesn't help that three friends have got puppies in the last couple of months and a friend's female just had a litter so I've seen puppy pictures all over Facebook.

Aaw! Puppy's are so iddy biddy & cute! I always search on Instagram '#puppy' and aaw over all the pictures :haha:

I got my bfp today! So if this is a sticky bean (fxd) OH will never let me have another furbaby lol! A real baby definitely compensates for that though :D

Congratulations! I agree that a two legged baby definitely compensates!
 
Congrats, Amy!

I can say I do NOT have puppy fever at all. We got ours at 6 weeks old and he was a newborn, just another species. I loved it, glad Hubster got to experience it, but no rush to do it again. Plus we want our boy trained in Schutzhund and that takes YEARS. When we're done raising him, I'll consider adding to the fur family!

I agree with this. While I do have puppy fever, living vicariously through others will have to suffice. I've already told my husband that the next dog that we get will be an adult rescue (Ziggie is a rescue, just adopted as a 12 week puppy) because I'm not doing another puppy. :haha:
 
Haha I know puppies are difficult, I've never had one but my dad has had most of his pets from babies. I'd defo rescue, most of the older dogs in rescue homes don't really have much chance (it makes me well up! :( ) I'd adopt them all if I could!

Are you planning on getting another dog?

I want a kitten if a dog is too much hassle :rofl:
 
@MIZZYD: he's 14 months old. Has to be at least 15 months to test for the companion certification and after that will be eligible to move on to level 1 of tracking, obedience, and protection.

@amytrisha: I grew up in Germany, where this sport is HUGE. My childhood dog, also a Boxer, was trained this way. We're talking obedience to a level that at the age of 6, I could walk our 70 pound dog unaided by an adult because the commands are verbal at the highest level of training. And one of the big things for me, loosely connected to my professional life that I can't be too specific about for the sake of anonymity, I want him eligible to register as a volunteer search and rescue dog (due to the tracking work).

@beth_terri: amytrisha is correct, it's all about training. The protection work (growling, biting, attacking) isn't something we train for at home. We're starting to work with a group who's head trainer has been a part of this sport for 20 years at the national level. Level 1 protection is really just a show of force (dog will look/ act menacing, but does nothing) and level 2 is chase and hold (doesn't bite), and level 3 includes bite commands but they are also taught in tandem with release commands. The exception to this is we are working on bite/ release with a rope. The sport does not encourage people to train their dogs to bite anything other than a rope or leather strap outside of training groups, with professionals. Most dogs of this group of breeds (working dogs) have natural protective instincts and behaviors, mine didn't need training to lock up and grown ferociously at strangers in the dark - even 100 yards away at our local park. This sport harnesses those instincts and allows handlers to control them.

@amytrisha: my dog puts on a decent show in the living room windows that face the street if anyone comes near my house. And this training is used for police dogs, as well as drug, explosive, and search and rescue dogs. It's used by regular people to keep active working dog traits in the breeding pool.

@Pirate: HAHA, I live vicariously through other puppy owners! I'm happy to have another one, but definitely not now or even soon. Once we get our current pup trained to his maximum potential, I'll be happy to get another, because younger dogs (like children) will take their cues from an older one in the house.

@amytrisha: kittens are no cup of tea either, just smaller (and faster, and more curious). I don't rescue dogs (snobby purebred Boxer family and proud of it), but I do rescue cats - the three adults in my house and the 5 kittens that were abandoned by their mom last year, two are still with us (one we're keeping). Bottle feeding 5 kittens was CRAZY. And then they run like crazy assholes and chew everything that will fit in their mouths.
 
I'd love to get a second dog but it really isn't practical right now (we live in a townhouse without a fenced yard so potty breaks have to be on a leash is the biggest reason). When we do it will be another Weimaraner or maybe a German Shorthaired Pointer. Also,if we did another puppy there is only a handful of breeders i would actually get a Weimaraner from, and they all have waiting lists that are several years long. Plus Ziggie will be 5 in November and he is trained just how we want him. He's finally calmed down enough tht he only needs about 30-45 minutes of off leash exercise every day, we don't need to have our house puppy proofed all the time, etc.

I would love to train Ziggie for search and rescue, but I've never lived in a place where they offered training for it and we got him when I was working on my doctorate so I didn't have much free time for training that intense anyway.
 
@Pirate: oddly enough... I'm a PhD candidate expecting to finish sometime in 2014, LOL, so it's not impossible! And just because I happen to have known this, there is a PA-search and rescue (SAR) group (not Schutzhund, but still SAR training for dogs): https://www.nesar.org/ (and no idea if it's anywhere near your part of PA).

Our pup isn't allowed off leash at the moment. We actually have a huge back yard, but it's in the (slowest) process of being re-fenced, so he's been on a leash forever. We can't have him at the park off-leash... so we use a 50 ft leash there. Law doesn't specify leash length and so far no issues :)
 
@Clandestine, I think we have a lot in common! Thanks for the info about the SAR group. Unfortunately it is on the other side of the state so this group may not be practical, but I do actually know someone who did SAR with their Weim, so I'll probably look into it some more.

I'm very selective where we take Ziggie off leash, but there is one park relatively close to our house where dogs are allowed off leash that is very nice. It's pretty small and is all woods, but there is a good variation of terrain so we get a good workout and Ziggie comes home happy and tired. He is also e-collar trained so I don't worry about him running off.
 
We haven't used an e-collar yet with our boy, but that is the training aid of choice for the upper level obedience (they can't have a collar at all at competition, however, so it's for training only)... makes me a bit nervous still, but I've seen them in action and they seem to work great and the dogs don't seem bothered at all.
 
I think I mentioned before that DH's uncle is a professional dog trainer. He uses e-collars. Every time he buys a new one, he puts it on himself and uses it on the highest setting to remind himself what it feels like. He says he would NEVER put something on one of his dogs that he wouldn't put on himself. He says it's really not bad at all.
 
I can't speak highly enough of the e collar. My dog gets very excited when it comes out of the drawer because he knows he gets to run off leash. The one we have has a beep function, a short burst of shock (8 levels), and a longer burst of shock (also 8 levels). Usually he comes running with a verbal command, and if he gets puppy brain and doesn't come he comes after one beep. I can't remember the last time he was shocked. When we bought it I shocked myself on the highest setting on my neck. It wasn't comfortable, but not painful either.
 
E-Collars, I really do learn something new here pretty much everyday.
 
I think I mentioned before that DH's uncle is a professional dog trainer. He uses e-collars. Every time he buys a new one, he puts it on himself and uses it on the highest setting to remind himself what it feels like. He says he would NEVER put something on one of his dogs that he wouldn't put on himself. He says it's really not bad at all.

This is very good to know. Oddly enough, I have no problem with a correction (choke) collar, because I know their anatomy is different enough from ours that there's no actual "choking" occurring, if used correctly.

I can't speak highly enough of the e collar. My dog gets very excited when it comes out of the drawer because he knows he gets to run off leash. The one we have has a beep function, a short burst of shock (8 levels), and a longer burst of shock (also 8 levels). Usually he comes running with a verbal command, and if he gets puppy brain and doesn't come he comes after one beep. I can't remember the last time he was shocked. When we bought it I shocked myself on the highest setting on my neck. It wasn't comfortable, but not painful either.

Sounds like you two just signed up Hubster to shock himself!

E-Collars, I really do learn something new here pretty much everyday.

Me, too!!!
 
He'd likely do it on his own, because he has a natural jackass mentality. But it's one of the reasons I love him so much!
 
I've never heard of e collars before. So they don't hurt at all? They sound pretty awful just by the thought of them tbh, how do they work? Like is the button on a keypad or something? Maybe I should do some research lol!
 
I've never heard of e collars before. So they don't hurt at all? They sound pretty awful just by the thought of them tbh, how do they work? Like is the button on a keypad or something? Maybe I should do some research lol!

Ever touched an electric fence? Or got your hand shocked on a wet outlet? Or even "tasted" a 9v battery?

It doesn't hurt like other nomal pain like cutting yourself or burning your hand. But it's not comfortable either. It has a "eeew that was weird feeling" kind of feel. The main thing is, unlike a cut or burn that aches for days afterwards, an electric shock is gone as soon as it's over, sometimes you don't even realize you were shocked till after the fact. It merely grabs your attention more than it hurts - which is the goal in dog training. The proper level will be the one that gets the dog's attention (sometimes he doesn't even really realize it either, but will turn his head as if trying to see what it was) without causing unnecessary pain.

I have an electric fence that outputs 9,000volts - and it must not hurt that bad because when we were kids we used to try to "beat" it and getting shocked wasn't enough deterrent to keep us out. I've been shocked by it a few dozen times ----- my dog? TWICE. Who's the stupid one??? LoL

I will add though, in my experience, the dog who is used to the e-fence may not understand e-collars. We had the e-fence when she was a pup when we first moved here before we got a real (solid) fence, and later got a duck dog who was already trained on e-collars. I tried the e-collar on the first dog and she was confused (looking for the wire) and tried to back away from it like the fence. Oh well.
 

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