Working Dogs as Pets
As you may have read elsewhere on our website, I started training dogs primarily for working purposes. I thought an article may interest those of you with a pet, originally bred to be a working dog. It might explain why they behave the way they do.
I have trained over 40 AKC Field Trial Champions for clients across the United States as well as training and handling the 2007 US High Point Dog (Top winning Cocker) also 2008 National Champion NFC/FC Shelmar's Rudh Lowarn. We call her Lucy I own her and she sleeps in our house. The old belief that a working dog cannot be both a great worker and live in the house is clearly not correct!
I have trained and owned Border Collies and Australian Shepard's. At the time I lived on a sheep farm and these dogs were worked daily. I have trained dogs used for detection of narcotics, cadaver dogs, explosives dogs, therapy dogs, search and rescue dogs and even canine actors! In every case, the most successful animals at their'job' were bred from exclusively working genetics. Guide dogs for the blind is something that always has interested me from a dog training point of view, I have spent a lot of time with some of the best trainers in the world. Guide dogs have very strict standards with a failure to pass rate of 9 - 1. That's 9 fail for every one that passes. This is not just because of the complexity of the work and training involved but also in the stock being trained.
In the UK breeders donate pups to the Guide Dog association for training. The trainers are faced with many varied personalities and abilities in their charges. To be more successful in the pass/fail ratio, a devoted breeding program would be necessary to ensure only the calmest most intelligent dogs were bred from and subsequently trained. The cost involved is obviously the restricting factor. The trainers would become more skillful at training a particular'line' of dog. In my own breeding program, Shelly and I have bred 7 generations from our original stock.
As a puppy matures and takes to training there is not much to surprise me; I have seen it before from his great - grandmother or uncle. Knowing their abilities and limits as well as their intelligence really helps when I encounter a hitch in training. It's not very often that I have not seen it before from another dog of the same'line'. This makes you very effective as a trainer as the dogs almost train themselves and you know what to expect!
What about the average pet owner that has a working dog. Working dogs make excellent pets as long as owners realize that these dogs must be given 'work' to do. Not necessarily herding sheep every day – so the word'work' is better described as'Job'. Your working dog needs a job. Dogs that are not to be used for their original purpose must be trained from a young age and are best suited to active persons and families. Obedience training, dog sports such as fly ball, agility and trial work is an excellent channel for these breeds' energy. Some dogs with a naturally calm nature make excellent therapy dogs. At the very least they must have daily walks or other exercise at an appropriate level for the breed, let to free run, play retrieving of tennis balls or chasing a Frisbee and of course they love human company and affection.
Working dogs that are chained up, left alone in the back yard and ignored become bored, vocal and neurotic. They generally exhibit destructive behavior and attempt to escape. Working dogs chosen as pets are often surrendered to shelters for these reasons and always because the owners did not basically obedience train the dog and give him a job to focus his intelligence and strength on.