Quote:
Originally Posted by RowdyDogs
The parentheses are because I recognize the importance of diligence in training any kind of bitework. I hope my post history will show I'm not a casual owner. But, I'm not necessarily concerned with competing or titling.
Basically, Hector has a naturally high drive in general, but seems to have received little to no socialization before I got him (at maybe 10 months old?) and as a result doesn't know how to function. He shuts down when he's scared, which is a huge problem in a SAR dog. He was making significant progress, but it wasn't enough to prove he was reliable in a life-or-death situation, as SAR can be.
So, now I have this high-drive dog, who shuts down in scary situations. We're doing nosework, but I'm having trouble challenging him enough with it. IPO/schutzhund interests me, but...
Is it okay if we're just in it for fun? I don't care if Hector would ever title or ever bite someone or anything like that. . I just want to get an idea of what the attitude towards folks like me in the sport are...so far it seems like they're welcome to people observing (as I have), but not so keen on recreational dogs...
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I would get with the local clubs and see what they think. There are a couple people who train in my group and they just do tracking and obedience(and you can get titles in IPO without doing the protection phase!)
Going to the club & learning is great, and you never know, you just may end up with a puppy to work.
Because Hector shuts down, he may never excel in protection, but the other two phases may be good for him.
I started Onyx in IPO, and she was a wash(protection wasn't her thing). As I really enjoyed it, I decided to continue by getting a pup to train. I didn't want to continue with Onyx because she isn't very biddable and the only thing she'd excel in is tracking....obedience isn't really her thing either
