15 month old GSD extremely immature!!!!

[WorkingK9]

So my work has me brushing up training on a 15 month old GSD for patrol work. He is great on agility, bite work, scent detection, and obedience. Here's the problem: this dog performs near perfect obedience for me for the last 3 months, we think he is ready to go through his validation so we go ahead and book him.
The day of his test we have a big snowfall. The test is outside and the dogs are required to sit and lie down in the wet snow as part of their obedience evaluation. The moment I unhook his leash for an off-leash heel, he bolts and runs off to play in the snow. Calling him did no good, telling him to "down" was ignored.
The tester said this dog is completely immature and has no respect for me. I dont understand how a dog that performs almost perfectly for me for several months can do a 180 just because of a little enviornmental hicup. The tester hinted that this dog is unbalanced and unsuitable for patrol work as he cannot be completely trusted, I feel he may be right.
I felt like he embrassed me on purpose and has no respect for me at all even though he has been part of my family for 5 months. I have been through 5 validation tests with 4 different dogs and never had an issue until now. Should I just call it quits with this dog?

[carmspack]

Your evaluator pretty much said exactly that .
"The tester hinted that this dog is unbalanced and unsuitable for patrol work as he cannot be completely trusted, I feel he may be right"

I think the key word is performs . You have trained the dog , not tapped into what is naturally present to the dog. Seems there is not a desire to work with you , the dog works for you . Big difference .
I would not rely on this dog , not trust this dog to be dependable .

got pedigree?

[jae]

Originally Posted by carmspack

I think the key word is performs . You have trained the dog , not tapped into what is naturally present to the dog. Seems there is not a desire to work with you , the dog works for you . Big difference .

do you mind expanding on this thought?
naturally present in the dog, as in, its own drive to succeed for himself, rather than please the trainer?
I have heard someone say that dogs don't work to please their handler, but work to put themselves in the position that they are happy, which is a direct handler/dog correlation?

I take it as, dog works for you, meaning you lay down the law and it follows since you say so and will not stray from that... Then, dog works with you, meaning you train the dog to follow direction but still have independence to succeed, in the end make both of you happy? but how does one bring this trait out?

[JeanKBBMMMAAN]

Originally Posted by WorkingK9

I felt like he embrassed me on purpose and has no respect for me at all even though he has been part of my family for 5 months. I have been through 5 validation tests with 4 different dogs and never had an issue until now. Should I just call it quits with this dog?

No, a 15 month old dog that you've had for 5 months did not do that.

Besides, he didn't have time to plan all of that in 5 months - and how did he know it would snow? Or did he have a plan B in case it did? Diabolical.

But seriously - he didn't do it on purpose.

[APBTLove]

This might seem like a totally weird question. BUT, how often does he get to cut loose completely and just be a dog and PLAY? And have you ever worked in him snow?

He's still a young dog, and it sounds like he's a very busy dog too. He has a mind and life of his own, you cannot expect him to be your robot - meaning he's going to do what he wants sometimes, not what you want. He didn't do this to hurt your feelings. It drives me nuts when people try to blame the dogs behavior on revenge, dogs don't do that! I can't tell you how many times I've told people their dog didn't poop in the house because you went on a date and he was jealous, the dog didn't go sniff your BFFs crotch to embarrass you, the dog didn't ignore you at a park and go pick a fight because you hurt his feelings earlier. Dogs don't plan out things to hurt you.

[jocoyn]

Am I missing something? He is still a bit of a puppy for serious work no? I thought most police dogs were about 2 to 2.5 before operational?

I certified Beau (NAPWDA) at 15 months but several police organizations in the states won't even consider a dog under 18 months for testing. And Beau was strictly obedience and detection. Even so he has his puppy moments.

[I admit the breaking and running was a bit much but, snow! Has his training been generalized to all kinds of different conditions?

[llombardo]

Originally Posted by jocoyn

Am I missing something? He is still a bit of a puppy for serious work no? I thought most police dogs were about 2 to 2.5 before operational?

I certified Beau (NAPWDA) at 15 months but several police organizations in the states won't even consider a dog under 18 months for testing. And Beau was strictly obedience and detection. Even so he has his puppy moments.

[I admit the breaking and running was a bit much but, snow! Has his training been generalized to all kinds of different conditions?

I originally thought that he is kinda young. My 15 month old loves to play and we have some snow coming today. I will be right out there with her playing. She did well in obedience and loves agility. I love watching her play and be a puppy

[wolfy dog]

So you learned that you had not trained him in various kinds of situations: in this case it was snow.
And I agree for 100% with APBT that he did not do this on purpose. It shows that you have to study the mind of dogs more in depth so you don't have to have your feelings hurt by your dog.
Even LE dogs are not robots and most dogs go crazy in their first snow. It would have been better had you worked him in the snow, just prior to the test.
Hope you'll give him a break and not take it out on him.

[billsharp]

15 months is still pretty much puppy, especially if the training hasn't been distraction-proofed and tested (which it sounds like yours wasn't). I know of perfectly mature and rational adult humans who get giddy at the first snowfall.

And no, the dog didn't do anything "on purpose" to humiliate you. They don't think like that--"dey lib in de momen" (Cesar)

[Lilie]

Originally Posted by WorkingK9

So my work has me brushing up training on a 15 month old GSD for patrol work. He is great on agility, bite work, scent detection, and obedience. Here's the problem: this dog performs near perfect obedience for me for the last 3 months, we think he is ready to go through his validation so we go ahead and book him.

This is a question, and by all means does not reflect on the OP's ability to handle the dog.

Could the dog have reacted to too much pressure being placed on it to go through validation when it really wasn't clear to the handler if the dog was ready or not?