Doing What Dogs Love
My first German Shepherd was a rescue named Hattie. She had been abandoned in a backyard when her owners moved to California. Many locals remember her from different activities we did. She was a certified pet therapy dog that visited nursing homes for nearly 10 years. She was ARDA certified in air scent Search and Rescue, and held competitive titles in obedience and agility. Hattie was featured in Elise Lufkin’s book, SECOND CHANCES. It seemed there was no end to what Hattie could do. She was indeed, what the German Shepherd should be – a Jack of all Trades.
At just 16 months old she won her first obedience title with 2 places and 2 High in Trials. I was over the moon thinking that Hattie was going to be my obedience dog. As we practiced, she was perfection. But, when we started competing in CDX, Hattie would walk in the ring with her head down and wouldn’t even do the jumps. And she LOVED jumps in agility!
This dog was fully trained with a clicker and 100% positive reinforcement. How could she not like the obedience she loved at home?
This was my first experience with shutting down for what I thought was no apparent reason.
Just last night, I was talking with a young would be competitor. Her heart desire was to do competitive agility. As we talked further, I discovered that her dog was extremely uncomfortable with other dogs and she has been advised by her instructors that this dog needed lots of work to socialize the dog to compete.
I thought to myself, “This reminds me of Hattie.” My heart was set on doing competitive obedience with her. But, Hattie had decided she had had enough. Obedience trials were not for her. My plans changed for her. Instead we focused on agility, pet therapy and search and rescue. All of those areas made Hattie’s heart sing!
In talking further this young person, I also thought about how many people don’t like to go to big parties. They get very nervous, and how forcing someone to go to big parties that they were uncomfortable with was so difficult.
It was then that I suggested other venues for this dog. In NoseWork the dog can excel in natural desires to “scent” things and search, without being in the presence of other dogs. Tracking is much the same way. So, I suggested that this young person read up about these dog training areas. She was so excited when she left to have other things to do with her dog!I think it’s really important for us to do soul searching about what is really important for OUR DOG. If our dog is incredibly uncomfortable doing something, should we really force that dog to do that activity? Are we reading our dog correctly? Just HOW uncomfortable are they doing that activity? And yes, sometimes a dog HAS to do a particular activity regardless, like going to the vet. While I can’t answer for you what is right for your dog from here, I am suggesting that we always ask ourselves, “Is this important to ME or it is important to the dog?” What is really fair for your dog? I am a huge proponent of early socialization to help dogs be comfortable in more situations. But, sometimes, we need to be sure we are not asking a dog to do something WE want them to do, not necessarily what THEY want or NEED to do.
