if you havent trained the owner how to continue/maintain the training, then the 'already trained dog' is a waste of time, as the dog will lose its training.
good dog trainers teach owners how to train dogs.

This happens quite a lot in the working Gundog world. Breeders regularly keep more than one from the litter and sell surplus at a later date as part trained for a lot of cash!

Weirdly though, if you bought a show bred pup that had been run on I'm pretty sure you'd only pay the same price as you would if it was still a pup?

Strange world!

No definately not. I am passionate about training and thorough socialization and (unless i rescue an adult dog) i want to know what the pup has experienced and how they have learnt things, and the only sure way of doing that is to do it yourself.

Think it was Borderdawn who said she liked to get cracking with dogs straight away and so likes them from ten months old, i also like to start straight away - Tonks was my first pup and training started the day after i got her. Apart from toilet training, in the first week with me she learnt to sit, lie down, lie flat, touch her nose to my hand and come when called. Training has never really stopped since.

They are so maluable when they are tiny and, especially with clicker training, it is amazing what you can teach a tiny pup. Looking back we did more in the first few weeks than since really, what with the training and visiting different places and people everyday.

prob because there is no real training involved... when I say no real training... I mean not much that would be of any use to anyone in the real world... they would be socialised though...if it were a good show home.. but I have seen just as many narky dogs come from show homes.

compared to other things...showings a doddle...runs

I was under the impression that pups were kept for a while by breeders to find out which would develop better and do better in the show ring. Then the less better looking dog was rehomed. I thought bringing them on was more about keeping the best pup but keeping your options open? Have I got it wrong?

no your not wrong,,, much depends on the breeder,. some will keep them up untill six months then go on to show the one they feel is better.. some will keep them up to 9 months.. giving them both time in the ring.. sometimes the best dog just fails to shine in the ring.. but the second best may sparkle.. so they may end off keeping the second dog...

some keep them even longer... I got Royce from a breeder when he was 18 months old... he had never been shown but he had been used at stud..

so some keep them for breeding reasons rather than show...

hth

I know what you mean....I loved having Siren from a pup - don;t get me wrong and we did lots....but you just can't expect a pup to have the same attention span as an older dog.

Totally agreed.
I have to say, I think it is sheer laziness not being prepared to train a dog up yourself and in the working world I think it shows poor planning...even many pet owners will get a new pup when their current dog is 5/6 if they always want to have 2 dogs, a steady one and a young nutty one.

In terms of the ready trained protection dogs, I think it is an appalling idea, truly appalling. I saw one such dog on the one episode I have ever seen of that awful Kerry Katona programme. It was dreadful. Man turns up, shows them the dog, shows tghem how it 'works' man goes....

There are enough dogs out there being used as weopons without people encouraging it. I cannot see how it is a good idea in any way, shape or form.

the liability of the whole thing would be enough to stop you from sleeping at night... lets face it a highly trained attack dog in novice hands...it would make your hair curl.

I am sitting on the fence with this one too. I love having pups and bringing them on and training them myself. You get such a bond with a pup you have invested a lot of time in and trained yourself. When you get an 8 week old pup and do everything yourself, you know just why your dog acts the way he does and you know his exact background.

However, as I said I have already bought a dog that was part-trained. To be fair, I bought him simply because he was looking for a good home and I fell in love with him the instant I saw him. It actually gave my own sheepdog handling skills a real boost to have a dog who already had a good idea as to what he was doing, knew his sides etc. I was a complete novice with my first collie and he too was a novice, so it was a little like the blind leading the blind

I would never say never to buying a trained dog and don't have a problem with people wishing to go down that route.