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Wozzy
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22-08-2011, 06:36 PM

Assessing A Dog For Working Trials

In another thread I asked about breeds of dog which would be suitable to compete in WT's. My next question is if I was to consider a young adult rescue dog of any breed or mixture of breeds, what qualities should I be looking for? What kind of temperament, behavioural characteristics etc would I need to look for and how would I test for those things?
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smokeybear
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22-08-2011, 07:13 PM
You need ball drive, take a ball with you and see what it does. I would also ensure it was not gunshy.

Food drive, non food motivated dogs are dificult to train.

It goes without saying that it has to be in good health, structurally sound (got to go over 6ft scale).

Do not choose a dog which is markedly longer than tall as this could impact on long jump ability.

If I could get in on grass I would throw some food down (small not particularly smelly and not white) and see if dog naturally uses its nose.
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Wozzy
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23-08-2011, 05:35 PM
Originally Posted by smokeybear View Post
You need ball drive, take a ball with you and see what it does. I would also ensure it was not gunshy.

Food drive, non food motivated dogs are dificult to train.

It goes without saying that it has to be in good health, structurally sound (got to go over 6ft scale).

Do not choose a dog which is markedly longer than tall as this could impact on long jump ability.

If I could get in on grass I would throw some food down (small not particularly smelly and not white) and see if dog naturally uses its nose.
Thanks SB.
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ClaireandDaisy
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23-08-2011, 06:37 PM
I`ve found with Rescues, getting them to pick up odd stuff is the hardest (for the search square). So many people seem to tell dogs off for picking things up and it`s hard to get over that.
So maybe chuck a few odd things about and see if he`ll investigate?
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Tass
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23-08-2011, 09:42 PM
You also want a dog that doesn't give up easily when searching for a ball or food e.g in longer grass.

It indicates both keenness for the "prize", so leverage/motivation in training, and persistence e.g for tracking, with being prepared to put in the work to gain the prize.
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