Breed Improvement Suggestions for the UK GSD Breed Council - Page 48

I agree that 25 is too high but it's not set in stone and I think initially, it has to be fairly liberal, to attract the maximum participants.   I don't agree about the colours, I think as soon as "non standard" colours are able to obtain a Class 1 some will be breeding for those colours!  (Some already do).  However, it may be that I have not understood properly, (Malcolm Willis has not posted on here himself) or that there is a very good reason for allowing "non standard" colours to obtain a Class 1.

The allowable colours are detailed in the WUSV standard the  K C are completely out of order and principally incorrect registering ANY colour not in the standard, so i do hope that we could not condone giving a higher level pedigree tro colours outside of that standard.

We are seeking here to improve the G S D and the gene pool is well big enough without including them

Thank you for the replies, I take it then Jess that if class 1 parents do produce non standard colours or coats then the pups would not be registered and we would perhaps revert back to what happened years ago in that long coats etc were sold for a reduced price as pets only. 

I also take on board what you have said about selective breeding from a possible restricted gene pool which will hopefully weed out the problems, however that would require common sense and whilst I am sure the majority would look very carefully at the breeding lines, there will always be those who refuse to be advised- an example was the when the whites first took off, many reputable breeders were trying to advise the 'white' breeders of possible problems but they chose to ignore the advice and consequently had a lot of problems which they are still sorting out.

Bringing in bloodlines to improve the vigour of the breed again is a good consideration.

Question

How can we get a simple nosework exercise into the first phase aptitude test!

Hi Reason,

With untrained dogs in mind, here's a suggestion both you and owners might find acceptable to begin with, how about setting up a ring with some hides around the edges and either hanging up an item of the owners clothing (or the owner themselves) in one of the hides, then getting one of the working people to walk around the ring with the dog, approaching the back of each hide in the hope the dog will get exited at the back of the hide which contains the scent of the owner.

Thought this suggestion may be acceptable as every dog should automatically or rather instinctively be trying to seek or  scent  the whereabouts of his / her missing owner anyway, so fact that a dog may not necessarily have had any previous training for scent work should not be a problem. Just an Idea I thought might work, you may have reasons to dissagree and thats perfectly fine by me.

Best Regards

Sue

Hi Reason, what about a simple one leg track, say 50 paces, to a pot of food or a toy.  Probably sounds too simple to you but this could always be made mored difficult at a later stage, or not.

Or if not a track what about a small property square with say 4 articles (size and type would need to be agreed on) with the dog needing to find say 2 to qualify.  Handler to provide as much help as they wish as long as they do not enter the square.

Jess

Or Alternatively, how about a square containing 4 clean upturned dishes but under one of them have some food. I know the test Jesse has suggested is simple but we need something acceptable straight away and some people may think for a dog to scent, select and pick up particular articles will take some degree of training and therefore reject the test.

Jesse what we need to achieve to start with is develop a Char/Temp test that will initially be accepted by everyone as part and parcel of a dogs naturaly ability be it his natural un-shy, un-nervous, unaggressive and instinctive characteristics. I know a dog will naturally scent, but scenting a particular path made by another human footprint is not automatic, he may instinctively track the scent of a rabbit , bitch in season or air scent a missing owner but following the footprints of another human has no apparent reward for the untrained track dog. As you say, the reward of tracking is the goodies they find at the end (or in each footprint at the beginning) so to check for dogs ability to scent might as well use what is instinctive to him . What I found when first teaching one of mine to track is that as she could see the food she intially looked ahead for it and would scent the food rather than each individual track until she learned the benefits of scenting each individual print which took time and what we need to start with is an immediate test that will be accepted (or without any arguments being able to be offered to not accept it), not a test that takes some degree of training for.

We want this to work as soon as possible, try to build Rome in a day or even a month and the venture will fail, build it slowly over 5 to 10yrs involving everybody in its development and hopefully it should stand forever supreme on the most comprehensive foundations with a Country of supporters within its walls.

Best Regards

Sue

"she would scent the food rather than each individual track " Sorry that should read "she would look ahead to see the food rather than track each individual footprint for it, as tracking a footprint is not instinctive to a dog finding food"

Sue

What about hiding the dogs favourite toy then sending him out to find it?   My boy would much rather have his frisbee than me. Unless i Disappear of course!!  He never gives up untill he finds that frisbee no matter how far away I hide it. LOL

Ok folks, I know its pretty basic, but I thought the idea was to encourage EVERYONE