I'll definitely keep you updated. I *really* like Quarrel and I think Sloan is near perfect. We're hoping to improve each of them with the breeding. Maybe downsize the ears a bit too. LOL (Denis gets so annoyed every time I say this and said he hopes the puppies have twice the size of Sloan ears.
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I do agree, definitely look into rescue too, you never know what might grab you.
I will add, Backup is *not* a thinker and it's not nearly as fun as it sounds. I regularly leave training (and trials lately) crying. I once thought I wanted that no thinking just go go go dog, now I want bravery, courage, and a brain.
He's a very, very hard dog to reach and he flusters easily. He's filled with nervous energy, overly driven, and uncomfortable with being wrong which makes free shaping of any sort like torture most days.
He's quick to spaz, moves like a border collie on the hunt, and does not maintain a clear thinkers head. These things make him, imo, less than ideal.
On the flip side he'd probably make a fantastic SWAT dog. You can physically manipulate this dog into any position and he'll hold it, sometimes I call him my gumbi dog. He learns best through force. He would be that dog that runs into a fire storm for the bad guy and *maybe* thinks about it after his tail is burnt off and he has the bad guy under control. In the right hands he might be an amazing dog for strict bitework but asking him to branch out and think is often painful. He has drive for days, but in the end that's not enough for a companion sport and or working dog. He will regularly cut open his face around his eyes because when he's upset in the car he spins in a frenzy and slams into walls at full speed.
Now Sloan and Quarrel are **** brilliant dogs. Sometimes this is more troublesome. Backup will *not* challenge a crate when the door is shut, Sloan and Quarrel know how to unlatch their crates. Also when training the dumbbell retrieve Backup was a breeze, you just send him and he'll pick up anything, literally. We had to convince Q and S that this wooden block wasn't boring. It wasn't hard when they realized the game of get that - trade for this (tug) was awesome but they're no garbage goats (that is what we call Backup when he's loose in a field, he'll come back with any trash he finds and offer it for a game of fetch).
The nice thing about S & Q is their ability to think. I train better this way and because of that Sloan picks up things incredibly fast (Denis puts more pressure on her than I do but she still succeeds with him). Would they (the thinkers) be good SWAT dogs? Maybe, maybe not, most likely Sloan would look at a fire storm and say WTF?? and Q would look at his dad and bark and bite him. LOL
Another example I guess is Speed Retrieve in Dock Dogs. We showed Backup where the bumper was once and he zoned in and no matter what I did, no matter how I moved, what I said, Backup was clicked in. So I sent him, and sent him again, and again. He never had a problem from day one.
Q was shown the bumper and he zoned in and did okay in practice with someone calling him to the end of the pool and reminding him this is where it is. Again, he did better the second time. After that though, in competition, where no one could show the dog where the bumper is Q got lost. Dad raised his hand to signal the laser starter and Q got distracted by dads movement, grabbed dads hat and tried to play with him.
Sloan was shown once and she went up to the bumper and said... meh... I've seen better. LOL
They also both needed a lot of convincing to even try extreme vertical and Backup saw the bumper and just went with no regard for self.
Now, with some training they'll both be successful. They both jump 25 feet in big air with minimal training and Sloan doesn't even track the toy, if we could get her to target who knows what she could do.
I guess my point is, from someone with a dog that would literally jump off a cliff for his ball, it's not all it's cracked up to be. There is a happy median between bark bark bark not even gunna try it and weeeeeee bye bye doggy. LOL I would look for the happy median if you want to maintain some sanity.
