Most of you know that Gunnar's trainer is a Police K9 handler/trainer. He's now in charge of the entire training program at his department. Today I was talking to him about this club I found not far from me that does more intense training for working breeds- elements of Schutzhund, French Ring, police tactics, tracking, real live situations, protection stuff. I was asking if he knew the people who ran it and what he thought about Gunnar doing it. They have Malinois, Rotties, GSD's, Bouvier's all working at the club. They also do herding as they are on a working sheep farm and have a bunch of Border Collies who work the stock.
After we talked about it, he said he has a new class of K9's that are going to start training in September, and he invited me up to participate in a few of their sessions! I'll jump at the chance to give Gunnar an opportunity like that. Not that he can do the real nitty gritty stuff, I can't pass it up. It'll be a great experience for us.
I'm supposed to go check out this other club on Sunday if I can get someone to cover my oncall responsibility for work. They are going to give Gunnar a temperament test and test his drives to see what kind of training will work for him, and to see what I want to do with him. I'm really just looking for an outlet for his ability and energy. I don't necessarily want a protection trained dog, but if doing some bite work is fun for him, great. He's never been pushed on any defensive or fight drives, so it will be interesting to see how he responds. My K9 guy says he's stable enough and mature enough to handle being pushed like that, so we'll see what happens. If he doesn't like it, or if he's not cut out for it, at least we gave it a shot. You never know until you try.
After we talked about it, he said he has a new class of K9's that are going to start training in September, and he invited me up to participate in a few of their sessions! I'll jump at the chance to give Gunnar an opportunity like that. Not that he can do the real nitty gritty stuff, I can't pass it up. It'll be a great experience for us.
I'm supposed to go check out this other club on Sunday if I can get someone to cover my oncall responsibility for work. They are going to give Gunnar a temperament test and test his drives to see what kind of training will work for him, and to see what I want to do with him. I'm really just looking for an outlet for his ability and energy. I don't necessarily want a protection trained dog, but if doing some bite work is fun for him, great. He's never been pushed on any defensive or fight drives, so it will be interesting to see how he responds. My K9 guy says he's stable enough and mature enough to handle being pushed like that, so we'll see what happens. If he doesn't like it, or if he's not cut out for it, at least we gave it a shot. You never know until you try.
And get pics!
