Oh what a gorgeous pup PF!




And that ^^^ almost got me to shoot soda out of my nose. :roflmao:

Hey, I slept on top of PF for a couple of nights and we both survived. Probably a tad bit worse for wear but we both survived. :yikes:

Ready Student
 

We have a pup that is learning lesions even before school starts. :D

He now knows a mix of hydrogen peroxide and baking soda is better than tomato juice. :eew:


... And that everything he chases doesn't run/fly away or just hiss at him. :rofl:

After a late night bath he got to sleep in his crate on the porch. We'll see if he has learned the lesson. LOL

He's beautiful... makes me miss our Buddy. (Our German Sheppard, that is deeply missed by the entire family.)...and sounds eager to learn too!

Did he actually catch Pepe Le Pew or did did Pepe live to see another day?

BK is spot on about all of this, as usual. :) Years ago, our family dog was trained with commands different than normal doggie words ("sit, stay...etc.") which always worked very well. The dog learns to respond to a given sound which has a clear message for a specific action. So "at ease", and "attention" produced the same result and only confused or intimidated the stranger she was meeting. We found that to be a good thing. ;)

Onco is going to be trained with German commands. It will make for less likely counter-commands in an 'excited situation' as well the benefits mentioned before.

The bonding with son and acclimation to a family setting has gone super well (except for the meeting with Pepe :eew: ) for Onco. It has been interesting to see the non-doggie daughter-in-law and three grandkids becoming attached in just this couple weeks. Now the two students head out today to begin classes tomorrow morning. I hope they'll be able to teach my son something. :hair:





;)

Any Onco updates?

News From The Schoolhouse
 

Lesson 1. An enthusiastic student is not the same as a ready student.


Updates indeed. :faint:

As you know, Onco took to both the family environment and bonded with his working partner almost immediately from his first short patrol ride right to the full shift at the end of that week before school started. :)

When they came home on the weekend, No.1 son was working him furiously ....................... but not for any reinforcement of what the week was about. The basic discipline to get him on task was just not there. He was superior with the scent detection but was far from the head of the group in responding to commands. They returned for the second week of training hoping that the trainers encouragement of "he'll catch up" was going to happen.

Monday proved to be another day of great enthusiasm that just could not be directed. The trainers spent the last few hours of the day working with him to frankly see if it was the handler that was lacking. Their recommendation was that he was just not ready at 9 months for the training necessary and that he take another dog. Unfortunately this is an expensive business proposition involving other peoples money and HAS to produce the working results on a time schedule, not just a family pet. :( The news brought tears at home from just the short time the family had been focused on Onco.

"Erok" is the name of the 20 month old 'certified' dog that actually came from Germany the previous week. An additional $1,000 went away for the discipline certification, but it is essential for the cross training of the four specialties he will have. Particularly between 'track' and 'apprehend'.

Son has been overwhelmed with the responsiveness of Erok. The basic commands of 'stop', 'stay', 'release', 'wait', 'heel', 'come' etc. ....... only have to be given ONCE (in Germany) to get immediate reaction. This is an animal that can be trained for duty required. I will get to meet him tomorrow after his first night in what we hope will be his new home for a long time.

As for Onco, ............... To answer the question everybody had at the news, yes you can have him :D ................... for the $6,000 price. There is NO question that in time he will become an OUTSTANDING dog with a loyalty like you read about in stories, but that can't be done now. Onco is now scheduled for bomb detection with his superior scent performance, and go to Pittsburg to be the third partner of a experienced handler who plans on working with him into his retirement.

Erok spent his first two days and nights at his new home and brought the difference of a puppy and a fully developed dog. He is back at the training camp tonight and if what I saw today is an indicator, will excel during the next four weeks.

Here are a couple pics of what I hope you will be bombarded with in the near feature. ;)

Do they respond only to the owners voice? (your son) Or do they respond to anybody who knows the commands? I know the commands are in German, but is it voice recognition too?

I'm not a big fan of German Shepherds, but Erok is one handsome dog...& it looks like he knows it too ;)

Oh man, Erok is a handsome dog!

He is a beautiful specimen. Because of the circumstances, I think there is a slight reluctance on everyone's part to embrace the beauty of the dog after just having to abandon one that brought such total love. Son said he would go to Onco's kennel each night just to say hi. ;) He won't be doing that after this weekend away and the bonding gap is closing fast for both dog and handler.

Teddy- It is very much voice recognition........along with hand signals and that they try to separate the basic discipline commands (which is what Onco was lacking) and 'working' commands. He needs to respond to other people for daily life but has to have one ultimate master just as your family pet has one person they go to when two are calling. His tasks will often be under excited conditions, so anything that lessens confusion is done. German is only used because that is where he was born and any unique sounds help separate any counter commands that would have no meaning.

At least that is my understanding of it all from afar and as a non-professional handler. :shrug:

I've just started training one of my dogs for HRD, and was wondering how life with the new partner is going for #1son?

Its hard to keep an objective eye when it comes to working dogs. But if the dog can't do the job that it was purchased for then you need to be able to admt it's not working and make sure you achieve the goal.

Kyttn

Course if you end up placing the dog yourself, you should express that you're not doing so because there is something wrong with the animal. Be a shame for someone to want the animal and pass it up because you said it wasn't working out and didn't tell them how or why. Especially if it's a sweetheart of a animal.