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


Updates indeed.

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 ................... 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.

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