| Subject: REAL VS SPORT/CROSS FROM LONGWOODS |
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Date Posted: 10:49:27 03/03/09 Tue
Article - Sport dog vs Real Dog,
Posted on March 1, 2009 at 19:26:28 by Tracey
SPORT DOGS VS REAL DOGS
By Christine Sonberg & Pierre Wahlström
It is common among German shepherd people to separate the “sport dogs” and “the real dogs”. I have for a long time asked my self where the difference is..? Is my dog a sport dog because he has good scores in competitions? Is my dog a real dog because he doesn’t? If my dog has mostly prey drive, does that make him a sport dog? Or is he a real one because he shows aggression?
I decided to ask Pierre Wahlström! Pierre is a World class and respected competitor, competing nine times in the WUSV championships. He is also a professional officer with Captain Ranks, a military dog instructor, instructor for ammunition search dogs, judge for working trials, helper for protection working trails, judge for dog mental tests and a breeder of working line German Shepherds.
The two founders of Kennel Imzedrift; Pierre & Imze
Pierre and Rosso at work
Christine: You select dogs both for your private breeding program as well as for the Swedish military breeding program. Is there a difference in the dogs that you select? If yes, what are the differences?
Pierre: The answer is no. We use big parts of the bloodlines and dogs that are available.
Christine: Is there a difference in the selection of your private competition dog and a dog for military purposes? If yes, what are the differences?
Pierre: The answer is no. I want my dogs to function as competition dogs as well as in military service.
Christine: Do you see a difference in the “sport dog” and the “real dog”? If yes, what is the difference?
Pierre: There are good, average and bad dogs. The difference for me is that a dog that only is suitable for sport has good fight drive, good search abilities and has the ability to cooperate, but can lack strength in environments. The dog that is only suitable for service has good fight drive, good search abilities and is strong in environments, but lack the ability to cooperate. Both of these dog types are for me average dogs. We can use these dogs for breeding purposes, but we have to be aware of where and what the weaknesses are, so we don’t get surprised.
The GOOD dog, that we should/have to use in our breeding, has good fight drive, search abilities, cooperative abilities and is environmentally strong. The bad dog can lack in any of the above listed things, but can be trained by good handlers. These dogs we should not take further in breeding.
(Realize that the best trainers will rarely take on a dog like this, of logical reasons!)
Christine: Why do you think it has become a trend to separate the “sport dog” and “the real dog”?
Pierre: My judgment is that dog people are like horse dealers... good at finding marketing arguments. They classify dogs in different categories and make it easier to label their dogs / breeding program. The people that do this lack knowledge and understanding... My opinion is that if I accuse my competitor’s stud dog of “only being a sport dog”, and at the same time claim that my own is a “real working dog”, I can get more people interested in my dog. I am sick and tired of those who try to label dogs and put them in different categories. It is mostly the males that get labeled.
Very rarely we hear these statements about females, even though it is the same breed. Often people think that the dogs that act like dirty pigs on the training field are the ones we should use for breeding. I will use an example from my own dogs, this way I don’t have to “rat” on others… I have had / have five different males that are used a lot as stud dogs. From these five there are mainly two males that have the reputation of being brutal and real, and it is these two dogs that breeders are talking about... I know which one of the five are the best. I have tried to train four of these five males (one was to old to start with).
Pierre judging the WUSV in 2005
The dog that later got the reputation of being the most brutal and hard, was the dog that didn’t bother training anymore... The dog had decided after my “Sunday school” training that he didn’t want to be my friend anymore. The other ones kept on working!!!
An important ability for a good working dog is the ability to take something negative and put in into something positive, with this I mean trying to do better after a negative experience... If they are not able to do this we have to question their ability to develop in their education, their “guidibility”. I am not saying that these individuals should be excluded in breeding, but again...
realize it so you don’t get surprised.
Christine: Do you have any other comments around this subject?
Pierre: In dog breeding in general, and especially the German shepherd, there has been created an evil circle which is very difficult to get out of. It is difficult for the “normal” breeder to pick good individuals for their breeding program, because the training systems and trainers have become very advanced and very good. A simple way of separating and spotting individuals for breeding is to take a closer look at how they track and also how they perform in an obedience routine. Within the Shutzhund world is more interesting to look at protection work, and when obedience starts the crowd go for a beer and a Coke. When I say take a closer look at tracking and obedience, I mean IN competition, NOT training. The true observation is difficult to do under training, because most dogs function well and are motivated on training... We see too many dogs that have problems keeping speed and intensity during the whole routine, and handlers use most tricks to keep the dog going. Though is it important not to mix the bad trained dogs that shows drive and are “out of control”, no we have to look at the dogs that are working in drive with precision and speed, but still under control.Working dog / schutzhund people develop one training gadget after the other one to be able to educate our dogs. Everything from tables that the dog has to stand on, different collars that the dogs have to wear, hats with ball droppers on the screen, vest with ball pockets, toys that clicks etc.
This can for sure not be a good development…?
I will now give a small description of my profession linked to the question asked...
The last three years I have through my profession gotten the opportunity to work with a unique breeding program. Together with my colleagues with different backgrounds, we are going to develop German Shepherds for the main purpose in Military and Police service. We have around 30 litters every year. We use females from Nordic and European bloodlines and the females are from normal to good individuals.
These females we breed to competition / service males from the civil/private marked from Sweden and from the rest of Europe.
The males are from normal to good individuals, which come from the traditional working lines. Every male is bred to three different females. The puppies are placed out to “normal people”, who keeps and takes care of the dogs until they are 16 months old.
They are in this period not trained, or stimulated in fight or prey drive, they are only taken around in different environments, living like house dogs. Then they come back (all of them!) to us to be tested. This test is only done by myself. This we do to prevent different judgment or irregularities in the test.
The test is EXACTLY the same for every individual. Now we can get a very good picture of individuals, how they really are, and we also get a very good picture of how the different Lines work, the strengths, weaknesses etc. I can say that we have been very surprised
(good and bad) of some very known bloodlines...
Think about this: Some times we see real good service dogs in world championships etc that place high on the results lists, and sometimes we see competition dogs that does a good job in the military or police.
This should be a good proof that the statement “sport dog” or real dog”
is inaccurate and completely wrong! A good German shepherd is a dog for any breeding program,. This dog should be used, not the rest!!
Sport greetings
Pierre Wahlström
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