[abndogos]

Hi. Would also like to ask if your male is intact or neutered? At this point, if you dont have intentions on breeding him, I recommend neutering. I think you also need to read up a little on the GSD and what their purpose for being created is. They are herding and police dogs, so his responses to strangers coming into your yard are part of their genetic makeup. He is nine months old and starting to mature and come into his own. Chris is correct in saying to follow on these forums and start out with the basic Phase 1 obedience. You also need to help him work off some energy, for GSD’s are working dogs and look for jobs to do if you don’t give them one. Obedience is a great place to start. Rewarding him with a ball if he has high ball drive works great. Good luck and keep us posted.

Maureen

[abndogos]

The way your dog is heeling is competition heeling, where the dogs shoulder should be lined up to your left leg. So, it depends on what you are having your dog heel for. The heeling taught on here is to teach the dog to realize that you the owner are in control, that his/her feet must always be behind yours.

[abndogos]

thanks, I’llpass the info on

[abndogos]

Here is Paul’s comment on these pic on Bandog Banter and Protection Dog Forum. some commented on Toro being athletic and ripped….
Posted by Paul C on July 31, 2010, 12:13:41, in reply to “Re: Paul Cipparone/Canine Concepts WOrking DOg Seminar pics”
PROFESSIONAL DOG TRAINER

He certainly is ,& a perfect match for Maureen ., easy to handle ,compliments her busy & stressfull life style. not at all wild,perfectly safe .

---

[abndogos]

Most people r clueless….i cant tell you how many times I have to tell people to not squat down to pet Toro….I would not have allowed the report to be kneeling down next to my dog, no matter how much he/she insisted.

[abndogos]

nice full mouth bite…. that whole with the puddle in it almost ruined, but all and all, awesome

[abndogos]

Oh, I see nothing wrong with the TYPE of training he is doing, I also see where he backs off the dog correctlly when the dog becomes uncomfortable, etc…it is just like you said, the breed he is working like this is incorrect IMHO.

[abndogos]

so it isnt defensive when the dog is fighting yet is not 100% confident/comfortable with what it is doing? Either way, I am not happy with a dogo being worked like this, and I am even less happy that there are quite a few “trainers” that I have presented this video to, seem to think it is ok to train a dogo like this(like a shep or Mal, which IMHO is fine) and that training a dogo is not different than training a shep or mal…..truly worries me since the dogo is becoming more popular in the US and is going AKC Misc in Jan…..I now see what I have to be on the lookout for and what I need to attempt to educate against…..<>

[abndogos]

I think that may be Empire State Ring CLub. I think it is like the Stormville area. The guys name is Matt Carraturo. I spoke to Matt and they aren’t currently training, I think he went back to school or something. Bummer, cause it is so close. I am racking my brains out trying to remember the owner’s name of Crazy Paint there in Mohegan, been there plenty of times to service my paint ball gun and get supplies.

[abndogos]

I remember reading in one of the bitework books somewhere, that there are dogs like to “fight” with the decoy as if they were their “sparing partner” much like two boxers in ring are sparing partners. When I have seen most dogos(mine included) and my AB “fighting” a hog, they are in that same “fight” drive(tail high and puffed out at the base) as when some of the dogs are fighting a decoy. I have also seen a dogo “fight” a hog in defense drive, and it looks just the same as a dog fighting in defense(pressured) with a decoy(tail lowered, head down, bark is different than prey or fight bark). I think TOro likes the “play fight” as rough as he can get without hurting you and I think he is inbetween the prey and fight drive, not full out fight but not all prey. IF TOro were to learn the rountine of FR in prey, I think he will be ok. THe closest FR club is in Waterbury, CT. There are few guys around that I have found, one is Bob Solimini up in MA that heads the NE section of the NARA:
– Selected as a decoy for North American Ring Association (level III), National Association of Protection Dogs, K9 Pro Sports (level II) and American Street Ring
• 2005 Decoy for North American Working Bouvier World Championship
• 2006 NARA Decoy of the Year
• 2006 NARA Decoy Super-Selection Winner
• 2006 – 2009 Only American decoy Selected for Level III
• 2007 Decoy for Canadian Championships
• 2007 Ring III Decoy for the Coupe Intercontinentale (World Championships – Douai, France)
• 2007 Decoy for North American Ring Associations Championships
• 2008 Selected for Decoy for the Coupe Intercontinentale (World Championships – Mexico)
• 2008 Decoy for North American Ring Assoc Regional Championships
• 2009 Decoy for American Ring Federations Championship (Ponce, PR)
• Former Director of Decoys for NARA
• Director of Decoys American Ring Federation
• Titled dogs in French Ring, K9 Pro Sports, ASR, NAPD, NVBK, and placed in numerous protection events
• Responsible for teaching 3 decoys to be selected as level 1 decoys

then there is a guy John Soares in Warwick, that does SchH and some ring. I would only allow someone with MEGA decoy experience do FR with him because of the facts you mentioned, and only with a decoy that is willing to work him the way I want him worked(never in defense). I have told guy Paul Cipparone that I am friends with and I am going to his seminar in July about his strength and he is only worked in prey. I would never push Toro into anything that could hurt his demeanor. I also wonder how he will react to a strange decoy, but he does always start getting worked up whenever he sees a suit or whip or clatter stick. When I had the jacket, I did tease Toro a bit with him inside the fence and me outside just with the jacket on, no stick, no “agitation” just walked back and forth with it on and his tail got so puffed out at the base and he got so worked up just by the sight of the suit. I watch the dogs on the videos with the Brevet and the FR 1 and it doesn’t look like they are in defense, it looks like they are in the prey/fight drive and having a good time, that they know the “game” and are waiting for that bite.

Oh, and one other guy, he finally emailed me back, Mike Baton a ringer out in CT that my friend trained with and really trusts

[abndogos]

HI. Are you going to be able to keep her quiet while one of the legs heals? How much “torture” is it going to be to keep her/him quiet while it heals? My breeder had a MUCH younger dogo male have the surgery, he tore one ACL, got it fixed, and then tore the other, got it fixed, and then tore the first one again. Inevitably, she had to put him to sleep, she could not bear seeing him 1) in pain and 2) him having to be confined to a crate when he was such an active dog (as most dogos are)….hence, why I ask how much “torture” it will be to keep him/her confined while it heals. How active is she now, how much do the torn ACL’s limit her mobility life right now, how much pain is she in? Being an RN, I always have to think of the quality of life vs quantity. Good luck!

[abndogos]

Yea, that video you posted was not in the US it looks like. Here is another video of a Brevet. The owner of this mal is also a FR judge.
[youtube]dSSKMqsZNjc[/youtube]

Def. not as much pressure on the dog as your video. WOuld really like to teach TOro this exercises and try to get a Brevet on him.

[abndogos]

Here ya go, love the looks of these GSDs

http://www.ehretgsd.com/index.html

[abndogos]

I would imagine the breed standard listed in AKC or UKC is the basis for the temperament. Here is the link directly to ATTS so you can see the breed statistics(# of dogs for each breed tested vs who many passed),etc. Interesting that only 11 Dogos have been tested, and only 1 has failed.
http://www.atts.org/index.html

[abndogos]

LOL, yeah, that little beagle/harrier looking thing is too funny! I’ve seen this video, think it is over in one of those Slovak countries…I hear a lot of people try Bite WOrk with dogos over there and in Europe. There is one or two dogos in that video(not sure if it is the same dogo with a different handler on it) that I think would do well in Sport work, lots of drive and confidence. I am surprised, tho, that most of the dogos aren’t showing much drive….that’s a shame…they are breeding a lot of dogos over there w/o working them and they are loosing their prey drives big time. Flipping a rag around like that they should be bugging out to get at it.