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Lizwells

Lizwells

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Hello everyone!
My name is Liz. I am a veterinary technician. I have a very silly, very loving, loyal, energetic, 2 year old black German Shepherd by the name of Pj. Pj has been working on his obedience for the last year and a half and has become less of a lunatic. Now that he has “learned” a little bit of self control. I would love to get him started on some sort of sport. At the end of the day, he is still a German shepherd that came from a working line, he leaves most dogs alone but if the other dog even shows any tiny bit of reaction, Pj automatically thinks it’s fight time. To him, everything is suspicious until proven innocent. But he won’t be the one starting anything. Let me know what kind of sports you guys do with your GS and what kind of challenges you have encountered
 
I used to think the same thing, specially the euthanasia part. When it’s the pets time to go, and the quality of life is just not there, I do take comfort in knowing I helped them make that peaceful transition. I also never realized before getting in the field that most veterinarians will not put down a healthy animal. We try to provide other options if possible. But it’s not always as easy as it seems, some can’t be saved, and although we try our hardest to do everything we can, we do learn from those we couldn’t save in hopes that when the problem presents itself again, we have a bit more information and know more of what can be done. I have comfort in knowing we are the voice for these pets and we advocate for their wellbeing.
 
Lizwells said:
Hello everyone!
My name is Liz. I am a veterinary technician. I have a very silly, very loving, loyal, energetic, 2 year old black German Shepherd by the name of Pj. Pj has been working on his obedience for the last year and a half and has become less of a lunatic. Now that he has “learned” a little bit of self control. I would love to get him started on some sort of sport. At the end of the day, he is still a German shepherd that came from a working line, he leaves most dogs alone but if the other dog even shows any tiny bit of reaction, Pj automatically thinks it’s fight time. To him, everything is suspicious until proven innocent. But he won’t be the one starting anything. Let me know what kind of sports you guys do with your GS and what kind of challenges you have encountered
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Hey there Liz and welcome in! Always happy to see a fellow tech join the HQ! 👋

PJ looks like a handsome boy! It sounds like you are doing awesome work with his obedience, teaching WL GSD self control during their crazy phase is 100% a big win.

Regarding sports, since he has that defensive edge, IGP is a really fun and productive sport to look into. It teaches them exactly when to turn that switch on and off, channeling that natural suspicion into a controlled game. PSA is another great option if you want to focus heavily on obedience under pressure.

I've been interested in IGP/PSA for a while (watching friends do it/going to event), and I’m recently starting to get my rescue GSD ready for it. The biggest challenge I’ve found, which is harder with a rescue than raising a puppy, is figuring out exactly where the weak points in his temperament are.

As example In these sports, nerve is everything. When a decoy puts heavy pressure on the dog, a stable dog engages confidently because they view it as a challenge they can win. A dog with weaker nerves might bite out of fear or insecurity, which isn't safe for the sport. It's a problem I face abit with my GSD, he lacks confidence in certain areas, but nothing patience and hard work can't fix!

I decided to set a high goal for him and give him the chance to make the decision for himself. Even if we don't end up doing bite work because of those nerves, the process and fundamentals are infinitely good for our bond. It’s better to aim high and fall short than not give them the chance!

If you want something a bit easier to get into to start, Nosework is incredible for tiring them out and giving them a good mental workout without all the physical intensity of bite sports.
 
Thank you for the suggestions. I am staying away from any kind of bite work. Pj was training to be a police dog before I got him. Tracking and biting is something he learned during this process. Once we realized he wasn’t going to make it in the field, that’s when i adopted him. I stopped all bite work as he was not mature enough to have a on/off switch. Tracking we still do for fun on a weekly basis.
 
Lizwells said:
Thank you for the suggestions. I am staying away from any kind of bite work. Pj was training to be a police dog before I got him. Tracking and biting is something he learned during this process. Once we realized he wasn’t going to make it in the field, that’s when i adopted him. I stopped all bite work as he was not mature enough to have a on/off switch. Tracking we still do for fun on a weekly basis.
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Yeah that's totally fair, cool that he had that experience though!

That's awesome you are still doing the tracking, it's definitely fun to see them work their nose! Is that something you are wanting to get into the competitive side of? It's something I want to start teaching my shepherd soon!
 
“Less of a lunatic” is basically a major milestone for a 2-year-old GSD. Everything being suspicious until proven innocent sounds… extremely correct. You’ll get lots of sport suggestions here, just expect Pj to have strong opinions about all of them.

Glad you’re here
 
I wanted to. Specially the ARSA-SAR K9 Sport. I think he would do well for 95% of it but there is a part of the competition where you have to pick up your dog and hand him off to someone else. There’s 2 problems with that, I’m 5ft tall and Pj is bigger than me, and secondly, he will never allow me to hand him off to someone else. You should definitely get your shepherds into it! I love watching Pj search
 
Mr. Schmucks said:
“Less of a lunatic” is basically a major milestone for a 2-year-old GSD. Everything being suspicious until proven innocent sounds… extremely correct. You’ll get lots of sport suggestions here, just expect Pj to have strong opinions about all of them.

Glad you’re here
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Thank you so much! He’s very opinionated about everything already, it’s like bargaining with terrorist
 
Lizwells said:
I wanted to. Specially the ARSA-SAR K9 Sport. I think he would do well for 95% of it but there is a part of the competition where you have to pick up your dog and hand him off to someone else. There’s 2 problems with that, I’m 5ft tall and Pj is bigger than me, and secondly, he will never allow me to hand him off to someone else. You should definitely get your shepherds into it! I love watching Pj search
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Oh yeah, that sounds intense! I'm not familiar with that series, so the idea of handing a big dog over to someone else definitely caught me off guard. Especially since it’s not just a leash hand off, but physically carrying them and putting them into someone else's arms, I can definitely see why that is a difficult area! My shepherd would freak lol

Is that designed to simulate like a injury evacuation? Like if the dog goes down during a search and needs to be passed off to a medic or teammate?
 
It’s more if you have to carry your dog over a dangerous spot to get them started on their search and be handed off to someone else. This is more for search and rescue situations, like they have to search for people after disasters. It probably takes the dog time to get used to the idea and I would be more than willing but I don’t think I’ll ever be able to pick up my dog haha
 
Welcome, Liz. PJ sounds like a classic working line character. Smart, intense, and just enough chaos to keep things interesting.

It’s awesome you’ve put that much time into obedience and self control first; that foundation will make any sport way more enjoyable for both of you. A lot of WL dogs have that “everything is suspicious until proven otherwise” mindset, so you’re definitely not alone there.

You’ll get a ton of good input here on different sports and how people manage reactivity and arousal along the way. Glad you found your way in, looking forward to hearing how PJ channels that energy next.
 
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