The other pups respectfully
moved back and kept their distance. Once the little "attitude
pup" was done feeding, he left what was left of the food to
the others. He was only nine weeks old at that time.
After I
saw this, I took the breeders hint and reconsidered. "Wolf"
was the name of this little guy, and he grew up to become
one of the most dominant alpha-males that I have ever worked
with.
Some of my Schutzhund team-mates back then were so impressed by Wolf's courage as
a young adult, they went back to the breeder and bough several
of the puppies born to the same parents in a subsequent litter.
They however turned out to be almost the opposite of Wolf,
much more nervous and timid than even an average German shepherd
dog.
It is important for
you to do your research before you buy a puppy. Selecting
a pup with the right pedigree from a reputable breeder is
enormously important if you are thinking about getting into
any kind of competitive canine training later on.
However, even if you are very careful in your selection, all dogs are different! It is amazing to see that there are still a lot of dog handlers and even
professional trainers out there that take a cookier-cutter approach to dog training. This may be comfortable for the
trainer, but it is completely wrong for the dog. Like human beings, every dog
is unique. You can't train
an alpha-dog the same way you train a timid or fearful dog,
but you can train them both very effectively if you tailor
your lessons to their individual personality traits and breed
characteristics. Once you start training your dog, pay close
attention to what motivates him most and what does not. Some
dogs do anything for a treat while others care much more about
play. Some dogs learn new behaviors in five minutes, others need five days. We will talk more about motivation a little later.
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