https://preview.redd.it/uzo2ek3hgi7e1.jpg?width=752&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8a3c19a07a4aa90bbbb4b3b786687a60d08e329f

Hey all! This guy unfortunately lost his family due to health issues. He's incredibly friendly, and has been doing WONDERFULLY in his agility classes! He is full of energy, incredibly smart, biddable and sweet. His parents have health/hip testing, clear for all with the possible exception of a single copy of MDR1.

He is neutered but a Purebred, registered English Shepherd. I have a few videos of him at agility class I can share if you have interest. He is in Colorado Springs, CO. He is out of Flashbar Farm Boyd & Town & Country's FBARF Missy, and is registered as Flashbar Farm Beau with the ESC.

PLEASE DO NOT COMMENT IF YOU HAVE NOTHING NICE TO SAY. I had to take down a previous post due to assumptions and false accusations I did not want to have a huge scene trying to refute. PLEASE BE NICE!!
We responsibly breed and support others who do this same in this rare, incredible, versatile, heritage breed.

Send me a message if you would like further info on this guy. He's a special boy who will do wonderfully with his new family.

I have dogs. My dogs bark at other dogs. I have a privacy fence. My dogs bark at all the dogs that walk by, Although, I have neighbors that intentionally stop on the other side of the fence with their dogs, while mine are barking constantly. I think they are trying to train my dogs not to bark at them, but I'm not sure if I want that. Any advice?

I have a 5month pup that is being raised for schutzhund and she loves to wrestle and rough house with me. I have heard lots of mixed opinions in regards to play fighting with working pups. My IGP trainer said it isnt a big deal if I keep playing like this, but I have heard lots of conflicting opinions about this.

What are your thoughts about this, I have read that playing rough builds a bond/trust with the handler, but I have also heard that all play should be redirected to a toy once they start maturing

Title. I want something to lure and train with that is durable. Any advice?

Completelt new to dog sports, I have a 10m old show line whippet (30 lbs) who is consistently jumping in the 15-20 feet range. Is that considered meh/ok/ good for age/breed? He loves dock diving and our first NADD competition is coming up in a couple weeks. I know the top distance dock diver is a whippet but not trying to compete with any elite champions here, just don't want to get laughed out of the place.

Thanks!

So background- I have a 2 year year old dog. We have done and completed an agility foundations class. I felt like he enjoyed it. He was always super stoked when he saw me grab our agility bag. He seems to do well in class. We are starting the next level class soon.

Agility is the 3rd sport we've tried. We did a single Barnhunt class that he did well until the time came for him to do a practice search with the tube with the rat hidden under the hay. He kind of froze in the corner (mind you, a couple of things I should note 1) when I took him out of the ring, I took him to the potty area and he peed A LOT- maybe he needes to go? 2) when he was in the ring with the tubes in plain sight, he would immediately point out the rat). This was only a single class session and maybe he was just exhausted and needed to pee by the time he did the practice search?? (Side note, this was a year ago and we had just started getting him used to potting on leash so in the last year he was gotten much better about peeing on command).

Second sport was fast cat. First time he tried it was the only time he completed the course alone. It was also the only time he was released by a stranger. Second and third runs he was released by me or my SO.... lots of displacement sniffing. (I thought he would enjoy this sport as he likes to run and chase things. His flirt pole is his favorite toy and he will absolutely go feral for a bag on the end of the flirt pole). This was also not quite a year ago that we've tried this.

Third sport has been agility. Our foundations class has focused on body awareness and basic handling. Very little interaction with obstacles aside from being introduced to a tunnel early in the class. The last 2 weeks of the class we started teaching them jumps. Dog walk width board about a foot off the ground to teach then how to turn around on it. There was a mini teeter that we were introducing the dogs that the height was gradually increased (although it was still a mini, very different from the actual equipment).

The agility class is the only structed class I've ever taken with this dog. Because of the other 2 sport "fails"- how will I know if he likes agility? I know agility is verrrry different from sports like Barnhunt and fastcat (instinct, prey drive). Can all dogs find some sport they enjoy? I know a lot of dogs across a variety of breeds do all 3 of these sports and they excell at them. I guess part of my fear is the he ends up hating agility. I might be being a pessimist, but I want to compete in something. Fast cat was supposed to be super easy to get into but it wasn't for my dog (and I get it, it's an instinct sport, I guess he just doesn't have the instinct). I thought Barnhunt was supposed to be beginner friendly as well, and the crowd was great, great people, but I feel like he panicked during the practice (again, I know it was only a single class and maybe we should try it again but I don't know, he just didn't seem that into searching). Agility seemed like a higher level sport so I'm worried he will disengage and hate it.

Hi everyone, I'm new to dog sports and am having some trouble knowing how to break into them. Specifically lure coursing, sprinter, and flyball. Are there courses you can take to teach your dogs the game? Or places you can try the sport out? When I search information I mostly get trials. I'm in Ontario, Canada if that makes a difference.

Appreciate the help!

Kessler had one 40 point crazy 8s run and one 50 point run. He also had one senior run where he found all his rats, he just didn’t tunnel in time since he decided he only likes to turn to the right inside tunnels. We will be doing some more practice and coming back better than ever next year.

My dogs trial in Obedience, Rally, Tricks, Scent Work, Agility, UpDog and DWD. Recently started on Herding and Mantrailing too. We do well in trials and have moved up easily in most of the sports. Unfortunately, I'm finding myself getting bored of some of the sports/activities and looking for new things to try. Any suggestions?

*I am in Australia.

Hi everyone, I’m getting a lab in the beginning of next year and am wanting to do AKC obedience with her. I currently train protection sports with my Doberman.

Does anyone know of any reputable AKC obedience trainers or clubs in the West Palm Beach area? I’m willing to travel a little bit for the right club. Clubs or trainers with proven success in the upper levels of obedience is a plus. Thank you so much!

Hi! I am registered for Fast Cat with my dog (22 pound Pit/Chihuahua Mix) for the first time this spring. He’s done agility and Barn hunt before but not super regularly. He’s excelled at both and seemed to enjoy. Any advice for a first time participant?

Hey so I'm a high-school student with an English bulldog as a service dog for my autism and anxiety. I've been looking into scent work for her to locate my parents and staff so I can find them or she can guide them to me. How do we get started in trailing my parents in a populated space or my support staff at school?

My dog has her RATS title in barnhunt and while I don't personally hunt, but it feels like at least once a year I have a friend who thinks because my dog can find rats in a barn, she should be able to a wounded deer in the woods. I wish she could! I'm sure she'd have the time of her life actually getting to hunt a deer.

So I want to train her how to track wounded deer and also possibly how to hunt shed antlers in the spring. I'm not really sure where to begin, would nose work classes be a good entry point? I can't find any trainers I'd actually trust to train tracking specifically with, but I feel like once I had the basic search fundamentals down I could teach tracking on my own.

I have been trying to get my pup (9-month old cattle dog mix) to play tug with me as I would love to develop some cooperative play skills and use tug as a reward. She loves to chase but doesn't have a good grip and doesn't often "pull back" on the toy. Lately I've had some success (tugging and then letting go when she kill-shakes the toy) but still very much a work in progress. Today while we were playing at a sniffspot, she grabbed onto my lanyard and tugged so hard I thought I was actually going to lose! I even contemplated letting her have it thinking that it might help with our tug game, but decided against it because tugging on non-toy items is probably not the best example to set.

How do I channel this into our play? If someone has some insight into the "dog psychology" of this, I would love to hear it. She did seem extremely amped up and aroused.

Does anyone have tips on switching from barn hunt to scent work? My beagle is not liking the not getting paid after each rat and I do not have any training near me so I'm on my own.

Hey, I just got signed up for a club and was wondering if there was more free information that would help me bring my dog to the next level without paying for some random master class?

Canadians! Specifically Ontario, where are we buying out discs from?

I had bought some from a friend a while ago but they're garbage now, filled with holes lol.

Also looking into getting a x back pulling harness for my boys. Where are we ordering those from and what is everyone's favourite brands?

I got this custom design done of my terrier x and thought some other terrier people might like it. No rats were hurt in the making of this- she has great control of her drive and this is just an illustration. Hope no one is offended 😅

Between the last time I was regularly active on this sub and now, I poured an inhuman amount of research into my next dog. I wrote everything down that I found helpful in my decision-making process, and weighed my options carefully. I made up my mind on a well bred German Shepherd. Here is the breakdown of what I considered:

*Temperament- I need a dog that is just as adventurous, active, and intense as I am. Watchfulness, alertness, sensitivity, and engagement are my top requirements. I've already had shepherd type dogs, one even before my Julie, who are both now at the rainbow bridge.

*Age- while I am fully "for" adopting adult dogs into homes, because this will be a single dog I have an opportunity to socialize and train this one from the ground up, and that is something I very much look forward to. That does not preclude me from adding to my pack later from a shelter if I find the right dog.

*Size- I like manageably big dogs, what can I say? Not only will it be easier to praise a bigger dog on walks, it's also going to be easier to find and dispose of the poopies. (I'm nearsighted)

Because GSDs don't have the best health reputation, I searched for a long time to find a breeder that actually seems to care what goes into their dogs. Having a comfortable and healthy dog is more important than the price at this time. It will help me with veterinary costs that I could better spend on a good diet.

My hopes for this future puppy are immense, but I know better than to expect everything. Mostly I just want to pick what the dog enjoys doing, including but not limited to -Mondio, one sport I feel like both of us could enjoy -Dock diving, it involves a tug and if the future puppy develops a love of water it'll be great -herding, not a favorite on the list but absolutely something that can be useful later when I have chickens or something. -obedience/trials, one thing that will absolutely be taught anyway -trick dog, an idea for enrichment and changes of pace

I'm not sure what all of the options are, and I'll appreciate any other suggestions that could be enjoyable for a German shepherd and it's crazy owner 😂

Now for the left field questions:

I've been interested about drafting/driving/carting, what have you, for quite some time. I'm not yet ready to commit to the massive amounts of research I did to land on the decision for my next dog. I'm going to start a new list however, of these beginning areas of information so that when I come to the appropriate time, I can follow the information to make more decisions. These are my starting questions.

1. Is there a specific conformation I should be looking for to achieve the most success and fitness of the dog or dogs in the cart team?

2 Are there any unconventional breeds that do excellently in a carting environment? With this question I'd like to clarify that I still am open to some northern breeds, looking casually at Samoyed or malamute. No research on training or breed specifics yet. I'm staying big picture for now.

3. If I'm considering that I want a single large strong dog or multiple dogs to pull a passenger cart with just myself (around 120lb) and some little cargo space, does anybody have information sources that can put me on the right track regarding that specific scenario?

Thank you all for your time and consideration with this massive post. As always I appreciate it.