hey every one! im a new dog trainer with a fair amount of experience and im looking for safe ways to make fairly long drives with my dogs. i have an anatolian shepherd who is on the small side for her breed but still pretty big and a X Mal whose almost as big as the anatolian. We regularry have to make 2 1/2 hour drives to my mentor/business partners house and want my girls to stay safe. i just bought a ruff land kennel (only one those things are expensive) and im planning to get a second soon. the problem is that with those 2 kennels i wont have any more room in the back of my truck to bring client dogs with us. i dont have any family around here to watch my dogs when i leave also the anatolian is my service dog so she will always come, and the x mal is in training for narcotics detection and i like having my mentors guidance through that process so i dont form bad habits with her. any advise on how to safely transport up to 3 or 4 dogs in a long car ride?

So tail docking (and ear cropping, but not a concern for German Shepherds since they have naturally pointy ears) is usually done for working dogs that generally have an inherent danger in their work. Great, completely understandable! I also wouldn't want my dog to get his or her tail stuck in a wheel, have a bad guy grab the dog by the tail in a protection situation, or have the dog's tail trampled by a large cow.

So why then don't German Shepherds in police, military, and farm work have their tails docked? Rottweilers, Dobermans, and Pitbulls almost always have their tails docked (and ears cropped) for the sake of preventing work injury! Even Australian Shepherds a lot of the time have their tails cropped for the same reasons of herding! So why don't GSDs have their tails cropped? Doesn't it make sense for a working dog to have his tail be shortened for (a) reduce the chance of injury on work and (b) to give a bad guy less to be able to hold onto?

Side Note: I don't really like tail cropping and ear cropping for purely aesthetic purposes (such as for most people who just own a dog as a family pet), but I'm not so big on the issue either and I believe people should be allowed to do what they want. In terms of for working ability, however, I do see and understand why cropping and docking are advantageous and necessary.

I got my field line golden puppy 2 years ago from a Mennonite, which ik is a huge red flag. But my dog came acc registered and he has a 4 generation pedigree. I bought him off Lancaster puppies (another red flag) and it says that his breeder only breeds goldens so he's not a puppy mill. My boy is in standard for the field line version of this breed and he's super smart with a high drive. Is my breeder a good breeder?

Edit: i forgot to mention I didn't know anything about ethical breeding yet, I'm educated now.

Hey I’m trying to give my 11 month old St. Bernard some jobs. I have lightly introduced tracking to her, because that’s what her breed is known for. But, I’ve been doing research and recently found another common job that St Bernard’s are bread for are drafting. So I was thinking about maybe introducing light drafting of sorts to her. Just some jobs that I can train her for so that she stays out of trouble. The question is there a type of pulling that is bad for her? I understand that saints are more commonly used to pull carts but would pulling a sled be bad because it’s so low? I’m not talkin like mushing where she will be pulling large amounts of weight on a big sled but more dragging materials for projects or things when I clean up around the yard. I just live up north where I get some snow and Ice so I figured a sled would be good during that time of year. Also what type of harness and where can I find them for carting or pulling sleds does it matter which harness for which or can I use any pulling harness for that?

I adopted a retired Explosive Detection Working Dog from AM-K9 two years ago. Her name is Calypso, and she’s an 8 1/2-year-old German Shepherd. She’s been an amazing companion, and I’m curious to learn more about her past and connect with her previous handlers.

Does anyone know of a way to find or contact her former handlers? Any advice or resources would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

First protection dog has proven to be completely extraordinary. Her genetics are proving to be spectacular and we'd like to explore potentially breeding her later on so that generations of her family can serve ours. She was donated to us because of extreme violence we've faced, but normally would have been more than my annual salary. I've only ever had rescues and am having trouble finding balanced information about the downsides of keeping her intact and potentially breeding later on. We'll talk to the kennel and her many trainers as well, but I wanted to see in general what working dog people felt about this. We can't lose her as she's essential to our safety (and we love her deeply of course). Is it riskier to get her spayed (2 yo dutchie) or riskier to not? She's had two heat cycles, so I think the risk of uterine/mammary cancers are already heightened, right? We're also concerned about her not being able to work for 2 weeks as that means we won't be able to leave the house for those 2 weeks without her. And again, when the inevitable happens, we won't be able to simply purchase another trained dog, and even if we could, who knows if we'd hit the jackpot like we have with our fearsome little monster.

Thank you for the help understanding our options.

I am a SAR K9 handler and work through an agency. When conferring with coworkers many of them have talked to the airlines and they fly using the DOT service dog form. When I called the airline recommend I do the same. The problem is that I don’t feel great going through that channel because it’s a legal form and she’s not legally a dog that helps someone with a disability as the form implies. Any airlines people know of that have a specific SAR designation? Thanks in advance.

I own a working line golden and I've seen people on TikTok say (not to me specifically) you're supposed to work your working line dogs and I'm just wondering what that means exactly.

I remember seeing a video about a dog sport where the dog has to cover and ever widening gas between two handlers with a message in a canister in the collar. I believe it was based on dogs being used transport messages during wars. However for the life of me I cannot remember the name of the sport, however it is one that I am very interested in I do remember that the video itself was of an event not in the US so I don't know if the sport is recognized in the United States. Any help would be appreciated thank you.

Looking for creative, 1 syllable bite commands - what do y’all use or have heard?

Hey all! I recently got my dog certified to track wounded deer. I have a pup I’d like to train for SAR, cadaver, etc. -something with people.

With my first dog I used deer parts.. how the heck do I train for human??

I am looking into a GSD as a service dog and sport dog. I want a dog that can do service work, but also sports like dock diving, obedience and Bikejoring. I also want a dog I can do junior conformation with but breed or line doesn't matter since it is junior. I would love a working line, but I'm not sure I can handle the energy and drive.

Anyways, my question is, does anyone have a showline German shepherd that does sports or other forms of work? Would you recommend a working line instead?

Those who own working lines, would you say the energy and drive could be more manageable than it is made out to be? I want a dog with a good amount of both, just not too much to handle.

Throwaway account because I don’t want to risk my job.

I’m currently working as an EDCH K9 Handler, using a dog to sniff for explosives and firearms. My company has some strict policies that are causing issues:

• We aren’t allowed to take the K9s home.
• We’re limited to 40 hours a week with no overtime (five 8-hour shifts).
• We’re still required to feed the dogs on our days off.
• We’re required to have 36 hours of training a month and an hour of obedience training daily, but we’re deployed for most of our shifts, leaving little time for training.

This is a new program, and all handlers and K9s are new to this. My concern is that the lack of training and bonding time will cause the program to fail.

Additional info:

• We’re a civilian company, not affiliated with any police or military branch.
• Our initial training was a 2-week course with a certificate, but no K9 certification.
• We work 8-hour shifts and don’t see the dogs for at least 16 hours, sometimes longer due to rotating shifts. This leaves the dogs in their kennels for extended periods, often in unsanitary conditions with pee and poop.
• Our pay is low for K9 handlers, and we don’t get any extra funds for dog-related expenses.
• The dogs are kept in 10 x 10 kennels.

Concerns about the dogs’ well-being:

• The extended time in kennels without human interaction or exercise is detrimental to the dogs’ physical health and mental stimulation.
• The lack of consistent training and bonding time can lead to behavioral issues and reduce the effectiveness of the K9s in their roles.
• The unsanitary conditions in the kennels can lead to health problems for the dogs.

I’m looking for advice on how to convince my employer to let us take the dogs home or switch to a salary so we can spend more time training and bonding with them.

If anyone has a sample contract outlining the responsibilities and legalities of taking home a company-owned work dog, that would be incredibly helpful.

I have two working cockers - one 2 and one 3, both female. I planed to train with guidance of a guy that does a lot of field trials and indeed started that for 6 months with the first dog. Unfortunately, I then developed a serious illness and the specific training did not continue, although both dogs always got at least an hour of exercise a day. I am finally healthy and wish to continue to train them.

They are both good with recall in isolation, but they lose their way massively around game. All the fields have recently been stocked and the younger dog is causing me some real headaches. I want to learn the best ways of training them not to be so reactive to birds and would also like to put the skills they have to use (maybe beating or field trials).

If I have left it too late for field trial development, I would just like any advice you have on working on recall around game. I am lucky to have time to work with them daily for 2 + hours if needed.

Also going to post in working dogs reddit.

Thanks.

Looking for advice for a tracking collar that doesn't rely on cell signal and only tracks (don't need the training features). We live in dense woods with very little/no cell signal and the dogs are almost always outside, they usually stay close but I want a tracking collar for that occasional time when they go wandering - so I can make sure they're not too close to the busy road or somewhere unsafe.

It needs to be comfortable for everyday use, have a long range, be waterproof and very durable. Are SpotOn or Halo the only options? And are they reliable in remote wooded areas? I know Garmin and Dogtra work for hunting but they don't seem right for wearing all the time.

I've also heard mixed opinions on Air tags, we have WiFi at the house and could check it from there, could someone confirm that that's all you need for them to work or do they have to connect to a cell tower to update locations?

Any advice greatly appreciated. It would make a big difference for my peace of mind. Thanks in advance.

I currently own a working line german shepherd. He's training in personal protection, then we plan to do PSA. My childhood dog was some pit mix and I miss the qualities of a bully breed. If I were to get a bully breed as my next dog we would do GRC sports. However I don't know which breed, or how to find a sporting mix breeder with what I'm looking for. My dad got my childhood dog from craigslist and I'm not doing that. I'm thinking an American staffordshire terrier or an American bully. My other choices would be a boxer or cane corso, however I would do protection with those breeds, and I want to do GRC. I also really like rhe American akita, but I don't know what kind of work or sports I could do with one.

Hi There! I’m looking for recommendations for an Insulated kennel with a run attached suitable for a Labrador. I live in the highlands of Scotland so need something suitable for our harsh weather! anything of a decent quality for a reasonable price! Thanks in Advance!

Hello! I'm looking for some working dog breeds that would work well with being around horses, I'm not new to the training aspect at all, but I've only had rescue mutts all my life. I ride on trails training horses so any breeds that can handle long distance but are also on the L to XL size would be my preference! If anyone has any ideas I would appreciate it!