wyvernhawk Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 Hello all, I have a 6 month Golden Retriever pup. He goes around the show ring beautifully (a few baby in group wins) but he has no spark, no excitement. My other Goldens are all over, bouncing with excitiment, etc. While the pup just sits and watches the whole thing happening. He is on a great diet of Royal Cainin, with veggies, chicken, lamb. He gets plenty of attention, has other dogs to play with, as well as kids. I feel like I need to give him a Red Bull before a show to "perk" him up. That or 3 cups of coffee!! Any suggestions to liven up a puppy in the ring?? I do use liver bait. He loves it and will look at it in the ring, but could care less if he gets it or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonymc Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 What are the other Pups from his litter like?He could be a low drive Dog. Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wyvernhawk Posted October 30, 2007 Author Share Posted October 30, 2007 What are the other Pups from his litter like?He could be a low drive Dog. Tony I have only seen his sister from the litter since 10 weeks, but she is a busy girl! Totally different than him. He is very sweet and loves people, but just doesn't get "fired up" even when we play. The other goldies will be totally crazy and he is perfectly happy just watching. He doesn't seem sad, or unhappy. Just MELLOW to the point of frustration. What is "Low drive"??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bridgie_cat Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 you need to play games with him and build some excitement in something that enjoys... then - put a word before the game starts (like "readyyyyy") - this becomes his word to "switch on", when you say "are you ready??" this means he is about to have FUN - find stuff he likes and play mini versions of it before you go in - if you can get a bit of crazy eye contact or slight bouncing movement to get him excited in the ring all the better! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Spotted Devil Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 One of my lad's brother's was like this - he was the absolute show pick (at 8 weeks) but I really wanted a dog with spark for dog sports as well as the show ring. And boy...did I get what I wanted What about a good game of 'tug' to get your pup going? 'Drive' is another word for 'motivation' - some dogs are motivated by pack or prey or food.....mine is motivated by everything!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bubitty Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 Hello all,I have a 6 month Golden Retriever pup. He goes around the show ring beautifully (a few baby in group wins) but he has no spark, no excitement. My other Goldens are all over, bouncing with excitiment, etc. While the pup just sits and watches the whole thing happening. He is on a great diet of Royal Cainin, with veggies, chicken, lamb. He gets plenty of attention, has other dogs to play with, as well as kids. I feel like I need to give him a Red Bull before a show to "perk" him up. That or 3 cups of coffee!! Any suggestions to liven up a puppy in the ring?? I do use liver bait. He loves it and will look at it in the ring, but could care less if he gets it or not. Oh dear! Not to sound disheartening but he sounds like my Bubby. Bubby was the pick of the litter and in the end the breeder couldn't show him because he was always "ladida ladida driiiiiiiiiiiiiiift driiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiift". And your description of your dog with the other goldens sounds like my Bubby at the park. I have managed to perk mine up a bit (through training and making myself more "Exciting" to work him up a bit but his core personality is just very..............mellow, cant quite escape it! Send him down to me!!!! I LOVE that type of personality!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leopuppy04 Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 you need to play games with him and build some excitement in something that enjoys... then - put a word before the game starts (like "readyyyyy") - this becomes his word to "switch on", when you say "are you ready??" this means he is about to have FUN - find stuff he likes and play mini versions of it before you go in - if you can get a bit of crazy eye contact or slight bouncing movement to get him excited in the ring all the better! This is a great idea - and one i've been using a lot on my moderate - high drive dogs. It really helps them jump out of their skin and i'm sure it will help you too! My girl is a little like that (maybe not to that extreme) as she doesn't have the 'look at me' presence at the moment. She'd much rather be doing something fun like obedience or agility The key is to make "showing" fun.... perhaps try some clicker training? This helps 'gee' the dogs up a little in my experience. Give lots of praise and use some really tasty morsels such as kabana/sausage/devon etc. Try and find something your pup really likes that he will truly work for. Make sure YOU are fun to be around and exciting and your pup may pick up on that. On the whole though - I think the main thing comes out of the ring... play games with him - throwing food in one direction, than another direction, play rough with him and try and get him keen on toys.... it's an uphill battle to begin with, but the rewards are endless. Keep sessions nice and short! Then you can try and incorporate this enthusiasm into the ring, like B_C said, using a key word Hope this helps! I know how you feel - try turning a high drive nutso dog into a quiet as a mouse dog just because of her post season blues!!!! .... She normally loves toys but now she will only play in short bursts.... bring on the two weeks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ons Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 and my Onslow, golden retriever, fits the category as well. Sure he plays with the others for a bit but then just sits watches. He has always been fairly quiet, just happy to be cruising and looking at what is going on rather than actually participating. My female golden retriever is the oppostire and on the go all the time! Onsy slept his puppyhood away, I swear he went into the bathroom one morning at 9 am, awoke at 5 pm and had grown 2 inches Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Spotted Devil Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 and my Onslow, golden retriever, fits the category as well. Sure he plays with the others for a bit but then just sits watches. He has always been fairly quiet, just happy to be cruising and looking at what is going on rather than actually participating. My female golden retriever is the oppostire and on the go all the time!Onsy slept his puppyhood away, I swear he went into the bathroom one morning at 9 am, awoke at 5 pm and had grown 2 inches LOL - that's funny. My pup has no idea (and I mean none) when he's tired or has had enough....it has taken him 2 days of 90% sleep to get over the double show on Sunday and the visit to my cat breeder's place afterwards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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