Tracking, Search & Rescue Or Something Else...

[Tilly]

Our 6 year old GSD has been working in security but is now looking at being retired. He was desexed in November 2008 due to illness and is loosing some of his agression ... he is becoming too soft to do the work (he still works fine with me but not with my brother - maybe he figures he is big enough and ugly enough to protect himself).

We are looking at getting another security dog but I really need something to do with our existing boy. We did a little bit of tracking a couple of years ago and he did well with some of the practices I did (locating "lost" friends and children) - but didn't seem interesting in the "classes" we attended.

I have always been interested in Search and Rescue but there doesn't seem to be any organisations within reasonable distance ... and is he too old to start.

I was thinking about agility but I couldn't trust him off-leash at the moment ... I would need to work on obedience to me more.

What are some things we should look at doing? I am not particularly fit at the moment as I have been out of action for almost 12 months with an ankle injury ... which is finally starting to improve (it is about 80% at the moment and getting better all the time).

[Lablover]

Loosing his aggression?

Not trustful off lead?

You are not fit?

[Tilly]

Loosing his aggression?

Not trustful off lead?

You are not fit?

He is getting softer - he would rather snooze and play. Which is fine with us (particularly at home) but he is not taking his training seriously and doing proper hard bites any longer - he will hold for a moment but release too early or not show sufficient agression. The company my brother works for will not pass the dog and allow him to work because they believe he is too soft and friendly.

I personally don't trust his off-leash (he is no problem with his handler) because he has a high prey drive which make small running things interesting. Because of his training I just don't trust him 100% - he has broken the rules twice before (rushed out of the garage door when he should have been sitting and waiting) so he will never get another chance. Again he is not problem with his normal handler - but I am not his handler. I suppose you could think of him as two different dogs - a work dog and a home dog ... work dog follows the commands without fail (with handler) but home dog is more relaxed, tends to push the boundaries a little more and just wants to play - he acts like a 2 year old ... and I look after the home dog.

Re my fitness - I had injured my ankle in April 2008 (took them 5 months to find a fracture) and had ongoing pain which means walking any distance was extremely painful. After some recent treatment I am back to walking more but my fitness levels are not good. Even on a bad day I am still walking more then 12,000+ steps - so it is not really bad - I guess I am just not used to walking long distance etc at the moment but we are working on that now that I am getting around better but it will take some time. Definately don't fit into the "fit" category.

[jinkispirit]

http://www.bsdc.sportdogaustralia.com/ - check out this website - they do IPO - "IPO Dogsport has an entry level called a BH which involves entry level obedience and environment type testing. Once you pass your BH you may compete in IPO I, II and III. These competitions have three (3) components, tracking, obedience and character assessment."

I think that is what you are looking for.