@CrabFly
Hello neighbor.
What chapter do you belong to? Though I have different breed I am a member of the Atlantic chapter.
I tested my dog with DD guys in NJ. There where some magnificent Drats and all of them did great at test.
Wonderful dogs, I just wish there was an on/off switch for prey drive. Your pup looks like a keeper.
Well... they should have on/off switch. When I was testing my dog, a DD guy and judge (he was not judging that day) told me that when he talks to a breeder and if they don't mention word such as "calm" and "on/off" without him even asking that, he is not interested in his dogs regardless the test scores. A good Drat breeder would only breed the dog that has calm nature, but unfortunately not many breeders pay attention to that trait or don't know that's a thing.
A lot also depends on conditioning. This dogs (all of German dogs, regardless the breed) are geared towards task and assignments, therefore they require a structure and routine since they are small pups.
Their natural
urgency to please you and do a
task for you needs to be taken very seriously and only through the iron discipline, training and routine they can channel the huge drive correctly.
The most of the dogs, especially ones that come from that versatile systems, have off/on switch issues due to the fact that they just don't have much to do. They feel "jobless". They have no where to take the drive.
(Though there are some naturally deranged dogs and no matter what you do with them they just have erratic behavior)
Sometimes I don't have time to train and do drills with my dog. So my wife takes her for an hour walk and she is gonna run around happy. When she comes home she will take a nap for an hour and then comes to me holding her toy asking to go out and play. But, If take her for a training such as retrieving drills or tracking and recovery and do it for 40 minutes, she feels
she's done a task for me and she would lay under my table all day.
The point I am making that she is so much task oriented that aimless runs and walks and taskless day is not a day when she feels she's done something for a day.
I talked out two guys from getting a V dog. One wanted a Drat and one wanted a PP. They have no experience with dogs and the people were telling them to get a DD on Facebook.
After a conversation it was clear that they just wanted a dog to hunt on weekends and not much training let alone repetitive drills and routine. One even said that he wanted to do nothing with dog when it spots season.
If not one does not enjoy dog training and working with dog on daily bases and does not do waterfowl on top of upland there is no need to get a versatile pointing dog. There are far better specialized breeds such as setters, labs or britnies.
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I am looking for a deer, fox and racoon skins/hides for blood track and recovery training.
Do you guys have any idea where can I buy them or get them?
