Do you like your dogs to have a 'job'?

CareyR said:
Mind you if I wanted to be awkward I could argue that in that case their 'job' is companionship :rolleyes:
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See, that's what I meant by any job - companionship is definitely a role. :)

I'm thinking of those dogs that have absolutely nothing to do, who are resented for even doing the 'job' of barking at the door but given nothing constructive to do in return. I see a lot of sour-faced people out on walks who clearly don't want to be there and are just hanging around waiting for the dog to cr*p so they can go home and resent it some more. :p
 
I've never given my dogs a specific job to do but they have always been encouraged to hunt rats / rabbits / squirrels etc as needed. On the other hand, Susie has a fair trick repertoire now, Oscar has only recently been retired from coming out hacking with me and I've just booked Dash in to start obedience classes with a view to doing agility when I have enough control :p :D

My aunt & uncle have a collie who was declared officially too dumb to herd sheep :rolleyes: but became official welcome dog at their open farm and helped literally hundreds of children get over their fear of dogs. They also have a Patterdale who was totally mental until he was allowed to patrol the farm free-range as their Chief Ratter :D he is now a sensible dog who takes his job very seriously and has added Chief sofa tester to his job list ;)
 
Carey, that's kinda what I meant by the last point in my last post.
Bella is quite happy to sit on her bum all day and look pretty and show some serious love and devotion, her brother, needs more stimulation.

stargirl88 said:
Ahh thanks for the info CC, he's a mix (apparently GSD/collie but it's debatable) I'm in Nottinghamshire but prepared to travel as the only places I've found by me seem to be residential training.
Have emailed the KK so will see what they say!

Do you do one-on-one training? He has issues with dogs he does not know, so I didn't want to join a class somewhere as a total noob with a mutt (called Cuddles, it doesn't help) bouncing around at the end of the lead while I fumble about and hide my clicker....!
What you do sounds too hardcore for us, but very interesting! I've just seen an working trials event in lincolnshire I might have to go to now!
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Our club has a few trainers, so you can do obedience in the main field and the trainers will come round and do you individually, if you want something else like tracking, the tracking trainer will take you off and work with you (tracking can't be trained as a group IMO - actually I think very few disciplines can, every dog has different levels of motivation and ability)
My dog was bad with other dogs but taken to a club every week where he has to see other dogs and he has to behave has really helped, keeping him away from other dogs made the problem worse.
You can use a clicker for tracking training too. I think the Working Trials tracking is less hardcore than what we do.
Go along and have a look, at least you will know what it is like.
 
Well although both of mine go beating and Hector picks up, I do this because there is nothing like watching their instinct kick in and seeing them flush and scent - very satisfying.

Not just to give them something to do though, they're not just there to work for me. They are house dogs who hog my bed and block out any heat from the fire, but they're just my little mates really :)
 
I should point out that our old boy never had a job above being the 'family restrainer':D but was happy with that - although he could have done more if we had trained him, I'm sure, I think it's more for my sake than Henry's that I want to do something with him if I'm being honest - he's happy bimbling about being with his peeps and getting into mischief, I want to do more because I get a lot of satisfaction out of it, and I think he could do it and enjoy it too:)

His most important job right now is learning to stop and sit on the whistle before he has it thrown, and he takes it terribly seriously and loves our newest game:)
 
Mickey has a variety of jobs especially since i started taking him to the stables with me. He sees his main task as making sure no cats come into the yard from next door,then its checking out the paddock (im not exactly sure what he's checking but he spends about 2 hours doing it so it must be important). We don't appear to have any rats in the hay store but he checks it out anyway. He likes to bed down the stable...open a bag of shavings in the middle and he spreads it all out and makes it cosy. And we've been putting up new fencing and he's been very enthusiastic about helping dig the holes. oh and he likes to sample the carrots before the horse has one.

Basically hes a busy dog, constantly on the go with loads of energy so reopening our yard has been great for him (and me) since he tootles around doing what needs to be done (in his eyes) until i bring him home, and tbh he seems happier for it.
 
Tink doesn't really have a job I suppose, not in any recurring, structured sense. However I couldn't be doing with a dog who wasn't capable/willing to go ratting/keep the mice out of the feed shed etc etc. :D
 
Mine are all pets altho they do a good job of guarding the house. between themselves the oldie is the boss and keeps the other two in order, the schnauzer cross is the princess and the jrt cross is the jester!
 
I am very much of the mindset that "dogs should have jobs" simply because I am in the shooting world and my dogs are gundogs - they love it and its what they live for :)

But, it wasn't always that way, when I was growing up, our dogs were just pets and very happy they were too

This of course then brings me onto a bit of a dilemma because we now have Rosie, the border collie pup - although she comes from working parents - she is never going to work sheep and I feel awful about that :( What a waste for the poor dog!

However, she is very leggy, tall and lean and incredibly athletic so I am wondering if I couldn't give agility a go? I have never had anything to do with it before and haven't got a clue how you train for it but it would be fun I guess!

And lets face it - its a damn sight easier to transport a dog to a show than a horse! :p
 
Someone I know has a farmbred collie that is an agility demon:) I'm sure Rosie would love it!

Have a google for a local agility club, and go along, I think there are restrictions on what pups can do to protect their joints but I think they can do puppy classes with very low fences and extra-wide weave poles and so on.
 
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