Duitse herder

[Selene]

Amerikaans maar wel een hele informatieve site over duitse herders, zeker het stukje temperament is de moeite waard om te lezen, ook voor niet herdereigenaren (denk ik)

http://www.germanshepherdguide.com/temperament.html

Nooit geweten dat zij nog meer verschillende types onderkennen dan wij, dat gaat verder dan kynoloog of werklijn

[Suske]

Doe eens ff vertalen

[Selene]

Doe eens ff vertalen

Ja doeg! heb je die lappen tekst gezien? heb ze al zelf gelezen
Maar serieus ook voor jou is het best leuk om te lezen denk ik

[Suske]

Doe eens ff vertalen

Ja doeg! heb je die lappen tekst gezien? heb ze al zelf gelezen
Maar serieus ook voor jou is het best leuk om te lezen denk ik

pffff, ik lui vandaag
Ga mijn best doen

[Suske]

Even aan favorieten geplakt, teveel tekst voor vandaag

[Selene]

Goed dan een stukje plakken dan maar ondermeer dit vond ik wel een heel helder stukje, zeker in het licht van de korte lontjes bij sommige duitsers/herders

THRESHOLDS
Thunder is my now five year old neutered male GSD. He is byb [backyard bred], half West German show lines and half who-knows-what. He is a gorgeous black and red with (wouldn't you know it) good hips and elbows. He is healthy, athletic and agile. Thunder gets along exceptionally well with other dogs, likes to clown around and greets humans with friendly enthusiasm unless he's on his own territory. However, Thunder's defense drive is off the charts, and he is something of a nervebag, but luckily for me, he's got a pretty high threshold.

Since his earliest days in Schutzhund, Thunder has demonstrated all defense, all the time, despite the fact that he has excellent prey drive, it is not accessible to him under the stress of bitework. Watching Thunder do bitework is a lot like observing primal scream therapy. It's stressful and exhausting for him (which is why he is now retired from Schutzhund and doing only scent work these days, at which he excels). He puts on a heck of a show.

A dog with that degree of defense drive could be a menace to all society, if not for the threshold. By drive threshold, we mean how quickly the dog perceives a threat and responds to it. In Thunder's case, we are talking about defense drive and the point at which it kicks in. On the protection field, the sight of the helper in a sleeve is enough to stimulate a strong reaction. That is the result of his prior experiences, or training. It's also reality based behavior, he has learned that the appearance of the guy with the sleeve means he can start the action now.

Genetically, his overall stimulation threshold is fairly high. He showed us this early in life. I got Thunder when he was seven weeks old and promptly took him to his first vet visit. After being poked and prodded by the tech, we set him down on a metal table to wait for the vet. Thunder reacted by stretching out and falling asleep. Thunder has been known to conk out in other stimulating situations. On more than one occasion, he has taken a nap while on a long platz during one of my group obedience classes. There are those who would argue that going to sleep is a show of avoidance behavior, but I don't think that fits this dog. He has overall, a very calm temperament.

Some time ago, we were outside of our local Pet Smart, talking to a lady who used to breed GSDs. Thunder was on lead, doing a long platz. A toddler appeared suddenly, came screaming up behind Thunder and grabbed him hard on both flanks. Thunder turned his head to see what had attacked him, then looked up at me and went on doing his assigned task while I reamed out the toddler's parents. The former GSD breeder commented about what an interesting temperament test Thunder had just taken. Thunder has had minimal exposure to toddlers, so his reaction was a function not of good socialization to kids, but his threshold for stimulation. Even that obnoxious conduct by the child was not sufficient to spark a defensive reaction.

Callie is a three year old, also black and red GSD owned by a client. She is from West German showlines and came from a breeder with a track record of producing spooks. Callie, like Thunder has high defense drive. If a stranger gets within ten feet of Callie, she barks, backs up, lunges and raises her hackles. She has no reservations about trying to bite neutral strangers. Callie reacts to non-threatening events as if her life were at stake. For example, each and every time Callie's owner goes into or out of the house, she closes the sliding glass door behind her. And, every time, it makes a "thud". And every time, Callie barks at it. If someone drops a book on the floor, Callie goes into a barking frenzy.

Callie and Thunder both have roughly the same degree of defense drive. Yet, Callie cannot be approached by strangers at all, whereas Thunder approaches strangers willingly and allows strangers to pet him. Both Callie and Thunder are weak nerved dogs. The difference is that they vary greatly in stimulation thresholds (and Thunder has had more socialization). It takes little more than a leaf blowing by to send Callie into a defensive panic. Conversely, it requires very specific learned cues to throw Thunder into defense mode. Thunder can stretch out and relax in a crowded store. Callie can't relax on her own front lawn.

You can see that a highly defensive dog with a low threshold for stimulation is a very dangerous dog! This is a dog who is very quick to perceive a threat where none exists and react aggressively.

Threshold is not another word for nerves, rather it is a function of nerve strength. The stronger the dog's nerves, the less likely he is to go off in a panic over nothing and the more stimulation is required to get the dog to react.

Some dogs react to absolutely everything in the environment. This is not uncommon among some of the terrier breeds. The sound of the washing machine changing cycles or a phone ringing sets them off into a barking, out of control frenzy. The low threshold dog reacts to nearly everything and often overreacts. It is very easy to over stimulate these dogs. It's almost as if the dog is missing some sort of filter that screens incoming stimuli.

You may have seen the calm, laid back dog snoozing in the living room, who barely lifts his head when a car door slams. That would be the high threshold dog.

We had a one year old Mastiff in a large group obedience class who had quite a high threshold. The dog next to her was a crazy rescued GSD with horrible nerves and a low threshold. The poor GSD growled, lunged, barked and attempted to bite any human or canine that got too close to his personal space. The Mastiff pup responded by flopping down on the grass and taking a nap. The GSD in the group also was prone to, when sufficiently agitated, biting his own handler when he couldn't get to the object of his loathing. Along with his other considerable problems, that dog was not clear headed.

[Paisley]

Ik heb het gelezen maar kwam niets nieuws tegen.