I have recently been approached by a client to help train a young Labrador by the name of Archie.The owner is a total novice but fancies the idea of working
his dog, so he as approached me for some guidance.
Archie is not from a typical working background.The dams side is all pet/show breeding and is nothing to get exited about.She does however have a low hip score.The Sire is a working dog from a farm in North Yorkshire,Although there are not many FTCH in the pedigree,there are some interesting kennel affixes,which suggest the breeding is relatively local to the North.Palgrave,Pocklington,Tweedshot & Brenjon.
Dave Garbutt,Stan Tweedy & John Dury have obviously had some influence in this dogs pedigree.
Archie is currently 19 weeks old and is of slight build.Not typical of show breeding which I feel is positive if he is going to be required to work.He has a narrow face,which is quite pleaseing on the eye and looks similar to the picture of his sire.He is a little leggy at the moment,this is something I have noticed in dogs I have previously seen from Tweedshot lines.He as a very easy going nature,not short of drive,but certainly not hyper charged ,like some trial bred dogs.He is also very biddable and wants to please and be around you all the time.Quite a pleasant little dog
I thought it would be interesting to share his development with you,or lack of it,as he is not from typical working lines.
I have recently helped a young lady train a Chocolate Labrador,not a sniff of working lines and he was also neutered, but had the drive one would associate with a trial bred dog.It changed my opinion somewhat on breeding and the fact dogs from a typical non working background do have the potential to work.
After a short assessment of Archie I suggested we concentrated on developing a nice retrieve.We tried Archie with Tennis Balls,The elongated tennis ball & a puppy dummy and he was quite happy to pick all three objects,which was a good start.With out being in a hurry to take the objects from him we encouraged him in close to give us the opportunity to take the object off him.Although initially being a little reluctant to give up his prize he soon learnt what we wanted from him and began to return with zest.He his generally a nice retriever,we did give him quite a lot of retrieves,but this was just to assess his natural instincts and train-ability.I advised his owner to continue to develop the retrieve but limit them to a couple every other day.My initial thoughts are that he would make a perfectly good working dog.He is quite keen and as no noticeable hang ups at this early stage.
I am looking forward to see how he turns out
Archie is not from a typical working background.The dams side is all pet/show breeding and is nothing to get exited about.She does however have a low hip score.The Sire is a working dog from a farm in North Yorkshire,Although there are not many FTCH in the pedigree,there are some interesting kennel affixes,which suggest the breeding is relatively local to the North.Palgrave,Pocklington,Tweedshot & Brenjon.
Dave Garbutt,Stan Tweedy & John Dury have obviously had some influence in this dogs pedigree.
Archie is currently 19 weeks old and is of slight build.Not typical of show breeding which I feel is positive if he is going to be required to work.He has a narrow face,which is quite pleaseing on the eye and looks similar to the picture of his sire.He is a little leggy at the moment,this is something I have noticed in dogs I have previously seen from Tweedshot lines.He as a very easy going nature,not short of drive,but certainly not hyper charged ,like some trial bred dogs.He is also very biddable and wants to please and be around you all the time.Quite a pleasant little dog
I thought it would be interesting to share his development with you,or lack of it,as he is not from typical working lines.
I have recently helped a young lady train a Chocolate Labrador,not a sniff of working lines and he was also neutered, but had the drive one would associate with a trial bred dog.It changed my opinion somewhat on breeding and the fact dogs from a typical non working background do have the potential to work.
After a short assessment of Archie I suggested we concentrated on developing a nice retrieve.We tried Archie with Tennis Balls,The elongated tennis ball & a puppy dummy and he was quite happy to pick all three objects,which was a good start.With out being in a hurry to take the objects from him we encouraged him in close to give us the opportunity to take the object off him.Although initially being a little reluctant to give up his prize he soon learnt what we wanted from him and began to return with zest.He his generally a nice retriever,we did give him quite a lot of retrieves,but this was just to assess his natural instincts and train-ability.I advised his owner to continue to develop the retrieve but limit them to a couple every other day.My initial thoughts are that he would make a perfectly good working dog.He is quite keen and as no noticeable hang ups at this early stage.
I am looking forward to see how he turns out
