guest blog by Maureen Fielding, K9 Leadership
Today I introduce Sara, a young, adolescent Canaan dog. This is a primal breed, rarely seen, and this young dog has a strong, independent streak. You can see her regal confidence in her photos. David has been working with her in tracking and obedience to build a stronger bond with Sara.
With a primal independent dog like this, tracking is beneficial to build trust and a common bond that makes sense to the dog. Tracking is an opportunity for us to step into the world of the dog, and work in partnership with the dog - which is different to most other activities and obedience, which is usually fitting the dog into the human world.
Other dogs that can benefit from tracking are rescued dogs, who need to rebuild trust with humans, as well as dogs raised with poor imprinting with humans. These dogs basically have little use for humans and don't live to impress us. Tracking is a way to break into the independent and learned independent world of these dogs, and combined with good leadership, start to develop a long lasting relationship of trust and respect.
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These last comments from Maureen really struck a cord with me. They so reminded me of my Shadow, a rescued Lab/Rotty cross who I adopted in early 2004. Shadow had been at the very least neglected, if not abused by her previous owner and was surrendered to the Vancouver SPCA with her 9 puppies. It was one year of hard work to overcome Shadow's fear aggression towards men particularly and to build the trust and revert to her canine ambition to please. My tracking classes with K9Kinship, the predecessor of K9Leadership where a great help in overcoming Shadow's issues.
For more information on tracking, please contact Maureen Fielding at K9Leadership.
All images by Petra Mayer, PPP-Photography.
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