i have been a bit quiet the past week

koyote

koyote

Joined
Mar 29, 2007
Messages
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and here's one of the main reasons

victoria.jpg


Her name is Victoria Regia, she's a rottweiler. The litter was abandoned in a box at a local vet clinic, husband of one of the clinic workers took them home to keep the SPCA out of it (they are ridiculous around here and - for example- won't adopt a large dog puppy out to a family with kids under 14). With the large yard, lots of people at home, 9 people in the household most days, cats, and friends, she's going to socialize fine. Already has, really.

Healthy, cute, cuddly. She's going to be a ball to train for the field. Which brings up the topical--

What do you guys do for field training? What specific behaviours for different scenarios? I've got experience training working dogs and we'll get her pack adjusted when her bones are bigger.

Fortunately, rotties are a herding breed, and will work fine with the kids with a little training. Knowing the den protection instinct, I'm going to try and train her to be absolutely non aggressive in public, especialy with roughhousing.
 
She is absolutly CUTE.... Now you know you would be loved to death every time you come home.... What would you like her to do as a field dog???

Sasha
 
Oh, what a sweetie.

Rotties are awesome. Definitely on the list of dogs I would have.

I've known a few different people with them and they were just big ol' sweethearts.

Have run.

Charlie
 
That's a shame about the SPCA, they would rather see dogs destroyed then given to a loving family with kids under 14? Kids over 14 are just at the right age to stop caring about feeding/walking a dog imho.
That name is quite a mouthful, has it been shortened to Viki yet?:D
 
Incredible that people abandon beautiful dogs like that. :)
Ya did good. She will be a great addition to the household!
 
she is cute, and the kids are well attached already- leif woke up in the middle of the night to check on her a few times! (he's 5)

Her nickname actually became Tory.

For field training, there's games and work. She fetches without training already (we'll have to train drop command later). I think I'd like a follow command associated with each kid. Female rotties will bark a bit, a post command (watch and bark once if you see something coming) would be nice but we don't have the space to maintain a good habit on that. Portage training, of course. Not expecting to use her as a firewood carrier, of course.

I'm open to ideas, too-- I'm more familiar with hunting dogs when you get beyond basic eye contect, heel, stay, wait, walk type training. I think she's going to shine in the family for kid herding and general obedience.
 
Cute indeed (adorable, even!), and good of you to adopt an abandoned pup. I'm sure she will be a great pet.

Dammit. Everyone always mentions how participating in this forum gets expensive in terms of knives and gear, but I just know that eventually I will see one too many W&SS dog pictures, break down, and wind up coming home from work with a puppy.

All the best,

- Mike
 
I'm finding that Boudreaux responds really well to hand signals. I'm hoping to phase out voice commands as much as possible.
 
I have a Rhodesian Ridgeback that is trained as a hiking companion more than as a hunter. The most important command is never voiced, but, if it were, the command would be "keep track of my location". It applies at all times in the field. Start training for this command as soon as the puppy is brought home. Take the pup to a wild area and walk away from him. The pup will follow if you don't go too fast. Keep this up until the dog has enough confidence to wander a bit, or to be distracted by something. As soon as you notice the dog being distracted, hide from him. Duck behind the nearest bush or rock. He'll come running and find you; reward him with lots of praise when he does. Keep this training up until he's an adult dog, but continue to hide from him occasionally to reinforce the conditioning. My ridgeback is 2 1/2 years old and never fails to find me within 30 seconds. One time I was out with my wife; she got tired and stayed behind sitting on a blowdown. As I walked away my ridgie followed, but he would occasionally run all the way back to Karen's location to check on her.

In my experience, beyond "keep track of me", the most important verbal commands for a field companion are:

Come
Stay close
Out front
Sit
Down
Stay

Nice looking pup. You and your family have acquired a great companion. :thumbup:
 
Great looking dog, she's cute. I hope to get a rott when we get a house. Good luck with the training.

I like that training high desert walker, I'll have to keep that in mind for the future.
 
HighDesertWalker said:
One time I was out with my wife; she got tired and stayed behind sitting on a blowdown. As I walked away my ridgie followed, but he would occasionally run all the way back to Karen's location to check on her.
Click to expand...

LOL, my dog does the exact same thing. My wife and I were at a large outdoor party and Richard spent most of his time running back and forth and checking in with each of us. He was pretty tired by the end of the day.

All around great advice HDW :thumbup:

What an adorable Rottie pup :D Congrats :thumbup:
 
We had two rottweilers when I was growing up. They were given to us by some friends who were moving out of country. The dogs were both highly trained already, and knew hand signals as well as voice commands. Those two were the sweetest, patient, loyal dogs I've ever known. If you train them well, they'll be fantastic members of the family....they were certainly better behaved than I was!
 
Great lookin pup. I onced owned a rottweiler and they can get pretty strong once fully grown. I suggest you train her early with things like walking on a leash, otherwise she might be a handful when grown.

Anyway, I'm glad your preventing her from being caged up at the SPCA. Congrats on the new dog.
 
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