Obedience/pet Obedience

ditto, they were gorgeous, but even if it were legal I would never alter a dog for cosmetic reasons. That money should be spent on making me look better, they're perfect as they are!

Loving all the extra breed ideas, I did think of a burmease mountain dog, or the greater swiss mountain dog. Anything big I tend to like.
I think SB has the best idea, a nice steady mutt. Maybe I should just check out the rescues when I'm ready. Never had a pedigree before, so why start now :-D
Just be nice to know what to expect and how to train, but a GSD cross or something maybe a good idea.
I was thinking a big fluffy white GSD, as they wouldn't look as scary. But after a walk today I'm not so sure they wouldn't put some of our clients off.
Some of these were scared of a cute lil staff, but fine with my 30kg staffy cross. Strange people.
Thanks for all your help and suggestions. I think I will start a list of the breeds I'm interested in, characteristics and such and see what I can come up with, but I am leaning towards finding a mutt now... So indecisive I know.

I have shown off once or twice with the boxers getting them to work as a pair and thought of those dogs ...
Big kid .lol

By Goldie do you actually mean a Golden as in Golden Retriever(Goldie was the Blue Peter Golden Retriever)

Saarlos/CSV not breeds for someone who hasn't owned a dog with lots of prey drive before

NI-way too many health issues(including Epilepsy)

OES(Old English Sheepdog)should not be clipped, they have a coat for a reason-warm in winter/cool in summer

American Bulldog apart from the DDA problem, they also have major health issues

Dalmatians were breed to run with carriages/horse riders to protect them from Highwaymen in Dalmatia(hence the name)very high energy & major health problems with Epilepsy, Deafness, Urinary Stones, HD

Bernese Mountain Dogs are quite short lived(they are also a Giant Breed)also have health issues.

GSMD-still a fairly rare breed here in the UK, they are a Giant Breed weighing in from 100 to 140 lbs for the males !, they too have HD/ED/Epilepsy?

As for a GSD X or White Long-coated(sic few are actually white in colour) they are bred for all the wrong reasons(ie money), should be from a 5 generation pedigree of completely health tested dogs for Haemophilia, HD/ED, DM, Dwarfism-something that is exceptionally rare in this type of puppy-far more likely to find a fully tested pedigree from working/show lines of the standard colours & coat.

The main breed in obedience are BC/WSD, GSDs, Goldens, Xbreeds-very very few of any other breed really. If you serach for Obedience dogs, make sure you are looking at UK dogs as Obedience everywhere else in the world is totally different

yep, and a dobe can be intimidating too, yet as sociable as a GSD etc at other times

Not ALL dobes are 'daft as a brush' etc all depends...

I'm not sure if you want a dog for obedience competition for yourself or just to help teach basic obedience to owners in class? (just wondered as I got a bit muddled there...)

Agree with Trouble a dobe is more than capable of intimidating just with a stare and making its presence known too, yet really loving to family. They are more aloof with strangers though and just because they approach someone does not mean they will be all cutesy and cuddly! Not sure if thats a pro or a con in your class?

Almost every breed has health problems, OP if you go down the breed route then just make sure you got to a reputeable breeder

oh, just a thought, Labrador Retriever? Can bark on cue, people friendly 'image' etc etc

Haha - something like this then ... ;-)



Seriously, I don't think you would have too many clients coming to you who were afraid of a well trained, well behaved GSD or at least I would hope not. Many of the trainers I have known over the years have had either collies or shepherds

LOL Moobli!

Also one of the clients may have an 'intimidating breed' you cant exclude them for it surely on that alone so people would see those dogs anyway?

The best class I went to the trainers had dobes, labs and BC's. The class was made up of all breeds (the ones coming to class) and no-one seemed put off by any of them.

Ooh yes, veeeeeery nice! I know I shouldn't say it, but they do look fab with cropped ears/docked tails

Beautiful Trouble, what a stunning Dobe

Ahem, that's why I said floppy eared Dobes look awesome remember?

And in the States cropped ears are still available, what we may think of this practice however is something that perhaps shouldn't be discussed in this thread. XD I don't mind floppy eared anyways. (Although I admit Zeus and Apollo does make me wish they originally had upright ears.)

And like Dobermann said, they can be intimidating, it is what they are meant for - I never said they were aggressive! Please don't be offended over something that was not my intention at all!

Aww thank you, that's my Sydders

Moobli is gorgeous and probably perfect! I have to say I have not personally had many good experiences with adult sheperds, have had a fair few lovely pups in class, but they are still puppies now (only been helping out for a year and oldest GSD is only 6 months now). Had a few bad owners where I grew up. But I'm not breedist :-D or like to think I'm not so maybe I shouldn't be put off.

For clarity I am looking for a dog I can do obedience with initially and also use as a demo dog. Not sure how far the obedience would go, would depend on how well the dog and I did tbh. Would also like to do some basic agility and maybe try HWTM. So a good all rounder would be ideal. (Yes like a BC)

There ae other dogs that are good all rounders such as:

SBTs (I know SBTs that are working C only in obedience, have CDex UDex WT qualifications, won agility competitions and do demos at Crufts)!

I know a Weimaraner that is a good all rounder too!

Ermm I have no idea what all that means... Currently I am just doing the good old bronze, silver and gold. But I would love to take it further. Are these things you can do with mutts?
I love staffies, but would prefer a bigger dog. Cookie is just big enough at 30kg. (Could say I do believe bigger is better ;-) ) I just find them easier to train and work with, less back braking to reach down to them for the initial training stages. Suppose I could just invest in a target stick though.

A weimaraner? Just the one? Or do you mean the breed? I don't actually know what dogs you do have SB, and not for lack of looking, but think I have seem you mention that you have one of these gorgeous dogs.

T'was the word Freaky that I found offensive, as I already said.

You can do ANYTHING with a mutt apart from a) Breed Showing and b) GWT (Gundog Working Tests) and FT (Field Trials).

The KC has an activity register where mutts and pedigree dogs (with no KC papers) can be registered in order to participate in Agility, Obedience, Working Trials, Flyball, HWTM.

There are mutts who have become Ob Ch and WT Ch.

You can do a lot of training with small dogs on platforms and then use a target stick.

My incredibly biased opinion says get another staffy He he.

Jenny Trigg @ Adolescent Dogs (Guildford based trainer - has a good website) (think she is on here too) uses her staffy as a demo dog and she is amazing and has a Rottie pup also being trained up to be a demo dog. Indie her staffy though is an absolute gem.