It’s Easier to Avoid Flaws than Fix Them

Like people, dogs have distinct personalities and characteristics. Some dogs are anxious, some are excitable, some are focused, and others are easily distracted. Some of these traits make dogs more amenable to training than others, and the surest way to success is to start with a suitable animal.

However, in the right hands even flawed animals can be molded into productive detection dogs. While I recommend starting with the best possible foundation in character and temperament, I have occasionally taken some unlikely projects under my wing and turned them into good working animals.

One such animal was a white German Shepherd I received as a gift. I was skeptical about his ability to work, as he’d spent his whole life chained up. But I decided to give it a shot, and took my time using a few different techniques to try and coax some consistent working behavior out of him.

His biggest issue was a fear of slippery floors, which won’t work for a working animal. To try and correct this fear, I decided to slowly integrate a similar floor into his routine, and patiently build his comfort level over time.

I used a painted floor that was slippery, but not unmanageable for him. When I fed him, I put his dish on that floor. The first day, I put his food about four feet into the room. After a while he crept in and ate it. The next day I put the food in a little further, and a little further the next day, and so on. Eventually I got him into the middle of the room, and from there I moved the dish around to different spots. It was a long process, but the experiment intrigued me, and the dog did recover pretty well. Eventually he reached the point where he could take part in grading and stairwell tests, and his protection work was quite promising.

One day I got a call from a trainer in Indiana who, wouldn’t you know it, was looking for a white German Shepherd. I sold him the dog and he was very happy with it.

So, as with most rules, there are occasional exceptions, and sometimes you can turn a flawed dog into a serviceable working animal. But training a flawed dog is much more difficult, and you should not attempt such projects without due consideration.