My dog needs a job?

[tortoise]

Drives me a little crazy too.

I have had 2 neutered-young dogs with attitude problems that lifted their legs and scent mark pee-ed. Heck, I've had females scent mark pee, and it's not unheard of to have a female with an attitude problem lift her leg to scent mark.

 

[Shiloh Acres]

Thanks everyone!!! I knew Id get some great responses here.

Im not sure if hed really be good as a therapy dog, because unfortunately, I really have not properly socialized him. He was 13 weeks when I got him, and came from a home with lots of people, visitors, and dogs. I set right to work getting him used to the animals, and the sounds, scents around the farm and around the house. Hes great here. But I didnt think about the fact that I NEVER get visitors. He is also a bit excitable. I can make him wait without moving a muscle for many minutes while his favorite tidbit lies on the floor and the cats sniff it. He waits until I release him to eat it. So hes disciplined hes just not calm, and I dont know how to train calm if thats even possible. I'm hoping he'll be better as he gets older. That's been my experience with some young GSDs before.

LOL, MorelCabin, I had to laugh about letting him and the cats out!!! And yes, thats just what hed do, LOL!!!

Tortoise, I think you may have something there. I have not trained a dog for service type work. I need to look into that. I *think* he would LOVE to feel useful in that way. I hadnt even thought of those kinds of things. Love the cure for the paper shredding habit too!

I might have to look into that 101 Dog tricks or something similar.

I dont take him on walks off the property, because I want him to KNOW EXACTLY what the boundaries are, and I think he does. I always walk him to the edges, and let him growl about things that have intruded (cats, coyotes, dogs) but I never let him go in the road, nor let him cross the one unfenced boundary toward the neighbors house. On the one hand, Id love to take him with me, but on the other hand, I think if he makes regular rounds of the neighborhood, hell get to thinking its ALL his property and I dont want him hurt in the road if he chases something, or to run into problems with anyone.

I do have a Kong for him and sometimes put peanut butter or biscuits in it.

It is interesting how mental work will wear a dog out quickly, and I think thats what he needs. He gets regular exercise several times a day outside chasing sticks and balls, but he needs more stimulation Im thinking.

Hes never shown any signs you mentioned of dysplasia, MsPony, nor the frog position on his belly Ive seen GSD pups display when their hips are loose. His tail does not hang in a perfect saber it is too long and sometimes has a curve to the side, but thats just a fault I think. I do hope very much hes physically ok. I hate to be in the position Im in I am too short on money. I do work, but my boss hasn't always been able to pay me ... that's a whole other story though.

Wifezilla, I LOVE the idea you mentioned. He took SO quickly to scenting things out Id have to work with him more to make sure hes really efficient at it, but I know thats doable. Ive never even trained a dog for that before, but he was good at it within a few days. He just needed to understand what I wanted him to do. The only thing I cant figure out is how one would get samples to train the dog. I wonder if there are fake substances to teach them? Im sure the police use the real thing. I just might have to look into that. To actually make money at it I hadnt even thought of that. That would be toooo cool!!!!!

Regarding the neutering and scent-marking I usually spayed/neutered my dogs when they were about 6 or 7 years old at the latest, to prevent some old-age problems. My very best dog, who I dearly loved, was a super-dominant male GSD that took a LOT of training, but was awesome. He had a brief period when he turned about 4-ish of marking in the house twice. I handled that easily enough with a little dominance display and confinement (I tied him on about a 6 leash and let him know it was because I was displeased with him) and he never did it again. I never had trouble with any of my other dogs doing it, so I guess it just doesnt feel like an issue to me. My pup now hasnt learned to lift his leg yet either.

Thanks everyone for all the suggestions. I am going to do some reading on training for mobility, and see if there is a source for training in drug detection. And keep those other ideas too, I think I can use them in the interim. Thanks SO much! I know my dog will appreciate yall.

 

[tortoise]

Psuedo-narcotics are extremely expensive, and going through DEA to get real drugs is a PITA at best. Training a dog on psuedo-drugs means that your results can never be used in court. They'll ask "Has your dog ever been trained to detect any other scents besides [fill in the blank]?" If you say yes, dog was trained on psuedos... there goes whatever case that anyone ever had. Psuedo drugs scents are made by Sigma-Aldrich chemicals and can be purchased directly from them.

An cheaper/easier alternative: mold detection! That's something a private citizen will pay for.

If you have questions on training scent detection, PM me.

 

[Wifezilla]

The thing this lady did was not for legal purposes. Just to let parents know if their kid (or the kid's friends) are getting in to stuff they shouldn't....so no need to have it stand up in court. She took the dog through the kids room to see if it signaled, told the parents yes or no and that was that.

But mold detection is also a great idea.

I know some people were training dogs to detect cancer cells, but I have no way to know how you could even get in to that.

 

[tortoise]

There is also scent detection for peanut butter detection, high/low blood sugar, detecting infections early, various medical alerts. Just about anything you can imagine!

hmmm... termite detection?

 

[Shiloh Acres]

Well, if the psuedo-drug stuff is super-expensive, that rules me out. I surely can't afford it right now. If there were another way of doing it ... but even if I had access to the illegal stuff, I wouldn't want to open myself up to liability of possessing it. Would be nice if I had good enough friends at the police department who would understand and let me train there but I don't have any contacts. I might keep that idea in the back burner though, if I can figure out a way to do it.

Mold ... now there is an idea. Surely the scents used would not be as expensive or difficult to obtain? That sounds like a good place to start checking into.

I have heard of cancer-sniffing, and termite detection. Those are the only private uses of sniffing dogs I've heard of.

I know for termites, I had seen smaller dogs used. I had heard hearing was involved, and also the dogs go under the houses in certain cases? My dog might be too big to really be good at this?

I wonder how difficult some of these things would be to detect. What I'm getting at it, I wouldn't want to charge people money for something if you need a dog with truly remarkable scenting abilities, and my dog might not be able to detect everything he should. I guess that's my concern with cancer-sniffing. I'd have to know more about it though.

I came at this with an idea just to keep my dog busy. But .... if he can actually earn some money that would be beyond helpful for me!!!

(Haha, peanut butter detection ... he'd probably be all over that too!)

Thanks for the offer, Tortoise. I will pm you, if you don't mind then. I'm sure you can give me info beyond what I've just stumbled into trying for myself.

Thanks, y'all!!!

 

[Up-the-Creek]

My dogs need jobs too,....anyone hiring??? They need to pay for their own food,...they are so lazy and I am tired of paying for everything! All they do is lay around ALL day and lick themselves,......they won't even bark at a stranger,.. Its worse than having teenagers in the house! I have threatened to send them overseas in a wooden crate marked FOOD,...the dogs,not the teenagers. They don't care,. (Just kidding,..but I couldn't resist "My dog needs a job? sorry )

 

[Shiloh Acres]

LOL it was funny!

My dog is just the opposite. He WANTS to work.

Reminds me of my favorite long-ago dog I mentioned before. One day we had cut down some trees and I was trying to clean up, hauling off branches. My dog saw what I was doing, grabbed the other end, and started dragging -- the opposite direction! Once I got him to see which way I was trying to drag them, he actually did help a bit.

Dogs are sometimes like little kids. They WANT to help, but by the time you show them how and clean up behind them (or redo it!) it would have been easier to just do it yourself.

My dog REALLY wants a job tho.

 

[Up-the-Creek]

So glad you found it amusing!

 

[AL]

thought of you when I saw this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9Fyey4D5hg