What is a "hard" dog?

[njnovice]

No, not that.

 

When our trainer was looking at Mick's ABCA pedigree Saturday, he made that comment about one of the breeders: "John Doe raised hard dogs."

[Pipedream Farm]

Soft dog = one that gives to an easy correction (for example verbal ahhhh, a step towards the dog, etc)

Hard dog = one that requires more agressive actions to get the dog to give (for example very gruff verbal correction, running at the dog, etc)

 

Mark

[bc4pack]

A 'soft' dog can also fall into being very handler dependent // sometimes timid //

[Jayar]

Hard dogs generally recover more quickly from "corrections" (be that from the handler or the stock, haha) though sometimes you can see dogs that are hard when it comes to stock, but not when it comes to the handler. I knew a certain line of ACD's like this.

 

In general I think you need to be a more skilled handler to work effectively with a soft dog, because they're a little less forgiving. But I prefer a softer temperament because it takes less from me to communicate to the dog what I want.

[SnickerKitten]

So, what would you call a dog that is soft for me at all times and yet won't accept correction from anyone else? <g>

 

Lori

[SoloRiver]

Solo's a hard dog.

 

He could care less if I threw grenades at him while he was working.

 

Since he has a number of issues that would be easier to deal with if he responded to handler pressure, this makes him VERY difficult for me to handle at times.

 

Solo responds well to correction in the sense that it's impossible to turn him off, but he responds poorly to correction in the sense that he either doesn't respond at all, or he responds by giving me the finger and doing whatever he was doing wrong, except more intensely and wronger.

 

A couple of people have called Solo a "throwback" and said that in the olden days they'd train dogs like him dragging chains to slow them down.

 

Fly isn't particularly soft but she definitely isn't hard. She's kind of medium. She HAS quit on me before and there's nothing that makes you feel more helpless and frustrated, not even being blown off by a dog pretending you aren't standing there. But it's only happened once.

[Guest SweetJordan]

One that isn't hard.

 

Riley is so soft and timid, but put her on sheep and you would never know it. Take the sheep away and she goes back to being soft again.

[WyoBC]

One that isn't hard.

 

Riley is so soft and timid, but put her on sheep and you would never know it. Take the sheep away and she goes back to being soft again.

 

 

Yeah, my Black Jack is the same way. He's very "soft" I think from being abused. But have him work sheep, rabbits, or anything else and he's a different dog. I have had people try to buy him from me because he listens so well while he's herding

[njnovice]

Solo's a hard dog.

 

Solo responds well to correction in the sense that it's impossible to turn him off, but he responds poorly to correction in the sense that he either doesn't respond at all, or he responds by giving me the finger and doing whatever he was doing wrong, except more intensely and wronger.

 

OMG. I think he and Mick are related. Seriously.

 

(btw -- I love your first name -- only the nicest people in the world have it!)

[bc4pack]

So, what would you call a dog that is soft for me at all times and yet won't accept correction from anyone else? <g>

 

Lori

 

 

I believe that would be....

 

YOUR DOG!

Seriously though... Even though my DH raised my first dog and I got her at 4 mos. , she made the decision that she was MY dog. She VERY reluctantly listened to him if I wasn't around. If she even thought I was near by, she

would flip him the paw, so to speak.