Pacing down young dogs

[Wendy V]

Greetings,

 

How much speed do you take out of a young dog, say nursery age? Do you take them down to a walk, or let them develop and use some forward momentum? Does the speed differ for the fetch and the drive?

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Wendy

[Lambert]

I'm sorry the question is too broad and too out of context for me to give you a fair answer. Its going to be so dog specific and depend upon what the dog is doing.

 

The closest I can come is I want the dog to be respecting the stock but still coming forward. I prefer a dog I need to steady or hold back to one I need to ask up. So I tend to be very careful about slowing young dogs down. But I don't like being run over either, so I'm inclined to put a good stop on a really pushy dog and initially, at least, control his pace with my down rather then trying to put gears on him.

 

As the dog matures and depending upon how much natural push the dog has I will begin to ask him to pace himself. But again its very dog specific.

 

Beverly