# Get a new dog or retrain current dog??



## nezzz (Jan 20, 2013)

Quick question, would it be easier to train a puppy from scratch or retrain my current dog. I'm looking to go further in IPO.

My current dog is IPO3 titled but she is also my first working GSD. So me and her, we're both really error prone and lacked experience. It was a miracle but we somehow managed to scrape up enough points to pass every stage. But now I think with more experience under my belt I can probably retrain her to be better than she is now.

Also, I've been looking around for a new puppy but they're a little hard to come by now. I got a few leads, but at the earliest, I can only get one in 2019.

Alternatively, I could attempt to breed my dog and take a puppy from the litter.

Thoughts anyone???


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

How old is she? I would continue to clean up her training, continue to learn with her and keep trialing her.


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## LuvShepherds (May 27, 2012)

Work with her. If you get a new puppy, think about importing if you can.


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## nezzz (Jan 20, 2013)

Jax08 said:


> How old is she? I would continue to clean up her training, continue to learn with her and keep trialing her.


She's 4 now. But how difficult is it to break old habits?? From young, I never really really did correct her much because my trainer says she was really "soft". Now at 4, she's the total opposite of what a soft dog is. Nothing breaks her at all. But should I retrain her from scratch or just attempt to refine her errors which is almost everything.


LuvShepherds said:


> Work with her. If you get a new puppy, think about importing if you can.


Yeah, I am looking at Europe for my next dog. Searching through working-dog for some nice stud-female pairs. In particular, I'm looking at Hercules, Pepper, Bordy.


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## lhczth (Apr 5, 2000)

Continue to work with the female you have either taking a lot of steps back or just refining what you already have. She is only 4. No reason to retire her yet. Meanwhile you can look into getting a puppy.


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## lhczth (Apr 5, 2000)

BTW, I train with Hercules' sister (absolutely LOVE her) and a Pepper son (extremely nice pup).


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## dogbyte (Apr 5, 2002)

Work with her. I "rescued", purchased a really well bred female GSD when she was almost 3. She was out of the same male as my male GSD and was a super sweety. She had been treated not very nice in both training and life. It took a while to become a team, but she got her BH with comment about being one of the few happy dogs there. Didn't pursue her titles, as she was happy to love on everyone one until obedience was added to the mix. We were a super tracking team. I just tried to figure out new words to use for things I thought she had be taught before coming to me. And when you use shaping in marker based training, all you do is up your criteria before marking and giving the reward. Go slowly and be fair and she will understand.


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## nezzz (Jan 20, 2013)

lhczth said:


> Continue to work with the female you have either taking a lot of steps back or just refining what you already have. She is only 4. No reason to retire her yet. Meanwhile you can look into getting a puppy.


She's all over the place right now with obedience and protection. I can get her to do a focused heel, but her head wouldn't be up all the time and she doesn't walk straight, her butt sticks out. Her retrieve over the hurdle is weak and sometimes she knocks the frame while jumping over. In protection too, sometimes I don't feel her bite is full and hard.

I know I should have fixed these problems early on, but my trainer and I let them slide a little because she was my first working dog and we didn't want to break her. You think these problems are fixable at such an age?


dogbyte said:


> Work with her. I "rescued", purchased a really well bred female GSD when she was almost 3. She was out of the same male as my male GSD and was a super sweety. She had been treated not very nice in both training and life. It took a while to become a team, but she got her BH with comment about being one of the few happy dogs there. Didn't pursue her titles, as she was happy to love on everyone one until obedience was added to the mix. We were a super tracking team. I just tried to figure out new words to use for things I thought she had be taught before coming to me. And when you use shaping in marker based training, all you do is up your criteria before marking and giving the reward. Go slowly and be fair and she will understand.


Yeah, that was the problem I had, I let her off too many times. Of course, I wasn't so aware about making mistakes myself, but I guess they just snowballed. Gonna be a long journey to fix everything.


lhczth said:


> BTW, I train with Hercules' sister (absolutely LOVE her) and a Pepper son (extremely nice pup).


In your opinion, which is the nicer dog??? Would love to hear your thoughts on this.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

All of the obedience is fixable. Maybe not to the perfection you want but you can reshape that and make it better AND LEARN from it.

I can't stress enough the importance of foundation. You train for the picture you want. Don't let it slide, find a way to fix that specific step and break it down if you need to.

As far as the bite, that is genetic. You might not fix that but the rest is fixable.

The jump - that is about training proper jump technique. That alone would be a huge thing to learn and fix so you don't do it with your second dog.


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