PROVEN TEMPERAMENT
Our foundation female, Tag von Hoffnung BH, meaning “Day of Hope”, has proven temperament. For the work Tag does in Search and Rescue, working off lead, solid temperament is a necessity. Many dogs started in Search and Rescue wash out. Few dogs have the balanced temperament to do the sort of multi tasking required. Finding a dog with the high drive necessary for tireless motivation yet without unpredictable aggression, towards people or other dogs and little animals, is not easy.
Tag has met the high standards of the Mountain West Rescue Dogs, a Search and Rescue Dog group operating under the Coeur d'Alene, ID Sheriff's Department and on call 24/7 by the police departments of two states, Washington and Idaho. Tag's specialty is Wilderness Area Search. This means that when given the scent of a specific person, given the command, Tag works in conjunction with her handler to find the air scent (scent carried by air from the missing person). Once she catches the scent, she leaves her handler (requiring independence of thought and high motivation as well as obedience), and forsaking all other scents, she follows the scent of the specific person to its source. Once she has located the person, she must return to her handler, bark an indication that she has made the find, and then this time, slowly enough so that the handler can follow, she leads the handler to the person. Notice the many steps Tag must follow in order to complete the task. Realize as well, that at times hours and days may pass before the scent is located. A Search and Rescue Dog must continue to be highly motivated to work. [“example of a search”] Tag is also trained in tracking, water search, avalanche, and cadaver.
Another demonstration of Tag's temperament is indicated by the letters after her name. Tag has her BH, which is a temperament and obedience test for the German schutzhund titles. For obedience, the dog must heel on and off leash, do a sit and down in motion while the handler walks off, recall off leash from a distance, heeling through a crowd, and long down (15 minutes) with handler away while another dog is working nearby. That is the obedience phase. In the temperament phase, the dog must not show any aggression when tied out with the handler out of sight, while a jogger runs past, then a bicyclist, and finally a dog. The test varies according to the judge, but there is also a part which shows how the dog behaves around people, with people crowding around, and so on. A dog with improper nerve cannot handle it and is thereby weeded out.
Looking over the pedigrees of our breeding pairs, you will notice many titles following the dogs' names. These are the schutzhund titles, SCH I, II, III, FH I, II and the IPO I, II, III. The schutzhund and IPO titles indicate that the dog accomplished on the same day, the three phases: tracking, obedience, and protection. Only a dog of balanced drive can achieve this as in the tracking and obedience work different drives are used than in the protection work. The dog must be able to shift readily from active to passive drives and back again. The FH titles are tracking titles requiring supreme obedience and concentration.
It is easy for pet owners to consider their pet to have outstanding temperament, but without documentation, how can anyone else be sure that that dog is truly balanced in any situation? Proven temperament is key to producing good dogs.