mar 4  22

having this for some dane mag??

BONDING. 

During this time they have basically lived in and around the various kennels and fields.  We do let volunteers take them for occasional overnights but we do not want the pups to become too attached to anyone.

We do not  use the puppy raiser concept.   In my experience a dog can sometimes spend the rest of their lives looking for the persons who raised them.  The “oh how happy they are to see you” seems often to be “finally you are back in my life, can we really go home now?”  Then when they don’t the tail drops in submission and the joy is gone.

 

When we start an applicant, we put the person in our guesthouse, with cookies and watch what happens.  Most often the dog decides this is the person they have been waiting for and in 24 hours they become bonded.  The dog is “behaving” with normal conversation.  A few days of working with the dog in real life situations and the team is certified by SDP.  No dog leaves our driveway until they will follow the person all over, away from their friends and trainers, without a leash.  They have to  love to work.

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There are a few concepts to discuss.  One very primary lesson is  we rarely use our muscles to “control” a Dane, is called “plan ahead” because eventually they will out weigh most handlers anyway.  We talk to them, we never drag them around with a tight leash, and we never give our treats when we are actually teaching them to work.  Once the harness is on, no treats lots of praise and no free time.  The harness is a switch on and off duty.  A normal chain training collar and 24 inch leash is what is used.  The dog in harness is immediately next to their handler, never wandering.

 

Many taller Danes are not known for their physical courage so another critical aspect is they have a play yard which involves stairs, with open backing, ramps, rocking horses and mannequins to get them used to someone standing still staring at them. Their sleeping quarters involve either steps or a ramp to a raised sleeping loft with bedding.  It is much warmer on their lofts, they can see out windows and they get practice climbing the stairs to get there.

We breed our own style of Danes, which are shorter and heavier than the typical show Dane.  The concept is best explained by comparing a basketball player to a football player.  We need the football player type Danes for balance work.  There is an old Amish saying that “in a work animal the leg should be ½ the height.”

 

We do not breed related Danes, often importing new bloodlines from European kennels.  I realize pride goethe before a fall, but we have had  virtually NO hip dysplasia or bloat since I started this in 2003.  Both MIT and TUFTS have requested our data.  Regarding age, the 3 dogs I put out in 2004 needed to be replaced in 2014, after having worked for 10 years.  My oldest dog was 14 and the white dog I had at my first ADI conference was  13 years old when she slept.  We have had a few earlier deaths for specific causes like cancer.

 

We have also had hundreds of requests nationwide for a Dane service dog since Bella and George hit the ABC News, we cannot help them. I hope other training facilities consider adding Danes to their student population. 

I am happy to have any  DANE  Trainers come here for a day or two or three,    and see how this works in real life.  We have a guest facilities   Come visit.