# Versitility



## tzbart (Oct 23, 2009)

First Id like to say if I posted this in the wrong section I'm sorry. Second if I ramble a bit or I have a hard time clarifying (sp?)...sorry. Its been a long and chitty week and today was no better. And I'm a bit ADD to boot. Ha!

I'm going to be looking for a pup around next June...ish. Give or take. All depends on how everything goes and how comfortable I am in picking a breeder. Im still doing my research and such on the breed, breeders and figuring out what I really want in a pup. What I'm interested in doing. Ect.

I never was totally aware of just how versitile the APBT was. So the more I read and see examples of this the more I want to show that with my pup. I've owned this breed before but without really knowing the breed in depth. I've always expected, and done my part, to make sure any dog I've had is a "modle citizen" if you will. I'd just like to take it further this time.

This go around I wanted to get to know the breed more in depth. I also wanted to do more with my dog other than the basics. I really want to show just how versitile this breed is. I would LOVE to title my pup as well. I feel this is one of the best breeds of dog and I want to show that. I know its not a guarantee that I will get a pup that will excell at everything we try. I also know that I'm new at showing a dog and there will be some trial and error. But Im going to do my best to bust my butt and learn what I can to better our odds. Which is also why I am here. I'm all ears especially to those that have more experience than me. 

So I'm curious about other board members... 

What do you do with your dogs? 
Why did you choose that? (Was it something you wanted to do or something the dog showed interest in or excelled at/bred for..ect)

If you have trained them in different areas...

How difficult was it to train the in the different areas?
What did you look for in a pup/dog to do these different activities?

I have a million other questions. But I wont put them all in one post. Plus I feel like those are pretty close to asking the same question Haha. I need sleep and I'm sure I'll get some answered with some replys. All will be appreciated.


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## hell no they wont go (Oct 4, 2007)

weight pull is a popular event with apbts. they do great in weight pull (if taught properly ofcourse) and it is fun to watch. i think in the apbt world weight pull has to be the more popular event. there are lots of other popular things to do with apbts as well.

i wanted to try something a little different with my older apbt onyx. i want to go duck hunting with him so i am training him to retrieve ducks without biting too hard on them, or trying to play with them. he already loves to play fetch in the water and loves to chase after ducks and geese. so all i have to do is teach him how to handle a dead duck.


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## MY MIKADO (Apr 7, 2006)

With Vendetta I do flyball, agility, hunt ( we are going to be working on blind retrieves soon), tracking and search and rescue. I also would like to do sch protective training in the future but I have to drive 4 hrs one way to the training.

Vendetta is easy to train she is a sponge. I only have to show her things a few times and she has it.


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## performanceknls (Apr 4, 2009)

I do a ton of sports with my dogs and they can be very versatile. I have to run into town but I will be back later to post more. You can see what I do with my dogs at my site.
Working American Pit Bull Terriers


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## Patch-O-Pits (Jan 12, 2008)

Hi and welcome to the forum. 

Asking questions and doing some hands on with the breed will be a great start in researching your potential new puppy.

I do tons of therapy dog work.

I also do conformation shows.

I do agility training with all of mine and have competed as well. I'll be getting back into it again soon. I took a break from it to do more therapy dog work and breed pr.

I'm looking into starting weight pull and got my first harness recently

This breed in general can pretty much do anything you ask of it as long as you are willing to put in the time and train consistently.

How hard it is to train for things depends a lot again on the amount of time you put in and the experience of the person doing the training. The biggest factor however is the individual dog. Not all breeders know how to eval their pups properly IMO and not all breed for the total dog. That being said even those who do can certainly produce pups lacking in drive at times. Not every dog in a litter will be a show dog, or a working dog some will be pet quality.

It will be important IMO to develop a good working relationship with whomever you choose to go through so they can help guide you with the pup, especially if you are new to the breed.

Stick around, ask questions and enjoy!


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## tzbart (Oct 23, 2009)

MY MIKADO said:


> With Vendetta I do flyball, agility, hunt ( we are going to be working on blind retrieves soon), tracking and search and rescue. I also would like to do sch protective training in the future but I have to drive 4 hrs one way to the training.
> 
> Vendetta is easy to train she is a sponge. I only have to show her things a few times and she has it.


Thats great. SAR was one of the areas I was wanting to touch on. Did you get her with the intentions of doing varied things?


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## tzbart (Oct 23, 2009)

performanceknls said:


> I do a ton of sports with my dogs and they can be very versatile. I have to run into town but I will be back later to post more. You can see what I do with my dogs at my site.
> Working American Pit Bull Terriers


Cant wait to hear from you. What all do you look for in a dog? How do you decide what you will try them in?


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## tzbart (Oct 23, 2009)

Patch-O-Pits said:


> Hi and welcome to the forum.
> 
> Asking questions and doing some hands on with the breed will be a great start in researching your potential new puppy.
> 
> ...


I've owned and worked with this breed before. I've just never taken it further than being a well behaved pet. Sorry if I made it sound as if I have no experience with this breed at all. I'm horrible at putting down clearly what I mean. My brain works faster than my fingers.  I get focused and forget to explain better. Again sorry.

I'm new with the whole showing/competing aspect of the breed. which is why Im pickin some brains.  My goal is to educate myself in the different areas I'm interested in. Get a feel as far as if its something I want to veture. I dont like to do anything..half ass if you will. I like to do it right and well.

A working relationship is definatly what I'm looking for with a breeder. I'm taking my time with finding one. I really event looked at any. I want to make sure I have it clear in my mind what I really want. What it is that I'm looking for. I dont want a pup pushed on me that wont work for and what I want. I understand that it can be very difficult with pups. Finding what you are looking for. I want to be confident that the breeder will understand what I'm looking for and tell me honestly if they have that or not. If I have to wait long I'm more than happy to if the end result will be the dog I dream of. And I'm rambling again.


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## performanceknls (Apr 4, 2009)

When I get a dog for working I look for high drive. I want great prey drive and toy drive and it makes everything else much easier. Not saying you cannot work with a med drive dog, but high drive has it's advantages. What I consider high drive a good working dog may not be someone else's idea of a great dog, my dogs may have more energy than the average person wants to deal with. Because I look for the right type of drive and qualities I do go through several dogs before I find the right one. The few I have bred have turned out great so I am hoping this next litter will produce many great working dogs.

Each dog is different and I try them in all things and find what they do good in.

Like Vixen does or did
Agility (she is an agility trial champion)
Bite work 
Herding on sheep (she has an HCT-s)
lure coursing
Dock diving

Tempest
Agility
Schutzhund
competition Obed
Rally
she is a therapy dog
Weight pull

Siren
Agility
Schutzhund
Competition Obed
Rally
Weight pull
Dock diving

Trinity 
Competition obed 
rally 
Schutzhund

So as you can see they can do just about anything you want to do with them. The most important thing with working dogs is training and working on DA early and avoid issues later on. DA dogs doing things like Agility can be really dangerous and not to say you can make an APBT not DA but with training you can have dog under control.

Have you thought about what type of things you want to do with your dog? There is a ton of work and time that goes into doing sports. Now you can just do sports with your dogs or you can do them well. To do them well it is very time consuming, I work on agility at least 3-4 times a week and on Schutzhund almost every day. That is after I have spend every day working obedience and I have the control I want and need. Even though I am a trainer I still take my dogs to classes at the obedience center I train for. I need to have them in a class environment and it forces me to work on certain disciplines. An example is I would never work Rally at home but I go to a Rally class every Sunday after Schutzhund training so I can be ready for competition. So if you have the drive to do many sports just keep in mind it can almost be a full time job.


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## Patch-O-Pits (Jan 12, 2008)

It really sounds like you are off to a great start! I love to see potential owners researching what they are looking for first. GOOD for you!!!!!


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## tzbart (Oct 23, 2009)

performanceknls said:


> Have you thought about what type of things you want to do with your dog? There is a ton of work and time that goes into doing sports. Now you can just do sports with your dogs or you can do them well. To do them well it is very time consuming, I work on agility at least 3-4 times a week and on Schutzhund almost every day. That is after I have spend every day working obedience and I have the control I want and need. Even though I am a trainer I still take my dogs to classes at the obedience center I train for. I need to have them in a class environment and it forces me to work on certain disciplines. An example is I would never work Rally at home but I go to a Rally class every Sunday after Schutzhund training so I can be ready for competition. So if you have the drive to do many sports just keep in mind it can almost be a full time job.


Agility
Competition obedience
weight pull
Dock diving seems pretty cool
possibly rally need to read more into it
schutzhund but I really need to do more reading to feel more comfortable with that
SAR is appealing along with Tracking.

I dont think I will do more than one at a time. I want to master then move onto the next. Or at least that seems the better way to me. But I could be wrong. I'm afraid it would get confusing otherwise. Putting time in everyday isnt an issue. I'm lucky in the fact I can be home all day. If that wasnt the fact I wouldnt want to add another animal. Haha


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## performanceknls (Apr 4, 2009)

That is exactly what you need to do, one sport at a time. Schutzhund is not for everyone and a very difficult and time consuming. Rally is great especially for a beginner! Sounds like you have a lot of work ahead


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## MY MIKADO (Apr 7, 2006)

Yes SAR was one area I really wanted to work on. So when I got Vendetta I already had books on the subject so I could get off to a good start.


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## tzbart (Oct 23, 2009)

Patch-O-Pits said:


> It really sounds like you are off to a great start! I love to see potential owners researching what they are looking for first. GOOD for you!!!!!


Thank you.


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## tzbart (Oct 23, 2009)

performanceknls said:


> That is exactly what you need to do, one sport at a time. Schutzhund is not for everyone and a very difficult and time consuming. Rally is great especially for a beginner! Sounds like you have a lot of work ahead


I'll definatly keep rally on my list then.  The little bit that I've read on Schutzhund (really havent read much) I like the obedience part. But I also understand how it can be time consuming and difficult. That will probably be one of the few that I keep on the back burner for a while.

Thanks for your input I really appreciate it.


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## tzbart (Oct 23, 2009)

MY MIKADO said:


> Yes SAR was one area I really wanted to work on. So when I got Vendetta I already had books on the subject so I could get off to a good start.


Any book you would recommend?


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## MY MIKADO (Apr 7, 2006)

Scent and the Scenting Dog by Wm.G Syrotuck is a good book. The other one I really like is at work. I read it during my lunch hr. So I will bring it home and post its title in a few days.


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## Bethb2007 (Jul 5, 2009)

Hi,
I don't normally brag, but I guess this is OK, since it is about my husband's dog. 
Our female "Claim to Flame" is a very versatile dog. She is a great weightpull dog(many titles/wins/allstars), has her Schutzhund B, UKC FO, and our blood trail dog for deer. Yesterday she earned her Service Dogs of America Tracking 1 title. She is the first APBT to do this. She is also health tested(ofa Cardio/Hips). IMO she is a versatile dog.

Here is a picture of her after recovering a small 7 point buck, I shot with my bow. She is the theird deer dog we have had. The APBTs can do it well, better than some of the hunting breds we have had(beagles/jagds, patts). 
http://howardsworkingapbts.20fr.com/images/flame,_beth,_deer_500x396.jpg


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## tzbart (Oct 23, 2009)

Thanks for that.  I'll go look that up.


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## tzbart (Oct 23, 2009)

Bethb2007 said:


> Hi,
> I don't normally brag, but I guess this is OK, since it is about my husband's dog.
> Our female "Claim to Flame" is a very versatile dog. She is a great weightpull dog(many titles/wins/allstars), has her Schutzhund B, UKC FO, and our blood trail dog for deer. Yesterday she earned her Service Dogs of America Tracking 1 title. She is the first APBT to do this. She is also health tested(ofa Cardio/Hips). IMO she is a versatile dog.
> 
> ...


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## Patch-O-Pits (Jan 12, 2008)

Bethb2007 said:


> Hi,
> I don't normally brag, but I guess this is OK, since it is about my husband's dog.
> Our female "Claim to Flame" is a very versatile dog. She is a great weightpull dog(many titles/wins/allstars), has her Schutzhund B, UKC FO, and our blood trail dog for deer. Yesterday she earned her Service Dogs of America Tracking 1 title. She is the first APBT to do this. She is also health tested(ofa Cardio/Hips). IMO she is a versatile dog.
> 
> ...


 You should brag , she is a great dog!!!!!


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## Bethb2007 (Jul 5, 2009)

Thanks,
We always start our dog with schutzhund style foot step tracking. Then when we need a dog for blood trailing, we go to dragging a piece of deer liver along the ground. We encourage the dog to ground and air scent at this point, as you really need both for deer recovery. If only doign AKC or schutzhund tracking, you want to keep the dog's nose on the ground, in the foot steps. If doing S&R, blood trailing or police style tracking you want air scenting and ground scenting.


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## Roxy_Nie (Oct 10, 2008)

I don't see the picture..


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## MY MIKADO (Apr 7, 2006)

Okay back with the other books. 

I bought " Building a Basic Foundation for Search and Rescue Dog Training", by J.C. Judah 

This is a really good book it is easy to understand and does help you build a gereat foundation.

the other book is " Search and Rescue Dogs training the K-9 hero. put out by hte American Rescue Dog Association. This is a very in-depth look at training your dog. It is step by step in the three areas of search and rescue. 

I highly reccomend both of these books and they are available on Amazon.com


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## tzbart (Oct 23, 2009)

MY MIKADO said:


> Okay back with the other books.
> 
> I bought " Building a Basic Foundation for Search and Rescue Dog Training", by J.C. Judah
> 
> ...


Thanks you Very much for the titles. I really appreciate it. I'll start looking on amazon. Thanks again!


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