What Im going to say about this thread is IMO. This is a breeding fault that a lot of the dogs we use have. IMO if you cannot put a handle on a dog then that dog will never become a complete dog. This fault got started a long time ago when some of the old timers that I knew never put a hand on any of their dogs. They just opened the pen door and they got in the trailer.Got to the pasture opened the trailer and they worked the cattle got back in the trailer. Same thing when they got home.No hands on with the dogs. So of course they breed the good ones to the good ones . The young ones learned from the older dogs.How to load and unload bark at the cows get back in the trailer.From 4 to 8wks you can tell if a dog is going to be shy or not. If you stand over them and they do not come and crawl all over your feet but go get back in the house that pupis going to be hard to touch. IT IS A CULL jmo
I agree... But first it could be the environment. A pup needs proper socialization, especially in the first 8 weeks. The pup needs enough human contact and always bang pots, pans, shoot a cap gun during feeding time etc. etc.. However, the breeder needs to keep a close watch to see which pups are naturally timid and which ones are not. The timid pups tend to be gunshy, get rattled with high commotion but can stick if socialized right. But these dogs will always need special treatment. Some of these dogs make top strike dogs. But I am all about root cause analysis and root cause fixes. These type of dogs are not fit for breeding....
Not fit for breeding because if you have to give this dog special attention then the odds go up that some of its offspring will have the same issues and need the same type of special treatment and then the following generation will produce even more. IMO this is somewhat common in the cur dog breeds.
