From Bill (Y-litter puppy Franco x Allie)
Günter is maturing into an amazing dog. He is completely comfortable in virtually all situations and with all kinds of people and other dogs, not to mention his favorite cat. I continue to be amazed by his learning ability, skill at thinking out puzzles, and athleticism. He is an incredibly happy dog and is relentless in taking his playfulness to my older male GSD and middle aged, extremely alpha dog female/s Feist. I am particularly impressed with his nose and his ability to discriminate smells. His favorite new game is seeking out box turtles crawling around in our back woods. I would like to take advantage of his keen sense with tracking and/or an activity that I saw on your blog that involved dogs finding hidden objects. Wish I could relocate that page on the blog. At any rate, I would be grateful for any info and contact information you might be able to provide on networks of people organizing these and similar activities, particularly in the Knoxville, TN area, or any resource for doing this training on my own.
I could not have asked for a better friend and hiking buddy than Günter. In addition to all of his other outstanding traits, he is a beautiful dog.
Bill
Günter on the hiking trail:
Günter after a swim:
Too bad you are not in MI! My sister’s boyfriend tracks and studies box turtles and would love to have a dog that can find them. The ones he tracks were radio antennae but often he has to find new ones.
What a handsome boy!
I think you’re talking about nosework (sometimes called K-9 nosework). There are a couple blog entries and videos on the subject:
https://24kgsd.com/blog/2012/03/13/k9-nosework-for-the-fence-jumping-pooper/
https://24kgsd.com/blog/2012/04/13/nosework-class/
https://24kgsd.com/blog/2012/05/06/new-nosework-class-with-axel-and-verdae/
https://24kgsd.com/blog/2012/06/07/direct-path/
Koda wanted to ask Gunter, “are you my twin bro?”
What a handsome young man!!
I thought Gunter looked like Koda as soon as I saw the first shot too! How funny!
What a beautiful, expressive boy.
What does he do when he finds the turtle? My Fred found a baby snapper this summer and brought it back to me so proud of himself. I’m glad it was a baby as the adults we have here are frightening!
Very, very handsome boy!
Very handsome boy. Boy, he sure has Koda’s expression and he is for sure an Allie baby. You are lucky to have an Allie pup.