Dog Pointer retrieving tennis ball in captivity loves the exercise - VIDEO
Recently I was given the privilege of looking after two pointers (owned by the same family), Dylan and Tali. They couldn't be further apart in behaviour.
Dylan (see video) channelled all of his energy into retrieving while the Tali just tracked scents in a low key way. The embedded dog video in this article shows a great way for a balanced dog to burn energy.
The German Pointer breed by definition is a powerful hunting dog with very high energy levels. They ENJOY hunting and working in unison with their experienced owner. This high energy level means its particularly important to drain their energy in the mornings so that they don't become bored and potentially destructive.
Though along with this athletic and mental reasoning ability comes a quite temperamental dog that takes its stability cues from its owner. A firm and fair owner will have a dog willing to gives its all with confidence, a timid, unsure owner will create an unbalanced dog.
In this video you will most see Dylan a solid brown very athletic eight year old pointer continuously retrieving a ball. A note about this is that for many dogs such as border collies and other workings dogs, over reliance by owners on ball retrieving can lead to obsession and high stress levels in their dogs. You can always tell how obsessed a dog is with a ball by the amount it is demanding it to be thrown, barking and its anti social manner to other dogs.
That said too much retrieving can also wear joints and have a dog get leg sprains as it tries to keep up the pace. This is why it is generally better to allow a dog to retrieve in moderation, then let them know when the game is over.
The video taken here of Dylan is edited in several spots, because I ensured that he had breaks between his retrieve segments. this break was mainly for rest rather than breaking the obsession. He was not overly demanding of me or antisocial to the other dog you will get a glimpse of sniffing around the yard.
An equally interesting point is the behaviour of the white and dark patched pointer nearby. You will see her preference is for tracking scents and cataloguing the condition of the other dogs that were in the yard previously.
While the tracking can get obsessive too, that is mostly what these dogs were bred to do. And I also observed that initially the tracking was at a high pace but petered out as the exercise session wore on. This means that Tali had extracted all the information she needed to understand the local area and was not obsessed with the hunt. She could relax and do other things such as accepting pats and affection, and trying to play with Dylan (in his retrieving down time).
Apart from the video being entertaining, I think it is instructional to see how different dogs of the same bred can be. One concentrates on tracking while the other must retrieve. Ironically for most observers the hard running brown pointer retriever is eight while the slower moving tracker is three years old.
Since the video was taken I have also learned that Tali the tracker can do some formidable runs off into the forest completely consumed to completing her task. This is the best of both worlds, showing that she can extract the most that she can out of a small place and be content, and when the opportunity arises she is able to tap into her breeding conditioning.
Article by Bruce Dwyer. If you wish to use any of this information please use a LINK reference to http://www.dogwalkersmelbourne.com.au
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