Definitely random, but I wanted to share this somewhat amusing (but hopefully inspiring) story.
Obviously, Enzo is a Pointer (an “English” Pointer or “Field” Pointer.)
My best friend (who is the one who rehomed Enzo with me after rescuing him from a neglectful owner) breeds these types of Pointers. He has Enzo’s father, half-brother, and a few cousins. Who are nothing like Enzo.
I have always loved Pointers but I never wanted one. I’m obviously more inclined towards extra-large, powerful, dominant working dogs.
I have a lot of experience with Pointers obviously, and I always thought they were “too docile,” “too scatterbrained,” “too effervescent,” and “too distractable.” I didn’t think a Pointer would be a good watchdog, a good house dog, or a good training partner. Obedience trials and service work seemed totally out of the question.
My experience has often been that Pointers have two types of personalities: there are show dogs, and there are hunting dogs.
Show Pointers are not very clever and kind of boring, and hunting line dogs are exuberant and driven, and don’t have an “off switch.”
My best friend’s Pointers are a combination of both lines, and they have great temperaments and are easygoing and friendly but they do have a lot of instinct and a lot of drive. But none of his dogs are as intelligent as Enzo and none of them are very inclined towards obedience or agility competitions. They have two modes; show, and hunt. And that’s perfectly fine, because that’s what they’re bred for and that’s what he wants them to do.
But I am way more of a performance breeder than a show breeder. Conformation is important to me as well but it’s secondary and I have had dogs that did not do well in the show ring at all, and I was fine with that because they excelled at many other things. When I select my dogs I am looking primarily for trainability, intelligence, eagerness to please, working drive, personality, and ability to connect with me as a partner/handler (and above all, health and temperament.)
Obviously, my primary breeds are Dogo Argentinos and Dobermans. I grew up on a farm with working Border Collies and while I will always love them and admire their intelligence and work ethic, I find a lot of them a bit neurotic and intense, and definitely not suited to my current lifestyle (living in a small house with multiple dogs in a semi-suburban neighborhood and working 6 days a week.)
They are also a bit too small for me at 25 to 40 pounds. I do have a small dog currently but she is a rescue (Puerto Rican stray dog found after a hurricane) and she’s an exception to my “no small dogs” rule because she is special and she really needed a home so I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. She is a great little dog and I love her dearly.
But I prefer extra large working dogs and especially “bully” dogs.
So I’ve shared Enzo’s story a few times on here but I’ll give a basic rundown.
I was originally only supposed to rehabilitate and foster him and send him on his way to a forever home. He came to me with a semi-recovered broken hip from falling from a truck bed and all kinds of temperament issues. He was very reactive and aggressive. For the first few days I couldn’t even touch him. He was completely traumatized by whatever happened before my friend rescued him. I really wasn’t optimistic.
But that was a year ago.
The amusing part of the story is how wrong he proved me about his breed and what they’re capable of. It’s a lesson in “any dog can excel at anything in the right hands.”
He’s admittedly a lot more intelligent than a lot of Pointers. But he has a great personality too.
I have accomplished more with him than I have with any dog in the past decade that I’ve been professionally training dogs. He excels at obedience trials and he has earned titles in numerous other sports as well.
So I’m glad I didn’t sell him short. A good example of not judging a book by its cover and letting a dog teach you instead of the other way around. Any dog can achieve any goal you set for them with dedication, passion, and a lot of patience.
Just thought that was a story worth sharing.
www.abc.net.au
I don't see how that could go wrong.
