We have often been asked, “what separates
good dog breeders and trainers from the rest” ?
Breeders and trainers are required to have
a passion to do better because this fuels the need to know more.
The extraordinary people we know seem to
possess an intuitive understanding that the only way to reach something higher
is to focus their attention on the multitude and seemingly insignificant,
unimportant, and boring things that make up breeding and training dogs.
Those mundane and tedious little things
that, when done exactly right, with the appropriate kind of attention and
intention, combined with deep practice distinguishes every great breeder and
trainer from those who are satisfied to simply get a result.
Von Forell believes that our breeding and
training results can provide us with a mirror to see ourselves as we are, to
see what we truly know and what we do not know, to see ourselves honestly.
We know one thing for sure;
If our information about what needs to be
done is limited, our results will reflect that limitation. So, if our results
are to transform - we must transform first.
If we are unwilling to change, our dogs
will never be capable of giving us what we want. The first transformation that
needs to occur is for all of us to truly understand the traits both mental and
physical that produce amazing dogs. Once we fully understand the relationship
between genetics and environment, our results will take on a new meaning and
expression.
Over the years we have noted individual
tendencies develop from breeders all over the World. After exhaustive
discussions with these breeders of influence, our conclusion is that individual
breeding ideas begin to manifest. That is, the philosophy, vision and
perceptions a breeder holds true as the ideal dog does in fact eventually
become their reality. However, more often than not shortcomings of every
philosophy manifest in all breeding goals way before the ideal presents itself.
If the breeder is unclear about the
essential traits required to produce physically and mentally functional dogs, then
this confusion will be expressed in their dogs they produce.
For example…. if a breeder admires
aggressive dogs, they will in fact produce highly aggressive (defensive –
sensitive) behaviors and if not kept in check they will inadvertently weaken
the nervous system. The opposite is true for the breeder striving to produce
highly prey driven dogs, which most often than not develop a type of hysteria.
The truth is that neither is ideal as a biologically functional animal.
Additionally, breeding physical type (beauty) purely for cosmetic reasons
requires that all breeding stock undergo intense and rigorous emotional testing
before ever qualifying to be bred for showing.
We at Von Forell realized many years ago
that any of our breeding success or failures were directly attributed to our
level of understanding of structure, behavior, genetics and genetic
compatibility. Traits which we now know are all determined by rigorous testing.
Living in a country like Australia makes it
incredibly difficult to source and test the appropriate dogs due to the limited
gene pool and geographical isolation from the rest of the World. Hence extensive travel is the only possible
way that enables anyone to source such dogs. Dogs of this quality rarely fall
in our lap. We have to find them, test them, breed from them and hope they will
reproduce their quality traits and hopefully limiting the undesirable traits,
which by default all dogs and bloodlines possess.
Mother Nature seems to have an incredible
effect on genes and that is to produce less than average results. There seems
to be a natural tendency to atrophy or genetic decline. It amazes us as to how
powerful natures ‘pull’ is in preventing us from achieving our breeding goals
ultimately affecting our training goals and finally the emotional functionality
within our families and the community.
Appropriate selection was therefore the
turning point in our breeding and its final expression which has also steered
our training to help all dog owners not just individuals who own our dogs. The
moment we made a decision that we would personally test and select all the dogs
that would contribute to the Von Forell gene pool is the time our breeding
forged into the direction we envisioned.
Offering a mentally enriched environment is
only but one part of the solution as the selecting of the most healthy, stable
and robust dogs is also very important because the genes determine to a large
degree how the dogs react to their environment . All that a sophisticated
enrichment program can hope to achieve is to mask innate behavioral volatility.
(Instability)
Dogs that naturally express positive
environmental reactions to stimuli - in particular to aversive stimuli (stress)
must be our primary goal when selecting for breeding. This positivity proportionally affects our
training outcomes and finally the emotional interactive experience our dogs
have with the community and our immediate family.
We have long questioned the wisdom of
conventional breeding, training philosophies and methodology and ultimately
developed insights into these disciplines that has provided Von Forell Kennels
with a strategy to breed robust dogs that are stable and manageable by all who are fortunate to own them.
Life brings with it constant aversive
stimuli (stress) and the reaction to life’s stressors dictates the quality of our
life. The same applies to the breeding of dogs. The notion that a good
environment can fix or repair a dog’s negative responses to stressors with a
sophisticated counter conditioning program is ‘wishful thinking’. If it works
it merely masks the behavior of the immediate subject and does nothing or at
the very least provides little to the subsequent progeny even through potential
epigenetic influence.
We at Von Forell believe that the time has
come whereby the unification of new breeding philosophies and training
technologies can be complemented by scientific learning that has been
cultivated from deep behavioral analysis around the Globe. This learning has
paved the way for breeding and training systems that least complicate dogs and
their handlers because the driver is a quality dog that is left unnerved by stressful environments and the handler is educated in the art of animal learning and
management.
Hence, our focus at Von Forell Kennels is
on training, the relationship to breeding and the reflexive feedback loops that
characterise the most important stable dog behavior orientated towards the
ideal family companion coupled with sequential training systems that least
complicate dogs and their handlers.
We aim to produce the most stable dogs that
love life; enabling them to function harmoniously within your family.
If you are interested in quality Dobermans
and German Shepherds then please pick up the phone and call us on +61 3 5786
5388 and we'll gladly help you achieve your required outcome.
www.vonforell.com
