Bavarian Mountain Hounds come from, you guessed it, Germany where they are known as Bayerischer Gebirgsschweisshund (no a cat did not just walk on my laptop). They are said to be descended from a breed called a Bracken which is “the original hunting dog”. The Bavarian Mountain Hound was bred to be lighter for more versatility and agility and this was done in the late 18thand early 19th Centuries by Baron Karg-Bebenburg when he crossed Red Mountain Hounds with Hanoverian Scenthounds. The Bavarian Mountain Hound was bred for tracking game, both wounded and bloodied, and has an amazing “cold nose” which means they possess an amazing sense of smell that they can detect older trails better than other dogs. This breed is even tempered, agile, robust and versatile. They have the stamina to pursue game until the game cannot run anymore even in mountainous terrain. They are still used for tracking game to this day but can also be used for tracking/trailing for search and rescue groups like their bloodhound counterparts. The Bavarian Mountain Hound was recognized by the UKC on January 1, 1996. The Club for Bavarian Mountain Hounds, which is headquartered in Munich, came about in 1912. The FCI published a breed standard in 1996 and they were included in the AKC Foundation Stock Service in October 2016. Sources: https://www.ukcdogs.com/bavarian-mountain-hound, https://pulsarvision.com/journal/the-original-hunting-dog-bavarian-mountain-scent-hound/, https://gundogcentral.com/hunting-dog-breeds/Bavarian-Mountain-hound,https://www.101dogbreeds.com/bavarian-mountain-hound.asp

A big part of predation substitution is counter conditioning. In order to understand what it is we are looking for it is important to be on the same page of what counter conditioning means. AlleyDog.com describes it as “…a type of therapy based on the principles of classical conditioning that attempts to replace bad or unpleasant emotional responses to a stimulus with more pleasant, adaptive responses.” As a refresher lets also define classical conditioning. As found on SimplyPsychology.org “classical conditioning is a fundamental form of associative learning in which an organism learns to connect or associate two stimuli that repeatedly occur together.” With the groundwork now laid let’s talk about how to approach this with our dogs. Many dogs, even nontraditional working breeds, can have strong reactions to certain animals or objects in the environment such as bicycles and skateboards. These reactions can be anywhere from overarousal to fear. How we, the human, respond with our dog is also important. In short we must also remain calm for the majority of encounters (exceptions are those of self-defense if something were to happen. You and your dog’s safety are #1) and how you respond to those encounters (even the ones of self-defense) do impact your dog. If your dog sees his trigger, starts to become emotional and your reaction is that of frustration and punishment then your dog may decrease his behavior, but no learning will have occurred for what to do instead. All the dog will learn is that his human will be upset with him and it will have a damper your relationship with your dog. Overtime this could lead to either your dog not enjoying going on walks (and you won’t either) and/or your dog taking out his frustration on something else such as your fence, yard, pillows, housemates, etc. This cycle is something that will have a handful of outcomes: a dog that is locked away most of the time, a dog that is “forgotten” about in the backyard, a dog that is surrendered to a shelter or a dog that is abandoned just to name a few. This is obviously very sad and for those of us that understand and enjoy dogs with more energy and drive is especially heartbreaking because more often than not it isn’t the dog’s fault.

The Irish Red Setter showed up in the early 18th Century and is the result of a mix that likely consisted of: English and Gordon setters, spaniels and pointers. They were bred to be a hunting dog and would point and freeze at game using their snout and would hold position, i.e. be set at the prey. Some early forms of the breed were trained to either sit or lie down in the direction of the game. The original Irish Setter was red and white although the mahogany (so fancy sounding) or chestnut brown are the desired coat color for the Irish Setter while the red and white counterparts are now their own distinct breed. In 1882 the Red Setter Club was formed and shortly after a breed standard was established. The red and white setters were then seen as cross breeds as the red setters gained popularity. After WWI the red and white setters were near extinction. Thanks to a Presbyterian minister named Rev. Huston and his cousin Dr. Elliot, they found a few remaining red and white setters not to far and began breeding them. Rev. Huston was alone in his desire to reinvigorate the breed and the decades between wars did not help. It was not until the end of this life that a woman named Maureen Clarke nursed a sick red and white setter puppy back to health and bred her to one of Rev. Huston’s males. There are working and show lines of the Irish Red Setter and an easy way to tell which one is which is with coat density. The show line has a thicker and longer coat while the working line has a thinner and shorter coat. It is thought to help with thermoregulation and collecting vegetation in the fur while out in the field. In 1962 the Walt Disney movie called “Big Red” debuted and the breed’s popularity went from 4,000 AKC registrations to 60,000+ per year. Due to the “demand” low moral breeders jumped on the trend and in no time at all bred the “…brains and hunting instinct out of what had once been a glorious breed in the field.” The Irish Red Setter gained a new nickname “Irish airheads” during this time. Thankfully for the quality of the breed the trend died down, registrations went down to just above 3,000 pups per year and responsible and genuinely passionate advocates for the breed were the ones solely responsible for the breed once again.

In order to understand and identify your dog’s predatory trigger it is highly beneficial to know what breed(s) of dog you have and to know what that breed was bred to do. For example, my Vizslas were bred to locate birds and other small game. Most dogs are not born with impulse control and so it must be taught otherwise they will see a trigger (or what I also call a stimulus) and want to chase after it. The chase part of the predatory motor sequence is only the beginning of the upswing for the undesired portion of the PMS on dopamine, and other feel good hormones. The peak is if they are successful in grab biting. That is when the dopamine and other hormones will start to come down and the dog will start to relax in satisfaction. Depending on what your dog is bred for, prefers on an individual level and personal experience the types of triggers will vary. Some dogs learn to use their eyes heavily to look for that exciting trigger. Some dogs will use their nose to sniff out a critter trail and some will use their ears to listen for a disturbance to bolt after. Many dogs will use all 3 of these approaches but not all at equal levels all of the time. Paying attention to your dog while out on walks (even while on leash) is very important. This is the best and safest way to teach your dog how to be safe and have impulse control around wildlife. So be sure to not be on your phone and if you have to take an important phone call do your best to be in as little of a distracting area as possible while that call takes place (even if you are using Bluetooth or otherwise hands free). So now let’s talk about threshold levels. There are three different thresholds that we should be aware of: under threshold, at threshold and over threshold. You can think of them this way: - Under threshold = green light - At threshold = yellow light - Over threshold = red light Green light threshold, a dog is able to think, be engaged with you enthusiastically and listen to you when you give a command.

My apologies on being late on delivering this post. Yesterday was a busy day and I just plum forgot that it was Friday. I hope you enjoy. The Weimaraner, or Weimar Pointer, appeared in the 19th Century in Germany and their availability was firmly controlled by the Nobels of Weimar. These nobles were devoted sportsman who also hunted big game. They needed a dog that was excellent at tracking, had speed, was courageous and durable. They implemented a breeding program to develop these specific desired traits. Initially the Weimaraner was bred to take down bear and deer but was later shifted to a “fur and feathers” dog and are now one of the Hunt, Point, Retrieve breeds. In 1928, a man named Howard Knight was keen on acquiring a foundation stock of the breed in the New England states. He applied for a membership in the German Club for the breed and the club sent him two sterilized dogs despite his promise to maintain the purity of the breed. It wasn’t until 10 years later that he was sent 3 females and a puppy. Other enthusiasts joined him and in 1942 the Weimaraner Club of America was formed and in turn a breed standard was formed and the breed was recognized by the AKC in 1943 and began participating in field trials in 1948. Due to the wartime in Europe in the 1940s and the German’s not wanting to lose valuable quality dogs the Weimaraner was sent to the United States. The Weimaraner was a status symbol and with their popularity booming this did also lead to poor breeding practices that resulted in less than ideal temperaments and ugly dogs. Thankfully there were committed breed enthusiasts that would breed and maintain the high quality standards for the Weimaraner. The Weimaraner today comes in two different coat colors but only one is recognized for the show ring and for hunting. The options are silver-grey and blue-grey with the blue-grey variety having black noses and lips. Other than coat color the two look identical but are bred for entirely different purposes: the silver-grey is bred for work and the blue-grey is almost exclusively bred for companionship. The blue-grey option is an automatic disqualification for the show ring as well.