The Beauceron's character

What is the Beauceron like?
In a lot of books there are some fairy tales about him. For example he should be as aggressive as a Rottweiler, when you want to punish your children, you have to put away your Beauceron, because he wants to help them. He is dominant and bites all strangers, however he is always friendly to children, it is impossible to have a Beauceron in a rented house in the middle of the town, are some other fairy tales.

However, some of these tales are true, others are not.

According to the standard a Beauceron should be calm and courageous. All Beaucerons who are aggressive without reason, anxious or too shy, should be disqualified at dog shows. However, a Beauceron with these characteristics is also outside the show ring a danger to his environment. Nevertheless, on a dog show, one can have a very good look at the future mother and when one is lucky, also of the future father of his dog, because dog show are often very stressful for a dog. Still, also a visit at the breeder's house should be taken into consideration. At home the dogs mostly will behave quite different.

Aaron and Aias

The Beauceron is no more or less aggressive then a Rottweiler, because both breeds, if well bred and socialized are not more dangerous as any other large breed. Normally they are patient and you cannot bring them out of balance very easily. It goes without saying, that there are always the famous exceptions, which do not belong within in the breed standard or within the characteristics. Breeding errors are the basis for wrong behaviour, just as a wrong socialization by the breeder. There are also large varieties in character due to different goals in breeding.
Some Beaucerons are really more reserved towards strangers then others; the same goes for the will to defend the family and premises. In the following examples I can just give you some experiences, which I had with my own dogs.
However, a good breeder is always willing to explain the character of his dog(s).

Example 1.
My first dog, Aaron, is a Beauceron, who in my opinion does have the real Beauceron character. From the start on he loved people, he will really friendly welcome even the total strangers. One time he even crossed the street, because there were people at the other side, which he liked. He never tried to place an unknown visitor or to grow at him. It is quite the opposite, once he jumped on the lap of a somewhat anxious friend of mine and cuddled with her to prove, that he did had anything bad in mind. Aaron looks beyond the fear of these people and never takes advantage of it. There are dogs, which, once they find out that people are afraid, they take advantage of it and make them even more anxious by growing at them or things like that. Aaron is very curious and he inspects every worker's bag to find the breakfast.

Furthermore he does not have much of a herding instinct. When he was still a puppy, he even was afraid of sheep. As an adult he finally tried to herd the sheep behind the fence on the dike. Luckily he could not get in. From outside the fence he drove the sheep into different directions and he seemed to be very proud with it. In most cases during a walk he has no interest to look where the rest of the family goes. The main thing for him is to know where I am.
When we come home, he is the most happy to see me again. With the other family members mostly his joy is very quickly gone. Just a few, selected, people, are welcomed with an enthusiastic jumping. Based on his size, I taught him not to jump on people and that is why most of the time he brushes past people's legs like a cat. When one makes a step aside, he almost topples over.

Aias

One should not forget, that herding and hunting is based on the same instinct and so, hunting can always appear. As a puppy Aaron always tried to catch the seagulls at the dike. Also today he is still looking at them even when he knows, he cannot get them.

In our house are also two cats, which he accepted completely, which do not mean he like all cats. Woe, the cat, who comes on our premises. This shows he has a certain level of territorial feelings. Cats and hares in the countryside are always a temptation to him. Aaron has hunting instinct, but it can be controlled easily. He always remembers the place where a cat or a hare disappeared and on the way back he wants to look at it once again.

The thing, which surprises me over and over again, is Aaron's feeling for justice. When he was a puppy there was a doubtful incident with a gold coloured dog, which means he does not get along very well with gold coloured dogs. However, in case the pack relations are not right, he defends the weaker one, even if that one is such a gold coloured dog.
Should he meet dogs, which are afraid of him, he tends to tease them. Then he looks as if he wants to laugh with it. You have to call him to order very firmly then.
In case the other dog goes on, he accepts it and for him the case is closed. Also it seems to feel, when another dog does have good social behaviour. He demonstrates his total dominance towards this dog by putting his head on the other dogs back or by mounting.
He does it, even when we cannot see anything wrong in the behaviour of the other dog. Often is came out that he was right.

Aaron is dominant, however he is not a fighter. He takes care of meetings with other dogs according to dog rules. If he is of leash, I do not often have to worry about biting accidents. It is fascinating to see how dogs give their signals to each other. Just how they are described in 'Calming signals' by Turid Rugaas. He approaches higher ranked dogs with his head turned aside and passes them in a wide arc. In case he is put in his place from behind, he accepts it and walks away. On leash, he has, like most dogs, the problem of a big mouth. Nevertheless, he is easily under control again.
Only when really necessary he will take part in a fight between other dogs that means, when a dog which belongs to his pack, is attacked. When this dog can deal with it himself, Aaron just watches this fight. One I could see this behaviour; at the moment Aias has started a fight, in which two other dogs took part. My only thought was to control Aaron, to prevent him from taking part also, but it was not necessary. Aaron just stands there next to me and watched the rumpus. This gave me the opportunity to put him down and to free my young, puberal male from the fight into which he had engaged himself. Afterwards this young one wanted to be carried, because he had lost.

Aias

Aaron has not a strongly marked watch passion. If somebody rings, he barks very loudly. As if it is necessary tobark with such noise, I heard the ringing myself. Once the door is open, the welcome ceremony starts. At night things are completely different. I cannot say, that a burglar will be friendly welcomed. However, nobody tried to burgle yet, so I cannot tell you anything about it. He does not like drunken people very much, especially when they are coming towards us with uncontrolled movements during our evening walk.
In such cases, he gives peculiar noises, which are not really grows. To me it sounds like he is not sure and tries to find out what is going on. I always try to behave if nothing is wrong and I speak in a normal voice. Till now nobody came to close, thanks to the Aaron's size I think, more then to his noises. Often people are addressing me, saying that with these dogs, nobody will attack me.

Aaron is not an easy dog to handle and he is not fit for every dog owner. As a youngster he often tried how far he could go. Towards people, who are not able to give him a strong hand, he is not very obedient. He questions the commands and goes on doing what he likes. But when someone is able to master him, Aaron will work also with this handler during rescue training. But he does it only then, when I am not around. He also will not go with everybody. In that case, it is really hard to convince this dog with a height of 72 cm and a weight of 42 kg, that he must go. So I do belief, that it is not possible to steal this dog without a lot of resistance. Caressing, yes, but coming with you, no!

Aias and Aaron

One hears often about sickness during car rides. Aaron is such a dog also. He had never been in a car till we took him home from the breeder.
Because it not to foreseen at which occasions he gets sick, I was not able to give him medicine against it. Often we were able to drive two hours without any problems. Another time he was already sick before we reached the next corner. I tried to ignore the problem, eyes closed and going on. But still today he does not like to ride in the car, however, nothing happens anymore. On the other hand, I had never a problem to teach him to stay at home alone. He preferred to stay at home, instead of going into a car more often then necessary. Nevertheless he defends the car violently against intruders.
Never will someone be able to steal my car or to bother my children when they are in it. There, and only there, he shows his guarding and defending instinct. Alas, during the ride he is a bit troublesome, but we are working hard on it.

Sensitive? Yes Aaron is, however, at first I was convinced not this dog. He does not show it very clearly. But he is not like other dogs so very sensitive towards someone's mood. However, alas, he feels clearly my fear for exams and my annoyance when we did not pass an exam. After our first failure, which was, like it is mostly the case, my fault, for three days he walked with a hanging head. It was not easy to make him feel well again. Today twice a year I take him for an exam to deal with the nervousness. And if my hands are warm and if I can control the trembling of my knees, it goes well. However, not always so good as in November 2002. But all together Aaron is a very nice dog.

Beaucis in Snow

Example 2.
After the very good development of Aaron, I had a growing wish to have a second Beauceron. The first breeder had already sold all his puppies, so I had to look for alternatives. During summer holiday we visited a Belgium breeder, who had puppies at that time. I liked, what I saw. The adult dogs were reserved at the start, but after a while we had them all five at our lap. The puppies were friendly and open, however docked. Due to that, we did not take a puppy from that litter, but made a reservation for a puppy from the next one.
In the spring of 2001 a litter was born and four weeks later I made my choice. Based on the fact that Aaron is not a big eater, I chose one with good appetite. With devotion Aias has eaten himself through all food bowls. A mistake? I am not so sure of that, but Aias is very angry when he thinks his food is taken. He does not share anything eatable and it took a long time before both dogs could eat next to each other out of the same bowl bearer. Nowadays even Aaron eats a bit quicker, because he does not like it either to share part of his food with the young jolly jumper.

From the beginning Aias showed a totally different character as Aaron did. Although socialization had been better, because the puppies were taken for car rides and little trips, Aias was very reserved at home. Outside during walks he was anxious and afraid in the dark and for obstacles, which did appear suddenly.
He did feel secure with dustbins and yellow bags. He cried a lot, when one was away from him.
He came directly and wanted to be lifted. Such behaviour has to be denied, but then one has to watch al the time not to trample the puppy. Carefully we brought him into contact with the things, which frightened him. Aaron was a great help with this, because where every Aias went, Aaron followed after a while. The fact that Aias sticks at my feet had an advantage as well: today Aias comes much quicker when called then Aaron. Overall he follows commends quicker then Aaron.
He only does not like the command 'feet' at all. He has very temperamental. I even have the impression, more then Aaron had at that age.
Most of the day Aias likes to play and he is distracted very easily. Aaron passed his Obedience exam at the age of 18 months. Aias is now 19 months and he is far away from it. Following without a leash is the big problem. We have to work on it. I am not worried about it, because the Beauceron is a late developer and also during education it is at a later moment they feel secure during exams. There are exceptions, but I have seen them often.

Working in ruins

Aias is not a dog, which can be touched by everyone, especially not in case a hand comes from above. Towards strangers he is reserved and it takes him longer to develop warm feelings towards them. However, when he starts liking them, he welcomes them over friendly and it is not easy to withhold him from jumping. When he growth older and due to education this behaviour will disappear slowly. Especially during exercises with different handlers, one can observe this. In the beginning he mostly came back to me. Now he stays more and more at the victim and barks without a lot of help. Although carefully, he takes obstacles more self-confident now.

Aias has more herding instinct then Aaron. He notices it directly when a part of the family is missing. He is more interested in the children then Aaron. It already happened that during a walk they all together disappeared in the bushes, while Aaron staid with me. He has no fear for sheep and horses. At the dike he even steels the grass out the sheep's mouths.

He plays a lot in the garden with our cat, which puts up with a lot of Aias. When he was still a young dog Aaron got a lot of scratches from playing with the cat. Aias has hunting instinct in his veins, within the pack he is lightly challenged to be in chase of the hares. However, till now, I never noticed Aias starting the chase. In case he is carried away in the game, he is, when called, quickly back. Most of the time his interest is then gone.

From the beginning there was something else, which went different with Aias as with Aaron: he was never sick when riding in the car. May be the reason for it is, weather a puppy has been in the car with the breeder or not.
Aias loves to be in the car, he is always the first to mount. I suppose he is afraid, we will forget him! The disadvantage of it is, that Aias does not like it very much to stay at home alone. As a puppy and as well as a youngster he tried to turn our house into a ruin. Now it is not so bad anymore, but only when also Aaron stays at home.
So, when in the middle of the night I am called for duty, I have to take him with me, otherwise he will bark so loud that the whole neighbourhood will wake up. And I do not think, they will like that.
However, when we are out for a search, Aias has to wait in the car till my return. To be part of a search himself, Aias has to pass his exam first.

Aias, 10 Weeks old

At the moment Aias has his puberty. That is a bit of a strain. At the beginning, at the puppy course, he was very reserved, never to wild towards the smaller puppies or dominant towards other dogs. Now he is trying how far he can go, mostly with other males of about the same age. This are so calles order conflicts, which ends as soon as the opponent gives up. Anyhow, it is a strenuous time, which hopefully will be over soon.

The Beauceron is a late developer and Aias is a good example of it. At the age of one year the Beauceron has reached his final height, however, the building of the body takes longer. Usually it takes 3 years, before this breed reaches full body size and the complete development of the character rakes the same time. So, at the age of three, one can see, what the owner made out of his dog.

I experienced with my dogs different phases of puberty. Aaron had this phase at the age of 6 and 9 months, at the age of 15 months and after his castration at the age of 2,5 years. The first phase with Aias, who is not neutered, was at the age of 8 month and then now again at the age of 19 months. We have to wait and see how it goes on and I will inform you on this page about it.

At the moment we are working hard to pass the obedience exam: April 26 2003 is the day of the truth. Aias is still very playful and is easily distracted.
The biggest problem is to let him follow unleashed.
The nicest bits are not strong enough, he always stays behind! And that when he loves food.
"Play, play, play", the trainster says. "Try it with his ball! If he is doing it the right way, throw his ball!"
And I see it works. But do we have enough time. There are simply not enough hours in a day, and too much is not the right way, because it can spoil everything.

We did the general obedience exam the Saturday before Easter. We had the last turn.
It was cold and windy. Aias was the first one who had to go down.
I broke into perspiration. Would he stay down at the moment a shot was fired?
We only practiced this when the dog handler was near the dog to prevent any risk. Everything goes well. Aias stays down.
The shot is fired, nothing happens. The second shot: he stays down.
I am very relieved. Now everything will go right, I thought!
The other dog handler calls her dog at his place with a loud: "Here, down".
Aias jumps up and comes towards me. Wrong!!! What an annoyance, but it can not be changed.

Now it is our turn. We start walking, walking at a leash goes, as always, very well, also the group. He stays a bit behind, but that does matter too much.
Next: Aias has to follow unleashed. Already the first meters I sensed, that Aias is walking behind me and that he is nibbling my pocket.
He is looking for his ball and when he does not find it, he stays behind.
He walks at the left side, he walks at the right side and he is looking and looking.
There is no more sign of concentration. We went on with this test to the end to give the other dog the opportunity to go down.
But to me it is clear: For this Spring it has been enough.
We will try it again in the Autumn. May be Aias has a bit matured by then.

It's going on.....

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		The Beauceron's character What is the Beauceron like? In a lot of books there are some fairy tales about him. For example he should be as aggressive as a Rottweiler, when you want to punish your children, you have to put away your Beauceron, because he wants to help them. He is dominant and bites all strangers, however he is always friendly to children, it is impossible to have a Beauceron in a rented house in the middle of the town, are some other fairy tales. However, some of these tales are true, others are not. According to the standard a Beauceron should be calm and courageous. All Beaucerons who are aggressive without reason, anxious or too shy, should be disqualified at dog shows. However, a Beauceron with these characteristics is also outside the show ring a danger to his environment. Nevertheless, on a dog show, one can have a very good look at the future mother and when one is lucky, also of the future father of his dog, because dog show are often very stressful for a dog. Still, also a visit at the breeder's house should be taken into consideration. At home the dogs mostly will behave quite different. The Beauceron is no more or less aggressive then a Rottweiler, because both breeds, if well bred and socialized are not more dangerous as any other large breed. Normally they are patient and you cannot bring them out of balance very easily. It goes without saying, that there are always the famous exceptions, which do not belong within in the breed standard or within the characteristics. Breeding errors are the basis for wrong behaviour, just as a wrong socialization by the breeder. There are also large varieties in character due to different goals in breeding. Some Beaucerons are really more reserved towards strangers then others; the same goes for the will to defend the family and premises. In the following examples I can just give you some experiences, which I had with my own dogs. However, a good breeder is always willing to explain the character of his dog(s). Example 1. My first dog, Aaron, is a Beauceron, who in my opinion does have the real Beauceron character. From the start on he loved people, he will really friendly welcome even the total strangers. One time he even crossed the street, because there were people at the other side, which he liked. He never tried to place an unknown visitor or to grow at him. It is quite the opposite, once he jumped on the lap of a somewhat anxious friend of mine and cuddled with her to prove, that he did had anything bad in mind. Aaron looks beyond the fear of these people and never takes advantage of it. There are dogs, which, once they find out that people are afraid, they take advantage of it and make them even more anxious by growing at them or things like that. Aaron is very curious and he inspects every worker's bag to find the breakfast. Furthermore he does not have much of a herding instinct. When he was still a puppy, he even was afraid of sheep. As an adult he finally tried to herd the sheep behind the fence on the dike. Luckily he could not get in. From outside the fence he drove the sheep into different directions and he seemed to be very proud with it. In most cases during a walk he has no interest to look where the rest of the family goes. The main thing for him is to know where I am. When we come home, he is the most happy to see me again. With the other family members mostly his joy is very quickly gone. Just a few, selected, people, are welcomed with an enthusiastic jumping. Based on his size, I taught him not to jump on people and that is why most of the time he brushes past people's legs like a cat. When one makes a step aside, he almost topples over. One should not forget, that herding and hunting is based on the same instinct and so, hunting can always appear. As a puppy Aaron always tried to catch the seagulls at the dike. Also today he is still looking at them even when he knows, he cannot get them. In our house are also two cats, which he accepted completely, which do not mean he like all cats. Woe, the cat, who comes on our premises. This shows he has a certain level of territorial feelings. Cats and hares in the countryside are always a temptation to him. Aaron has hunting instinct, but it can be controlled easily. He always remembers the place where a cat or a hare disappeared and on the way back he wants to look at it once again. The thing, which surprises me over and over again, is Aaron's feeling for justice. When he was a puppy there was a doubtful incident with a gold coloured dog, which means he does not get along very well with gold coloured dogs. However, in case the pack relations are not right, he defends the weaker one, even if that one is such a gold coloured dog. Should he meet dogs, which are afraid of him, he tends to tease them. Then he looks as if he wants to laugh with it. You have to call him to order very firmly then. In case the other dog goes on, he accepts it and for him the case is closed. Also it seems to feel, when another dog does have good social behaviour. He demonstrates his total dominance towards this dog by putting his head on the other dogs back or by mounting. He does it, even when we cannot see anything wrong in the behaviour of the other dog. Often is came out that he was right. Aaron is dominant, however he is not a fighter. He takes care of meetings with other dogs according to dog rules. If he is of leash, I do not often have to worry about biting accidents. It is fascinating to see how dogs give their signals to each other. Just how they are described in 'Calming signals' by Turid Rugaas. He approaches higher ranked dogs with his head turned aside and passes them in a wide arc. In case he is put in his place from behind, he accepts it and walks away. On leash, he has, like most dogs, the problem of a big mouth. Nevertheless, he is easily under control again. Only when really necessary he will take part in a fight between other dogs that means, when a dog which belongs to his pack, is attacked. When this dog can deal with it himself, Aaron just watches this fight. One I could see this behaviour; at the moment Aias has started a fight, in which two other dogs took part. My only thought was to control Aaron, to prevent him from taking part also, but it was not necessary. Aaron just stands there next to me and watched the rumpus. This gave me the opportunity to put him down and to free my young, puberal male from the fight into which he had engaged himself. Afterwards this young one wanted to be carried, because he had lost. Aaron has not a strongly marked watch passion. If somebody rings, he barks very loudly. As if it is necessary tobark with such noise, I heard the ringing myself. Once the door is open, the welcome ceremony starts. At night things are completely different. I cannot say, that a burglar will be friendly welcomed. However, nobody tried to burgle yet, so I cannot tell you anything about it. He does not like drunken people very much, especially when they are coming towards us with uncontrolled movements during our evening walk. In such cases, he gives peculiar noises, which are not really grows. To me it sounds like he is not sure and tries to find out what is going on. I always try to behave if nothing is wrong and I speak in a normal voice. Till now nobody came to close, thanks to the Aaron's size I think, more then to his noises. Often people are addressing me, saying that with these dogs, nobody will attack me. Aaron is not an easy dog to handle and he is not fit for every dog owner. As a youngster he often tried how far he could go. Towards people, who are not able to give him a strong hand, he is not very obedient. He questions the commands and goes on doing what he likes. But when someone is able to master him, Aaron will work also with this handler during rescue training. But he does it only then, when I am not around. He also will not go with everybody. In that case, it is really hard to convince this dog with a height of 72 cm and a weight of 42 kg, that he must go. So I do belief, that it is not possible to steal this dog without a lot of resistance. Caressing, yes, but coming with you, no! One hears often about sickness during car rides. Aaron is such a dog also. He had never been in a car till we took him home from the breeder. Because it not to foreseen at which occasions he gets sick, I was not able to give him medicine against it. Often we were able to drive two hours without any problems. Another time he was already sick before we reached the next corner. I tried to ignore the problem, eyes closed and going on. But still today he does not like to ride in the car, however, nothing happens anymore. On the other hand, I had never a problem to teach him to stay at home alone. He preferred to stay at home, instead of going into a car more often then necessary. Nevertheless he defends the car violently against intruders. Never will someone be able to steal my car or to bother my children when they are in it. There, and only there, he shows his guarding and defending instinct. Alas, during the ride he is a bit troublesome, but we are working hard on it. Sensitive? Yes Aaron is, however, at first I was convinced not this dog. He does not show it very clearly. But he is not like other dogs so very sensitive towards someone's mood. However, alas, he feels clearly my fear for exams and my annoyance when we did not pass an exam. After our first failure, which was, like it is mostly the case, my fault, for three days he walked with a hanging head. It was not easy to make him feel well again. Today twice a year I take him for an exam to deal with the nervousness. And if my hands are warm and if I can control the trembling of my knees, it goes well. However, not always so good as in November 2002. But all together Aaron is a very nice dog. Example 2. After the very good development of Aaron, I had a growing wish to have a second Beauceron. The first breeder had already sold all his puppies, so I had to look for alternatives. During summer holiday we visited a Belgium breeder, who had puppies at that time. I liked, what I saw. The adult dogs were reserved at the start, but after a while we had them all five at our lap. The puppies were friendly and open, however docked. Due to that, we did not take a puppy from that litter, but made a reservation for a puppy from the next one. In the spring of 2001 a litter was born and four weeks later I made my choice. Based on the fact that Aaron is not a big eater, I chose one with good appetite. With devotion Aias has eaten himself through all food bowls. A mistake? I am not so sure of that, but Aias is very angry when he thinks his food is taken. He does not share anything eatable and it took a long time before both dogs could eat next to each other out of the same bowl bearer. Nowadays even Aaron eats a bit quicker, because he does not like it either to share part of his food with the young jolly jumper. From the beginning Aias showed a totally different character as Aaron did. Although socialization had been better, because the puppies were taken for car rides and little trips, Aias was very reserved at home. Outside during walks he was anxious and afraid in the dark and for obstacles, which did appear suddenly. He did feel secure with dustbins and yellow bags. He cried a lot, when one was away from him. He came directly and wanted to be lifted. Such behaviour has to be denied, but then one has to watch al the time not to trample the puppy. Carefully we brought him into contact with the things, which frightened him. Aaron was a great help with this, because where every Aias went, Aaron followed after a while. The fact that Aias sticks at my feet had an advantage as well: today Aias comes much quicker when called then Aaron. Overall he follows commends quicker then Aaron. He only does not like the command 'feet' at all. He has very temperamental. I even have the impression, more then Aaron had at that age. Most of the day Aias likes to play and he is distracted very easily. Aaron passed his Obedience exam at the age of 18 months. Aias is now 19 months and he is far away from it. Following without a leash is the big problem. We have to work on it. I am not worried about it, because the Beauceron is a late developer and also during education it is at a later moment they feel secure during exams. There are exceptions, but I have seen them often. Aias is not a dog, which can be touched by everyone, especially not in case a hand comes from above. Towards strangers he is reserved and it takes him longer to develop warm feelings towards them. However, when he starts liking them, he welcomes them over friendly and it is not easy to withhold him from jumping. When he growth older and due to education this behaviour will disappear slowly. Especially during exercises with different handlers, one can observe this. In the beginning he mostly came back to me. Now he stays more and more at the victim and barks without a lot of help. Although carefully, he takes obstacles more self-confident now. Aias has more herding instinct then Aaron. He notices it directly when a part of the family is missing. He is more interested in the children then Aaron. It already happened that during a walk they all together disappeared in the bushes, while Aaron staid with me. He has no fear for sheep and horses. At the dike he even steels the grass out the sheep's mouths. He plays a lot in the garden with our cat, which puts up with a lot of Aias. When he was still a young dog Aaron got a lot of scratches from playing with the cat. Aias has hunting instinct in his veins, within the pack he is lightly challenged to be in chase of the hares. However, till now, I never noticed Aias starting the chase. In case he is carried away in the game, he is, when called, quickly back. Most of the time his interest is then gone. From the beginning there was something else, which went different with Aias as with Aaron: he was never sick when riding in the car. May be the reason for it is, weather a puppy has been in the car with the breeder or not. Aias loves to be in the car, he is always the first to mount. I suppose he is afraid, we will forget him! The disadvantage of it is, that Aias does not like it very much to stay at home alone. As a puppy and as well as a youngster he tried to turn our house into a ruin. Now it is not so bad anymore, but only when also Aaron stays at home. So, when in the middle of the night I am called for duty, I have to take him with me, otherwise he will bark so loud that the whole neighbourhood will wake up. And I do not think, they will like that. However, when we are out for a search, Aias has to wait in the car till my return. To be part of a search himself, Aias has to pass his exam first. At the moment Aias has his puberty. That is a bit of a strain. At the beginning, at the puppy course, he was very reserved, never to wild towards the smaller puppies or dominant towards other dogs. Now he is trying how far he can go, mostly with other males of about the same age. This are so calles order conflicts, which ends as soon as the opponent gives up. Anyhow, it is a strenuous time, which hopefully will be over soon. The Beauceron is a late developer and Aias is a good example of it. At the age of one year the Beauceron has reached his final height, however, the building of the body takes longer. Usually it takes 3 years, before this breed reaches full body size and the complete development of the character rakes the same time. So, at the age of three, one can see, what the owner made out of his dog. I experienced with my dogs different phases of puberty. Aaron had this phase at the age of 6 and 9 months, at the age of 15 months and after his castration at the age of 2,5 years. The first phase with Aias, who is not neutered, was at the age of 8 month and then now again at the age of 19 months. We have to wait and see how it goes on and I will inform you on this page about it. At the moment we are working hard to pass the obedience exam: April 26 2003 is the day of the truth. Aias is still very playful and is easily distracted. The biggest problem is to let him follow unleashed. The nicest bits are not strong enough, he always stays behind! And that when he loves food. "Play, play, play", the trainster says. "Try it with his ball! If he is doing it the right way, throw his ball!" And I see it works. But do we have enough time. There are simply not enough hours in a day, and too much is not the right way, because it can spoil everything. We did the general obedience exam the Saturday before Easter. We had the last turn. It was cold and windy. Aias was the first one who had to go down. I broke into perspiration. Would he stay down at the moment a shot was fired? We only practiced this when the dog handler was near the dog to prevent any risk. Everything goes well. Aias stays down. The shot is fired, nothing happens. The second shot: he stays down. I am very relieved. Now everything will go right, I thought! The other dog handler calls her dog at his place with a loud: "Here, down". Aias jumps up and comes towards me. Wrong!!! What an annoyance, but it can not be changed. Now it is our turn. We start walking, walking at a leash goes, as always, very well, also the group. He stays a bit behind, but that does matter too much. Next: Aias has to follow unleashed. Already the first meters I sensed, that Aias is walking behind me and that he is nibbling my pocket. He is looking for his ball and when he does not find it, he stays behind. He walks at the left side, he walks at the right side and he is looking and looking. There is no more sign of concentration. We went on with this test to the end to give the other dog the opportunity to go down. But to me it is clear: For this Spring it has been enough. We will try it again in the Autumn. May be Aias has a bit matured by then. It's going on.....

		© 2007 by Manuela Schmidt • mailto: manuela at berger-de-beauce dot net