Hello! Great to be a new member of this group, thanks for having us. My wife Olga and I are lifetime dog lovers. She had amazing standard poodles growing up in Russia whereas I had mostly G. Shepherd/Collides in the U.S. We now have a 7 year-old BL/G.Shepherd and an 11 month-old BL/Coon hound rescue who is already head and shoulders above his house mate Aries. Olga had sworn she would never have a hound but when we rescued him we could not tell what he was mixed with. He is extremely smart. We also call him Houdini because he has yet to not find a way to escape from the 2 acres we have fenced in for him or from the house. He has even figured out how to open sliding doors! Aries on the other hand is very obedient and responsive to commands while the puppy obeys only when he wants. Well the puppy has now learned that he can fly over a 4 foot fence like a deer to go visit the horse down the road and to explore the neighbourhood so we are scrambling to put up a taller one. He is a wonder to behold when he runs and leaps, made Olga laugh and smile even though she was mad as hell that he had figured out how to do it and she wanted to seriously scold him. It's hard to be mad at him for long because he is so sweet, more afraid for him than anything. He is just wired in such a way that he needs a lot of exercise and to explore, he is proving to be true to everything I've read about the black lab-coonhound mix. It's a real joy to watch him run! We've done 2 levels of training classes with him at PetSmart but have not been impressed though he has learned many basics and some intermediate commands. At this stage we are looking for more specific, tailored training suited to his breed/mix. Any suggestions would be much appreciated! Pete and Olga
Hi Peter, welcome to the forum. Have you considered some retriever training to appeal to the Lab side of your two dogs (GSDs are often brilliant retrievers too) Alternatively they might enjoy tracking or working trials. All these help sports help to burn up some energy and occupy sharp minds
Your pup might enjoy scent work, using his hound nose! There are a variety of beginner classes that I'm sure he would excel at!
