Quote Originally Posted by skipper View Post
Thats true. Some dogs are just too shy. As with everything else there are degrees of shyness. My point is that in the right hands a shy dog that otherwise maybe would be culled gets to show the qualities it possess. Which should be every dogmens goal, to bring the best out of every damn dog you get.
There is a paradox of truth here: 1) on the one hand, the best dogmen are those who are able to bring out the best in every dog ... and intuitively "know" how to handle each one as a unique animal ... while the common idiot will ruin many dogs and can only do will with a "fool-proof" dog. And yet the flipside to this is the fact 2) the best DOGS are those who don't necessarily need kid gloves to do well, their very metal hardiness makes them able to overcome a variety of ownership inequities, and NOT be wholly dependent on being in "top hands" to do well.

As a breeder, I strive to make my dogs "foolproof" ... dogs that are confident no matter what, dogs that can go along time with or without a good keep, etc. I have had a couple of truly badass dogs that were later sold, but did not acclimate to their new owners well, and things didn't turn out so well ... and I personally feel more confident sending a dog that really could give a shit about his environment, he just (as Black Hand says) thinks he owns the world that he's standing on, regardless of whose hands he's in.

Jack