In my opinion, a "working dog" is a dog that performs actual work, it serves a function. It seems to me that the term is misused quite often. A dog that is trained to perform tasks for the sake of performing tasks in a controlled environment without an actual meaningful solution/resolution is not a working dog. This is a short list but I think you get the pattern: Police dog - working dog Military dog - working dog Fire & Rescue dog - working dog Bomb sniffing dog - working dog Service dog that performs actual vital tasks for the handler - working dog. A seeing-eye dog is just one example. Dog that herds farm animals - working dog Dog tasked with protecting territory from intruders, humans and animals alike - working dog. Dog that hunts - working dog but sort of questionable. Usually hunting is more a sport than a necessity. Dog that pulls water out of a well on your farm - working dog. All of the above dogs serve a meaningful function - they work. Dogs that are involved in various hobby competitions with their owners - weigh pulling, agility, rally, obedience, dock jumping or any other kind of sport are sport/competition dogs. I think that's awesome. It takes a lot of effort and time on the owner's behalf to be competitive. People do it because it's fun and it makes a dog operate at a higher level within that discipline. These competitive activities can be reflective of a dog's potential working ability, but I don't see how such dogs can be called "working dogs" if their activities are limited to competing in a controlled environment. Maybe my definition of the term is narrower than others', but this separation makes a lot of sense to me. I still recall being confused when I first heard the term "working dog" and the owner proceeded to tell me how they compete in sports with the dog. In reality, most owners, regardless of the breed, choose not to task their dog with work nor train their dog in sports. They just have the dog as a companion. Not too many people need a dog to pull water out of a well anymore. How people choose to use their dog is their choice.
To illustrate this point further, I think that there is a pretty significant difference between being trained to bite a sleeve and actually functioning as a quality police dog. Same applies to all other disciplines. Performing in a controlled environment with no stress is completely different to the real world. There was a video circulating some time back demonstrating this exact point. Some GSD that had "lots of training" was donated to a PD, and when the decoy officer got serious the dog got scared and ran away instead of biting him.
People who engage in sports with their dog often try to claim that it demonstrates that the dog has a "working temperament." I think that this is what it comes down to: I don't agree that a dog can be credited with having a "working temperament" simply because the owner of the dog chooses to participate in sports in a controlled environment with the dog. One does not mean the other at all. Wonder what working dog trainers think about this matter. Also, considering the fact that there is a huge variety of actual work that dogs perform, the term "working temperament" is so broad it becomes sort of meaningless. How do you define "working temperament"? How people choose to use their dog is their choice. But calling a sports dog a working dog is quite confusing and doesn't make much sense to me. Like I said, doing something in a controlled environment doesn't necessarily translate to the real world. One is the owner's hobby and the other is work performed by a dog to a very high standard of acceptance. If the dog cannot assist in a task and do so consistently, it won't be used as a working dog BECAUSE the threshold is that much higher.
Haven't really seen working dog people trying to demean those who don't have a working dog or do sports with their dog. They don't tend to judge what others do with their own dog. I've seen sports hobbyists trying claim their dogs as "working dogs" talking down to those who don't do sports pretty often on the other hand. Even making claims that spending thousands of hours and thousands of dollars on their sports activity indicates that it's NOT a hobby - that's it's "work." To the contrary, that's exactly what it sounds like - a hobby. And that's awesome. Everyone has different hobbies. As Shannon, a certified dog trainer, has also stated - sports in a controlled environment is very different from tasks a working dog would have to perform in the chaotic real world. In response to a claim that dogs engaged in sports must have a "working temperament" as a prerequisite, and thus they're working dogs, Shannon wrote: "I don't agree that because a dog is doing what it's master wants certifies it as having a working temperament. What is a working temperament anyway. Dogs in general want to please their master. Hence the term man's best friend. Anyone with patience can train their dog to do things in a controlled environment. Take those same dogs in an environment that is unfamiliar and chaotic and it will be a completely different dog. I don't understand the term working temperament. ... Doing sports in a controlled environment isn't a bad thing but it's not the same as actual work if you ask me. I'm not taking anything from them or the people that do it at all. Just saying it's different." Considering the fact that there is a huge variety of actual work that dogs perform, the term "working temperament" is so broad it becomes sort of meaningless. How would you define "working temperament"? One is the owner's hobby and the other is work performed by a dog to a very high standard of acceptance. If the dog cannot assist in a task and do so consistently, it won't be used as a working dog BECAUSE the threshold is that much higher. Whatever the owner chooses to do with their dog is their own choice. We are continuing to work on building a friendly and welcoming community for AB owners here, and as you may be aware, most don't engage in sports with their dog. That is just the reality. You can see how the appeal to belittle others gets lost if the truth is spoken. "I do sports with my dog as a hobby and you don't so my dog is better!" *crickets* With all of this in mind, this notion being propagated by some that if you spend lots of time and money training a dog to perform in a controlled environment indicates that the dog is somehow "proven" for breeding simply crumbles. I still haven't heard the terms "proven" and "working temperament"being defined. Everyone has different desires/needs of their dog. That is why "proven" and "working temperament" are meaningless words unless used in a very narrow context regarding specific activities/tasks. I've observed big differences between each individual owner, and HUGE differences between Bully and Standard type AB owners as groups.
