But we were only in our infancy of beginning to understand each other.
Unbeknown to me, I did one thing right from the start. The many walks we took daily was, what is in dog language "hunting buddies" and that is what brought him and I closer.
The training (ie: listening to me) was not so much down packed yet. He just didn't take me that seriously ;)
After many cries of help to several much more experienced dog trainers
(the seller was pretty out of the picture to help) I started to understand, that this boy needed ME to relax... So, I finally threw my hands up in the air and said "fine, you here, I'll relax, & I'm sure we'll figure it out...."
I talked with more SAR trainers, Schutzhund trainers and Police Officers with k9s and slowly figured out how he was trained. He was finally responding to me, because I had started to clue in that he was very well trained, but how, was the question. So, I was able to have him entertained with his searches, and retrievals, and if I hid he came to look for me, but I was wrongfully convinced by one so called dog trainer that I should not do the bite work training myself. So, i left that out for a year. Sorry to say...for Zuni, as he loves it!
When I did get a bite sleeve, the soft kinds from Belgium because they feel real, and that's what I wanted, he grabbed it like he crazy man. And, "aus" (out the sleeve) means nothing to him... So, now I was finally able to do the bite work with him too. And, he does it inside or outside, as well as searching.
