03/05/2025
🤔…things that make you go hmmmm.
Why do people think slapping a trendy label on their dog will help them gain social recognition and will make them sound more desirable amongst dog enthusiasts and other dog trainers?
Stop claiming you have a “working dog” as if it is a breed of dog. Either you misunderstand what a “working dog” truly does, or you simply want to appear like your dog is highly trained with a prestigious status. Thus, desiring to project an image to appear more capable, responsible, and knowledgeable in owning and training highly driven and highly intelligent canines.
A true “working dog” is a dog that requires extensive training at an elite level to perform specialized jobs and complex tasks that are actively engaged in a working capacity, such as detection, protection, patrol, guarding, search & rescue, and herding livestock etc.
A “working dog” also operates in professional settings, such as military armed forces, bases, field, and facilities, as well in law enforcement at local, county, state and federal agencies, on government property, on industrial sites, at correctional facilities, airports, boarders, farms, ranches and more.
Your PET is not a “working dog” because you took an agility training course or started a new activity in protection sports, or even decided to try “scent work” with your dog. Just because you own a dog that comes from breeds that are considered a working dog, or even a dog you bought from a “working line” doesn’t automatically qualify them as a “working dog” unless they are formally trained, certified and actively working and employed in a professional role to do a job or tasks.
Ethically take some responsibility, acknowledge and accept when claiming you have a “working dog” it can be misleading and potentially contribute to irresponsible dog ownership by encouraging people and clients to get breeds they aren't prepared to handle.