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Boxers: A well-bred boxer is a wonderful family dog. They have a coat easy to care for, are not too large, and tend to be well behaved with children. The boxer is an easy breed to train. Although generally friendly, it commands respect because of its size and square face. This is a very jumpy breed of dog, so if you choose the boxer be prepared. The naturally active boxer needs quite a bit of exercise in order to maintain a relaxed demeanor.

Bullmastiff: Bullmastiffs are just plain nice, easily cared for, slow-going, beautiful dogs. Most examples are tight lipped, so the saliva is not all over the place, as is true with other mastiff dogs. Trainers have never had reservations in recommending the bullmastiff to any family that had the space to house them properly.

Doberman Pinscher: The Doberman is a dog that has suffered from an unearned reputation of aggression. The fact is that they are almost everything but. Dobermans train as if there were some genetic predisposition toward the training itself. They are extremely sensitive and at the same time more defensive than the German shepherd dog. They have a very warm and responsive character. They always seem to have their heads somewhere on your body, or at least one part of their anatomy is touching you.

Giant Schnauzer: The giant schnauzer is a large, very classy, and elegant breed of dog that carries itself proudly in conformation and character. The giant schnauzer needs grooming to maintain the coat type, They are a bit stubborn yet are very bright and train well with consistent handling.

The male can appear a little sharp at times, showing his readiness to react to any adverse situation. Trainers who have trained this breed in obedience has found them to be quite responsive to consistent training. This breed may possess enough initiative to run a household. Although they are nice, they are best housed by experienced enthusiasts of giant schnauzers.

Great Dane: There are many problems that life has to offer the poor Great Dane, both physical and behavioral. The sheer size of this breed brings with it orthopedic and systemic medical trouble. When there is an aggression problem in the Great Dane it is further complicated by the dog's size. Obviously, if you are bitten by a dog of this size you are likely to have severe injuries.

Many trainers have very successfully trained many Great Danes and they are a pleasure to work with. Not a breed for the first-time owner; this is a prince of breeds when the genetics are correct and the dog is in the hands of a capable owner.

When training your dog off-leash, remain in a protected area for at least the first month of training. Continue to work on all previous commands and all new safety commands with the regular leash, the drop line, the tab, alternating in no particular pattern. As you work, test your safety devices off leash with the fence bolted. Try the �Drop� on recall, the emergency down, the serious �Come,� �No,� and �Wait.� However, do not work your dog to death or make him into a game.

You can begin to work your dog in the park. Use both the short and long lines so that when you take the drop line off, the dog is still wearing something. After he is working well on drop line, take it off and remind him immediately to heel. If he lags or moves out to the side, make a sharp correction with the tab and then praise him. Work only for a few minutes so that at the time you quit he is still working well. Do not push him into errors. Instead, build the time he will stay with you and obey you smartly without his leash and in this exciting, new environment.

When you are really confident and you are sure that your dog is sharp and obedient on all the safety commands, begin to try �Stays� and �Comes� from a distance in the park, first with the long line dragging and then with just the tab. If he is attentive and obedient now, you may begin to work him on the street.

When you first work your dog on the street with a drop line, work when the street in your area is least crowded and when traffic is lightest. First, there's the problem of distractions, which you do not need at this most difficult stage of training. Second, there's the mechanical problem of people stepping on your dropped long line, unintentionally giving your good dog a correction.

In order to fully concentrate and so that your dog can do the same, keep your first street lesson very short and work when no one is around. Of course, your drop line is dragging so that if your dog tries to run off, he will not be harmed. You will simply step hard onto the leash.

Plan at least a month for each new stage of training to make sure your dog behaves reliably even on his bad days. After a month of work in the park and a month of drop-line work on the street, you should be ready, if that is what you choose to do, to try working on the street with only the tab.

To get your dog training on the right track, go slow with your puppy; allow him his puppy hood without rushing him through his training. Develop his prey instinct instead of repressing it so that you maximize its flexibility. With the flow of drive cooled by the prey instinct, limits that normally make dogs nervous can instead be converted into positive stimuli to work. On the other hand, if the prey instinct is violated, the puppy is filled with dread and a sense of alienation, giving a host of undesirable behaviors in his temperament.

The limit is inside the dog. You just need to let the prey instinct tiptoe up to the danger line, and then get in tune with whatever is in the dog's heart so that you can smoothly redirect his attention your way. It could be something as gentle as a warm touch, or as active as a good game of ball.

You need to let your puppy be a puppy, but that doesn't mean that you are going to let him explore his limits on his own. If you take an overbearing approach to a puppy, you can violate his emotional limits. You have to decisively define the limits according to your standards, or the temperament will assign them according to instinctive standards.

A dog raised in a permissive household feels that danger is everywhere. You must be active in this regard so that learning isn't left to chance. The puppy must be carefully managed or indiscriminate emotional bruising will be the result. By encouraging the prey instinct under controlled circumstances, a limit can be assigned to your liking. Then, once the bounds are carefully secured, the pup is free not only to make prey within them but to be in harmony with his family as well.

The most obvious limitation in puppies is their short attention span. When confronted with resistance, he is unable to blend two different emotional values (strengths of attraction) together to come up with one focused response.

The simple prey instinct follows a simple rhythm in a natural way. Anything that is more complex, which is pretty much all of our training and domestic requirements will cause the dog to divert his attention so that he doesn't have a negative experience. Not until he sexually matures and can process stress into social behaviors will he be able to handle such a complex undertaking.

Therefore, it is important to recognize this limitation and not become upset with a puppy if he gives out when faced with a simple objective. The next time, make the problem easier. Problems in this regard reflect errors by the trainer, not learning deficiencies in the puppy.

Attention spans lengthen as instincts are strengthened through the flow of drive. Getting a puppy to perform a task is not as important as "hardening" his focus on a positive stimulation so that he learns to persevere. Success for the dog must be focused on gaining instinctive gratification rather than on avoiding a correction.

Lure Coursing: Lure coursing is somewhat akin to Greyhound racing but is held in fields
with twisting courses over uneven ground. Lure coursing is designed to test a dog's agility, as well as his speed, endurance and prey instinct. The dogs are taught to chase a lure, which is really a plastic bag, and their enthusiasm for the chase is an unforgettable sight. For more information on this sport, contact the American Sight-hound Field Association.

Hunting: Hunting is as natural as walking to many dogs and by using natural talents they can perform both vigorously and happily and give you physical rewards at the same time. Anyone who has worked with his dogs in the field, whether hunting birds or small game, will tell you that there is nothing as thrilling as watching his dog work the field, fetch game or take a point and hold it. There are many types of competitive events available for hunters and information may be obtained from the AKC on field trials and hunting tests for sporting dogs and field trials for hounds, all at varying levels of competition.

Therapy Dogs: Therapy dogs are increasing in number by the day. Hospice services, Nursing and convalescent homes, centers for gifted children and even hospitals are opening their doors to visits by therapy dogs. These dogs can be of any age or breed (some organizations request only registered therapy dogs; others welcome any well-behaved and loving pet) and are only expected to be very stable and accept much petting and loving from the residents they are visiting. These dogs can sometimes elicit responses from the ill or handicapped better than nurses, doctors or even family members. Most dogs instinctively realize when a human is suffering some form of handicap.

Visits with a therapy dog may be just the thing that will bring relief or happiness to an otherwise ill or hard-to-reach person, and your joy at seeing your dog relate to these people is more than worth every minute of your time. To find therapy groups near you, inquire your local Kennel Club or organizations dedicated to the needs of nursing-home residents, convalescents and mentally-challenged persons.

These are just a few ideas for you to think about. There are many other organizations devoted to preserving the natural instincts of their breeds, such as the Newfoundland Club of America, which sponsors water tests. Many breed or group specialty magazines, such as Gun Dog, publish information for fanciers of the upland bird and waterfowl dog. In addition, many major dog food companies sponsor all sorts of hunting, obedience and conformation events.