@Quercus:
Oh, and I agree that at least with Basenjis, pedigrees aren't so important when looking for a perfomance dog. I have found that in every line there are some dogs that are very human oriented, and happy to please (to the extent that Bs can do that)..and there are dogs that are so prey driven and easily stimulated that they just don't do very well in obedience/agility. A huge piece of the puzzle, as Kim said, is picking the right puppy, and doing the right kind of training. But as Lisa said, it would be very helpful to have a mentor in your breeder for the things that you are interested in.
Good luck, I can't wait to see how things unfold for you..please keep us posted!
Yes, if I were looking for an agility sheltie or golden or (heaven forbid) border collie, I'd go to a breeder that bred agility shelties, etc. And there are breeders focused on agility dogs in those breeds, just not in many other breeds.
And I do think prey drive is an important part of the equation IF it is coupled with a willingness to work with a human. My Digital has more prey drive than any dog I know BUT he's a very willing dog and he's a very task-oriented dog (I wish I knew of a way to test for that in puppies!) With your puppy, you want to channel that prey drive into fetching, tugging, chasing you and any sort of game you can think of.
dmcarty wrote: "keep in mind that the relative ability of a dog to get a title at the other end is the committment of the owner to do a couple of things - for lure coursing - letting go of the dog - I have a hard time with that - just can't do it "
This is exactly what I was trying to say earlier. My breeder also has issues with releasing her dogs on the field, so she doesn't course. The only thing I can suggest to help with this is practicing recalls. I really like Nelson's Really Reliable Recall. (booklet or video)
