My Hovawart

Hovawart is a German dog breed. First let’s cover the physical appearance of the Hovawart dog. They are midsized dogs neither too big nor too small in size. They have enough strength to be used as guard dogs. Actually that is exactly what they were used for in the beginning. The name Hovawart actually is a reference to this very quality of this breed of dogs & literally means that a dog that is guardian of an estate. As mentioned before this is exactly what the Hovawart dog was used in the first place.

 They were breed extensively for acting as a guardian dog as well.
Now however, like for many other breeds, Hovawart is no more just a guardian dog. It is taken up quite fondly as a family pet as well. It is known to very loyal to the family. However, getting used to strangers takes a bit more time than usual as due to its guardian instincts they are not very keen on meeting strangers. Still they don’t have the ferocious nature.

A proper training is very much needed. One thing that needs to be kept in mind here is that during the training sessions, the trainer should keep the system based on positive reinforcements instead of negative reinforcements. There are two main reasons behind this. The first; being that Hovawart is not a very easy breed of dogs, when it comes to pleasing. They have the ability of independent thinking thus they need some incentive to follow what you are trying to teach them.

Also this is the very reason that they need to be kept under a strict regime but this is by no means a reference to the fact you have to be harsh on them. That will be a mistake as they do not respond to negative reinforcement. The second reason for this attitude on the part of the trainer is necessary is because as mentioned before Hovawart have an independent thinking, therefore they do not follow the regular ideology that dog work for you; in this case this breed of dogs works with you; so they have to be considers partners.

This independent thinking factor is what makes them apt for the rescue & search work in which they are regularly used. A lot of departments like the rescue one, the police department etc have these dogs in their team when they are out in the field for search activities. There are a number of success stories that give solid proof to the statements that have been made about them.

However, like any other thing or individual that is more sophisticated, these dogs too need extra attention & care. If they are ignored or not treated well their abilities can’t be utilized properly as they won’t act in the right manner & chances are that they will turn to the wrong kind of behavior. One of the worst things that can happen is a dog turned bad so trying avoiding this scenario.