Chinese Crested - sports?

StompinT

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What do you know of the temperament and energy of Chinese Crested? Are they every run in agility?
 
My experience with the breed is pretty new since I only have my under a year old Hiccup....and I don't do agility But I have been around his breeder and a bunch of other Crested's since then and while I don't do agility I do do dog sports.

My opinion is that if you are a decent trainer with the ability to read your dog and change techniques to fit the dog you could get a really fun little agility dog.

They are drivey, especially for being mostly show bred. I feel a lot of them have untapped potential. Lots of food drive and I find that if you culture the toy drive in a puppy you would have a toy driven dog. Hiccup loves tug and flirtpole and chasing things. No natural retrieve which is a pain but I can deal with that.

He (and most of the ones I've met) have no fear of jumping or being on things or unstable surfaces. Hiccup is incredibly environmentally sound.

I don't personally know anyone that does agility with theirs but I do know there are a good number of them out there. But I'm not in the agility circuit to meet them.

Plus they're just fun.

I would suggest talking to breeders and getting a feel for the breed as a whole and go from there.
 
Oh my goodness, Mick's Mom. Did you know Lisi? I used to know her from the old days on the now defunct Acme Pet message board 15 years ago. She had Kumba and Onyx the rotties then. I knew she battled breast cancer but was very sorry to Google her last year and hear of her death. I only knew her virtually, but she was a cool lady and a real resue advocate. I had the pleasure of seeing a video of her doing agility with Diva, and the second I saw this thread, I thought of her. How wonderful to see you mention her.
 
There's quite a few in my area that do agility and they are total agility rock stars. They're actually on my want list for a future small dog. I've met lots of them and they all had really great personalities and very food driven. I've only met 2 that were shy nervous nellys and they happened to be littermates from the same breeder.
 
Schen is rocking his classes. Both the obed and agility instructor have made noises that perhaps they might need one of these dogs :D

I have competed in agility with whippets and JRTs. Schen is a really great combo of the two. (Cresties have moments when they can seem very much like sighthounds)

He is happy and wants to play and learn. He is smart and is going to be fast. However, unlike some JRTs I could mention..., he wants to play WITH me and is less likely to take off and choose to do an extra jump or tunnel or five.

And to add to Linds comment. Schen came from 100% show lines. I didn't get him with great sport plans but I think he is going to be a kick butt little partner.
 
There's a half dozen or so around here regularly competing in agility. They do really well. They are very athletic. Drive/motivation seems to vary a bit in the ones I've seen, but that's pretty true of most breeds.
 
And to add to Linds comment. Schen came from 100% show lines. I didn't get him with great sport plans but I think he is going to be a kick butt little partner.

I'm really impressed with the breed as a whole for being all conformation. Hiccup's breeder is all show but even hanging out with her other dogs I see the potential in them if they had had it built.

And the first time he saw a lure when we tried out lure coursing, he didn't hesitate at all, went crazy for it!

I mean, look at it

21420253554_930a9c8efb.jpg


Now, someone start breeding them for sport please!

Seriously though, I really am enjoying the temperament of Hiccup. He wants to play with me like Dekka said, wants to interact and involve me which I love.

He's not as social as I think a lot of them are, he's got very little interest in strangers or basically anyone that isn't me. But he's also coming out of a MAJOR fear period so I'm interested in seeing how that changes. But what's nice is even though he doesn't want to interact with strangers, he works absolutely fine around them. He just doesn't want them to grab him.
 
I wish Schen was a little less stranger happy. (I do love a snobby dog :) )

Maybe down the road I would breed them for sport :D. I love JRTs but once Dekka goes I might never have another as no other dog will be her. And I am falling more and more in love with the breed. They are athletic, smart and fairly biddable.

Schen is very suspicious of things but gets over it quickly. In agility he would not go through the chute. itwasgoingtoeatme, said he. However once he went though it once (I had to climb in there with him) he was all oh ok weeeeeeee.

I think they are a better fit for me than whippets, whom I adore. They are far easier than terriers. Though I do miss the hardness that can come in a terrier.
 
Ugh and this thread is making me want one even more. I'm getting another Ibizan in a couple years and I really want another standard size Xolo (prefer hairless this time around), but omg I want a little dog for once and really like the CCs. I could compromise and get a smaller Xolo, but I'm not as into the toy size Xolos as I am the miniature and standards.
 
I love hearing about Hiccup and Schen!

I flip-flopped a lot about getting a CC powder puff as next dog, but I'm 99% certain I must have one. I am interested in agility, but mostly just enjoy taking my dogs out for a romp at the beach/ravine, etc. I was worried a CC wouldn't be interested, but I don't think I have anything to worry about. They're kick ass little monsters.

Can't wait to have one in a few years!
 
Oh my goodness, Mick's Mom. Did you know Lisi? I used to know her from the old days on the now defunct Acme Pet message board 15 years ago. She had Kumba and Onyx the rotties then. I knew she battled breast cancer but was very sorry to Google her last year and hear of her death. I only knew her virtually, but she was a cool lady and a real resue advocate. I had the pleasure of seeing a video of her doing agility with Diva, and the second I saw this thread, I thought of her. How wonderful to see you mention her.

I only knew her via forums- first Acme then a small one a group of us from Acme were on. Did you see the video her last run with Diva?
 
I only knew her via forums- first Acme then a small one a group of us from Acme were on. Did you see the video her last run with Diva?

I did. Very beautiful. Do you know where her dogs went after?

Can't believe you were on Acme as well. Loved that community.
 
I did. Very beautiful. Do you know where her dogs went after?...
I don't remember the details, only that they all went to very good homes with people she knew.

...Can't believe you were on Acme as well.
LOL There's a lot of us out there in cyberspace. The first forum I joined was Dog World. I found Acme soon after, and that kind of became my "home".

...Loved that community.
It was an interesting place, that's for sure. I "met" a lot of people through it, a lot of whom I'm still in touch with.
 

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