I prefer to query people here rather than other, more dedicated internet forums. For various reasons.
I am making a blanket type inquiry on general Toughness of dogs. And by toughness, I am meaning things such as pain tolerance, environmental tolerance, or simply the lack of being swayed or affected by being uncomfortable.
I have had just a small handful of hunting dogs. Both were Chesapeake Bay Retrievers. The first was a female, the second was a male. I don't recall much of the female. I was very young and the dog was given away without my consent......life lessons learned there. The male I had as an adult. He had a high pain tolerance. But some seperation anxiety that got in the way of really testing much else.
Though not a hunting dog, my current adult dog is an Australian Cattle Dog. To me, he is the standard to be judged against. His pain tolerance is off the charts. I've seen him continue about his business with flesh hanging. He has broken ice to play Fetch. Will find water to lie down in to cool off in January. Just an all around tough guy.
My current puppy is the opposite. He is a softy. Wasnt expecting it, but he is. He needs to paw and fluff up a perfect nest before he lays down. Every place he lays must be padded. If we are sorting laundary for weekend chores, he is found coiled up, camoflauged in with the Darks....sound asleep. He is shivering immediately after getting in the water. The same water I am standing in up to the Blue Line myself in shorts. I don't find it at all cold.
In my experience, this is the dog. Not much you can train or change about it.
Thoughts or experiences? Of course this is the internet, so I would not expect anything less than...."My dog was breaking 2 inches of ice duck hunting in North Dakota last January...it was -5 degrees that day".
Last edited by Jesse Jaymes; 06/22/13.
