Erin O'Shea is K9andSports Ambassador: she is competing in the FCI World Championship, is President of the Howard Hughes Institute, former Professor at Harvard and has her own kennel. You bet: we wanted to talk to her.

K9andSports: Lots of Malinois show up at the FCI worlds. What’s your thought on GSD and Malinois? What are each of these breeds strengths?

I admire both GSDs and Malinois for their strong working abilities. In my experience, GSDs have strong tracking ability, excellent barking, and stable temperaments. Malinois have a lot of speed, better health, and very accessible drive. Of course, these are generalizations, and there are GSDs that have Malinois-like qualities – I am competing with a dog like this now – and there are also Malinois that have GSD-like qualities.  

K9andSports: You breed GSD in your kennel „Von der Beizjagd“: what are your goals in breeding. What are the heritable traits, health aspects you look at most?

Our goals are to breed for good drives, good temperament, and good health, and we only breed when we want to keep a puppy for ourselves. We care about good orthopedics, DM test, no allergies, healthy spine and no transitional vertebrae. When deciding on breeding partners, we consider strong working dog bloodlines and good health in the background.

K9andSports: Why is taking the 1 meter hurdle an issue for many GSDs?

In my opinion, many GSDs do not have an issue with the 1 m jump. For those that have a problem, some have health issues, and for others, it is a training issue.

K9andSports: How is the GSD that shows up at top competitions different compared to 10 years ago?

The dogs today are more guidable and better in obedience than 10 years ago. The dogs are easier to control but still have very high drive, and this in my opinion is what we need.

K9andSports: Do you sell your puppies to the police or military or do they only go to private handlers?

We do not sell puppies to police or military, but this is only because I do not have strong connections to the people who sell to police and military. I would be very happy to produce dogs for police and military, and some breeders who have used my old competition dog Vegas von der Burg Hinte, have produced such dogs.

K9andSports: You’re an ambassador at K9andSports. What is K9andSports for you? Why did you decide to join?

I decided to join K9andSports because I feel strongly that protection sports are important for keeping working qualities in our working breeds. This is important for maintaining strong sport dogs, and also for generating military and police dogs who come from the same breeding lines as sport dogs.  

K9andSports: Successful handlers usually have a good training team behind them. Who do you train with?

I am so lucky to have an awesome team behind me! My husband, Doug Jeffery, supports me in training and competitions. Most of my training now is done with Marko Koskensalo and Sarah Prelle, and Canemo videos. With my current dog, I also worked with Mike Sweeney and T Floyd, who both helped me substantially in protection.  

K9andSports: You’re a scientist, used to be a professor at Harvard and today you head the Howard Hughes institute. Tell us about that.

I am a scientist and run a research lab where we study glia – cells in the brain that play important roles in shaping the function of neurons. I was a professor for 20 years, and since 2013 I have been in leadership positions at Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). HHMI is the largest biomedical philanthropy in the US, supporting basic biomedical research. Since 2016 I have been president of HHMI.

K9andSports: There’s a lot of controversy about IGP, in particular about C. Dogs are made unnecessarily aggressive, the pressure on the dogs is too high .. what’s your thought on the sport?

Today we are looking for dogs that are secure and confident in their performance. I do not see dogs made unnecessarily aggressive, and I think training is changing to put less pressure on dogs. Judges are giving lower scores for dogs that are pressured and lacking confidence, and I think this is the right direction for the sport.

K9andSports: There’s a lot of controversy about the stick hit in IGP. What are your thoughts? Do we need it? Is it no big deal that it’s gone in the FCI realm?

It is a very big deal that stick hits are gone in the FCI realm. I think the stick hit is an important part of evaluating working dog qualities. To maintain high quality working dogs, we need tests that evaluate working qualities, and stick hits are an important part of these tests. For example, real working dogs for police and military must be able to withstand physical pressure, and stick hits are one way to test the ability to handle this pressure.

K9andSports: Thank you for taking the time for us, Erin! We wish you all the best for the FCI Worlds and are looking forward to working with you further!