Schutzhand school recommendations - Page 2

Everyone in that sport started out knowing NOTHING. The only way to overcome your personal limitations is to just do it. Much of the joy of the sport is you and your dog doing it together. If you have a club/support group close by, you are MUCH better off learning from ground zero. Doing it yourself, over time with good guidance is the best route.

Schutzhund training is the best opportunity to ruin your dog while paying lots of money in the process. Here's the typical scenerio. American buys dog. Thinks the dog stuff looks fun and after some attempts to figure out what it takes to train/title a dog decides it's too much for them. All this driving an hour to a club where you wait all day to have your dog worked for 15 minutes is just too much. This will take years at this pace. It's cold too. Let's send Fido to some trainer for titling. Let's see.... who can we get to title Fido. Time to go shopping. Of course we know nothing about what it actually takes to title a dog. No one in the club seemed to do more than be a pole. Three year old dogs, still on the puppy tug. It can't be that hard. Here are some pitfalls: If you have a crappy dog, I know no one has a crappy puppy or dog, but let's assume someone somewhere has a pup or dog with little to no drive, no foundation training, no grip development, etc... decides they want their pup that's now 2 years old titled. They contact a trainer that claims to be able to title this dog sight unseen. Yup there hasn't been a dog come here yet we couldn't fix, get to bite, do a dance, and get titled with performance scores that make a working dog look like a wimp. Just leave Fido here and a small 2,000 deposit. He should be titled in a month or so. Well looks like Fido had some issues from his previous training. He's coming along, it will take a little more time. Just send another 2,000. That should cover it. Two months later. Where's the title. Another 2,000? Feel like a cow being milked. No title, not even a BH?? Just give me my dog and my money back. I'll go elsewhere. What do you mean I owe you more money? I can't get my dog until I pay what? Or how bout the savvy owner that looks for the best deal. Yup sending Fido across the ocean. Hey they do this stuff every day there. There's a club on every street corner. They all title dogs there.. everyone of them. It's a national past time like football. Off Fido goes to who knows where to be titled by who knows who. Never met the person, never seen them train, Don't know if they ever titled a dog. Just loaded Fido in a crate and sent him off. Ever wonder what they feed? If they feed? The list goes on and on. There are many horror stories daily about dogs being trained. What's a person to do? There are good, reputable trainers that understand the difference between dogs and the proper proven motivational methods training techniques that produce the type of training that the judges want to see. These trainers are few and far between, take their work seriously, have a good reputation, don't take just any dog that comes their way without some type of evaluation, sends it back to you when they determine it's not a dog to title so you don't waste your money or their valuable training time. They have a list of dogs they successfully titled with the results posted in magazines you can read for yourself. They take a little pride in their results. For every one of these, there are dozens that are not. Who trains your dog is the most important decision you will make during the life of your German Shepherd. Get off your butt and go learn enough to know who to send your dog to and don't rely on advice from people you don't even know. Choose wisely.

Dog1.. I like your post, and even though I havn't been around enough I bet many go through just that. "Get off your butt and go learn enough to know who to send your dog to and don't rely on advice from people you don't even know. Choose wisely." Exactly what I'm doing, 10 months (at least) before I *may* send her somewhere. You're right about the local clubs.. I can't see how you can get to a really great level with the 15 minutes a week you get there. Neverthreless, it is still fun to get to know more people with common interest and get your a little. Btw, how did you know it takes me an hour drive ?:)

I recommend Sharyn Baker in Falcon, Colorado. Her ad is listed on this website.

Does anyone on the board know of a trainer in Canada,that will put schutzhund titles on dogs? Any information would be greatly appreciated.

There are a few people I would contact prior to sending a dog to several "recommended" or "mentioned" on this list. lala - if you would link your email to your name, comments could be sent to you privately without the resulting holy wars that have gone on here recently. A club member of mine has rotts, and one aforementioned 'trainer' did have a few of these. If you would contact me privately via the link on my screen name, I will refer you to the rottie person for more info.

Lala, I reread my post and must apoligize for making my comments seem directed at you. This was not my intent and apoligize for that appearance. Your early investigation is commendable. It is a bit of a sore subject for me at this time. I have a friend that has a dog being titled. He got a call that his dog was not being cared for and looked terrible. Initial response was the dog was fine, yada, yada. Tainer requested to send pictures and verification of titles claimed. Long story short. Reputable person brokered training with another reputable person B. Person B was full or for some reason subcontracted the training to another. Long story shorter. Dog was not in the best of condition and many misrepresentations were told along the way. Saga continues. I can speak from similar expieriences when I say; It's no fun being 4,000 miles from a dog in a troubled situation that you can't do anything about except worry. When it comes to training there are dozens of combinations. Good dogs, bad trainers. Bad dogs, good trainers and everything between. Here are some observations I'll share for what it's worth. Dogs that can't title or are slow learners pose a real delimma. They take a long time to train, cost a bunch to train, in the end, what do you have? Chances are it's not the result you thought you would have. Result usually is a dog that has a title, may but probably will never pass a real breed survey. Can show at the local and regional level but will never see a sieger show. To top it off may not be the type of dog you want to breed. My advice is, if you want your involvment or breeding program to continue past the dogs second birthday in the German arena, start with a good dog, pay more if you have too, it's less in the end and you'll have something to show for your effort. There is a range of titles too. You can get paper titles, yes that's right somebody some where can get a book signed. Some titles are marginal. Dog did it, errrrr close enough. Others involve time and quality training. Make sure you are aware of the level of training you expect from your trainer. PS, don't expect your new SchH titled dog to work for you when it arrives on the plane. Remember you are not a trainer, if you were you would have titled the dog yourself. Don't be too disappointed when the dog arrives and no matter how many times you tell it sit, sit, sit, dammit sit......it doesn't sit. Be fair different handler, different surroundings, different language.

Dog1, Thanks again for the insight, pleasure reading and most of it is common sense. I always find it interesting people don't pay attention to what many of us take for granted. My plan is to find the best, likely in Germany but I'm not locked on this until I learn more, visit there before sending her, make sure the training is gentle and mostly motivational (hardly any compulsion training is my ideal way), and when she is ready, spend some time there as well so I can get her used to me and learn more about how to make it all work. I don't want to do it so much for breeding (although when she is ready I will find the best match for her as well) but for my own pleasure of making the best of what I have.

If you are in the New Hampshire area, Mike Pinksten has been around a long long time in the states and did his training in germany etc... here is a link through Leerburg Training videos http://www.leerburg.com/alexander.htm email me if you would like to contact him i have his number Regards, Dawnmarie