Schutzhund Club - Page 1

What would you look for in a Schutzund Club proir to join them? Johan http://public.fotki.com/JohanGSD/

The first thing I would look for is results. If a club has not tiled a dog before. Chances are yours will not be the first. There may be a long line of broken dogs along the way. Second I would look at the helper and have him assess your dog. If he is a helper that has titled and shows/competes with his dogs. He's probably qualified to train you and yours. Listen to what he says and can show you about your dog. Make sure he can demonstrate his reasons for making statements about your dog. See if your dog is a dog he would like to train. See if he wants to train your dog for the money (as in lots of) or if he wants to train your dog because he wants you and your dog to succeed. (some money is OK, equipment wears out, bodies wear out, gas is expensive, If he's good he's been to the Dr. a couple times to get something sewn back up) The helper will be the most important ingredient in the process of training your dog. Many good dogs are ruined by helpers with good intentions but lack experience, training, and the knowledge necessary to work a dog safely and correctly. Choose wisely as if your dogs future depends on it-because it does. See if the people in the group are people you like associating with. Personalities are a major part of the training experience. Each club has it's own personality. Visit them a few times and see what you think of them as a group. Bear in mind you are visitor #116 that comes to practice with new dog in hand. #23 and #76 are still with the club. The majority of the rest left when they found out how much time it took and how difficult it was after the club spent 6 months taking them under their wing and trying to do something to help this new show person with their crappy puppy that's already full of issues it's new owner has given it. Expect a welcome but chances are you must pursue the relationships as too many new soldiers have fallen by the wayside for the seasoned to really care if another does. You earn the respect of the group by showing dedication. Most will train even a sorry show dog as long as you are willing to keep trying. Be prepared to mess up your first dog so bad that it's just not worth trying to fix. Maybe not, hopefully not, but be mentally prepare yourself to realize one day despite all your good intentions that the dog you spent hours and hundreds of dollars training cannot reach it's potential because of issues you created in the dog.

Dog 1, what a bummer. I would say, you should figure out the type of training you wish to do with your dog. Where are you coming from and where do you want to go? Do you want to stand on the podium? Do you have a dog that can do it? I am a believer in finding the absolute best trainer with the best track record. If you believe in training your own dog, contact the big names out there and ask if they can make recommendations of where you should go. Gottfried Dildei, a very successful trainer is also now the National Training Director of the GSDCA-WDA. Why not try that address and go from there? Sunny

Interesting to know this about G Dildei...I LIKE his methods and recommend his book "Schutzhund Obedience-Training in Drive" to all my clients who wish to pursue SchH... Good points, Dog1... Another thing I recommend to my clients, is to see if the dogs are "happy" working...nice to see that they are trained with motivation, not only compulsion. AND in North America it is important to find out, if you own a showline dog, whether your dog will be appraised for himself or his lines....way too many people are turned off from SchH because the can't get into a club as their dog is not working lines.....or.....they try to put the dog into defense way too young...as for the decoy, one that can read a dog well and recognize what the dog needs, is very important. Not all can..........

Michelle, Gottfried's book SchH Obedience - Training in Drive is like a blueprint to me. By the way the 2X Meisterschaft Sieger pictured in the book, V Niko von der Hochantenne, was a dog out of show lines and the sire of my beloved passed companion dog, Alexis von der Reinhart. Sunny

P.S. In acknowledgement of the tremendous achievement of both dog and handler and to put this into perspective, Jackie Reinhart was the first American and the first woman handler to win the DVG Meisterschaft. Truly something to be proud of, I believe.

Interesting, Sunshine:) and indeed something to be proud of.

Michelle O- I sure an relate to what you say about Schutzhund clubs being so "anti" conformation lines. Our local club has told a ton of my new puppy owners not to even waste their time and money trying to title a show dog. They suggest keeping it as a pretty pet, with emphasis on the pretty! This is getting very tiresome and annoying. When they are told that the parents are all Schutzhund titled, then they say that "anybody can buy a title in Germany and that doesn't mean they can do the work"! By contrast, if these people drive all the way to the Schutzhund club in the next county, they are treated with respect and an open mind. There is no "cure" for innate stupidity and machoism when it comes to conformation lines.

Hello everone, Thanks you for all the input. Yes, I do own snowline pup. Puppy can be viewed at http://public.fotki.com/JohanGSD/ . There are 2 Schutzhund clubs in my area. Most of them are friendly bunch of people. The first club have a lots of members and only couple of them have show bloodline dogs. Others mostly working dogs. The second club is small members but what impressed me, one of the Club member is a Canadian/SV judge who have been around for a while and also a trainer. I noticed his system is an old school style. I prefer Ivan Balabanov system. Guess I'm out of luck. Both club's trainers and helpers have seen and played with my pup and quite impressed with him and very excited to work with him. Being at total novice, I couldn't decide which trainer and helper is better. Is there any thing I should ask or look for? Johan

Heck with joining one...I've got to see if I can get together with some other hard working folks and START a club. I live in the Fairbanks area, Alaska. There are two very nice clubs down in Anchorage....350 miles away and a 7 hour trip one way on a two lane highway. I've heard that some people from my area actually do make the trip down. That's dedication.