Top Showlines with good protection phase - Page 36

Ahh, Randy, as you are only too aware, the answer is slim to no chance.... The vast majority of us "newbies" are led astray by such ads. For my part, I was somewhat lucky my first go around... Kevin

Kevin,

It kills me to meet people that have the talent, ambition, and resources to be very involved with the Germen Shepherd breed and go far, only to come up short by getting the wrong puppy. How many of these types have you seen show up at a club all enthusiastic,,,,,,wanting to learn,,,,have the ability and desire to learn. The helper jumps around like a monkey on a 90 degree day in a full leather suit trying to get show puppy with no drive or ambition to do something. After all the hard work, it becomes too much for the new family and they go off with the pet they love never to set foot on a schutzhund field again.

I was hoping you, Erin, and Ravi would share your quest for the right dog. What made you decide to start with the puppy or dog that you did? What research did you do? What were you looking for, etc.?

Chances are what you make of it; how hard you've worked together, who your support team is, how much of your "other life" you're willing to sacrifice, and who you're up against.  Your competition isn't just other dogs, it's their handlers.  Their handlers have brought them where they are today; their commitment to train, their level of experience, and their support team back home is going to matter every bit as much as the quality of their dogs.  Oh, and then there's the judges (we'll skip that).

On a GOOD day, you might have a shot of making your mark, and the dog will mark a couple places as well.  Hopefully not on the podium.  And, it still doesn't affect the bottom line of the showline variety's appalling condition.  Genetics before glory, I say.  Big trophies and bigger egos don't make great pups.  Someone here mentioned you can change the system from the top down, but you really should address the genetics from the bottom up.  A few popular producers is NOT the answer.  The pace for progress will be slow, and entirely uphill.  And importantly, it will require a team effort to upscale the breeding.

Abandon all ye hope.  Already your attention has wavered.  This has all become a very inspiring pep talk for the showline crowd, but you're asking them for more blood than they or even their workingline counterparts could ever give.  The challenge is greater, the discipline required would be FAR more demanding than either what they've demonstrated in the past, or beyond the scope of what team effort it would require.  Why not start with "Top protection dogs with good showline potential".?  That'll happen long before you ever turn this bobsled around.  Some changes just can't be undone.

Randy... I can answer that :

In my case I had a personal friend who had a dog from Randy Tyson .. a V rated showline that was an absolute monster on the field and famous at the Menlo Park SchH club as the "Alligator"...
Valee vom Haus Tyson (http://www.pedigreedatabase.com/german_shepherd_dog/dog.html?id=445891 ) was a dog that had it all .... drive, confidence, aggression and yet totally stable at the home with kids and babies....

I told my friend to get me a dog like his....

So he went to Randy and she allowed him to video this litter three times a week from week 6 till week 10. My friend would study these tapes and send them to me.... He was looking for the alpha male of the litter...a pup that was bold... would venture the farthest from the pack... bark the first at an intruder... would never give up when trying to climb over an obstacle... would be the most curious ....and would grab anything and successfully defend it from being stolen from him by his other siblings....

He narrowed it down to two ... one pup was all of the above but was a little shy with humans... the other was equal to the first but would seek human companionship more easily once the intial introductions were over.... He picked the 2nd one and that was how I got Juneau.....

Neither he nor Randy ever had any idea that I would train as intensively with Juneau as I did.... in fact from Aug 26th 2004 when he first arrived till May 2005 I pretty much did a whole lot of self training from video tapes and books etc with him... all the wrong way....

In fact to this day it is not that Juneau turned out good.... it was that he turned out this way despite everything that I did wrong with him for so long....

Daryleheret.... I think you may have made a very valid point!!!

My initial path was almost the polar opposite of Ravi's...a combination of serendipity and learning by doing. In answer to your question about why this puppy, what research did I do, what was I looking for...I was looking for a pet. I did not know anything about schutzhund, but someone I worked with had been doing schutzhund training (but had not gotten a title) and it sounded interesting to me so I looked for breeders on the USA Schutzhund website. It was dumb luck that I got a good puppy - the puppy looked nice and had a lot of drive for toys at 4 months of age. I was uncertain if I was interested in showing the puppy, and/or if I was interested in schutzhund. I gave both a try and got hooked very quickly. My puppy had excellent focus and ball drive, and I was also fortunate to have a lot of success in the show ring early on. Unknowingly, I made many mistakes during the process of training my dog. It is a miracle I have gotten as far as I have, and that is due in large part to the support I have had from great trainers and helpers and from my family who have indulged my passion for this sport. I recently started training with a super trainer, and this experience has enabled me to begin to compete at championship trials.

  That brings me to another point... I simply cannot overemphasize how important the right coach is....

I was very fortunate to find my coach, Pedro Jimenez in Jan 2006.... that was the start of a relationship that has metamorphosed into a deep bond of brotherhood that rivals anything else that I have ever had the privilege to experience.... and then the other person who had the greatest impact was the same distinguished gentleman who is now guiding Erin to greater heights.....

I cannot begin to overstate the the debt that so many schutzhund enthusiasts on the eastern seaboard owe to people like these....

Finding a good training coach is transformational.... overnight you move from having a monologue with your dog to a dialogue that is truly magical.....

A good trainer opens your eyes and makes you see your dog... you learn to read him and suddenly what was a closed book becomes a rich 3-D immersion experience that can only be experienced and never described.

If you find a good trainer then that trainer truly deserves your total unquestioning submission & trust....

There were many, many times when I did not understand why my trainer told me to do some thing... but at all times I trusted him totally with the same intensity that my dog trusted me.

3 personal accounts of people who did very well with their first dog. It leaves me wondering, how many pups capable of doing well, go into homes where they will never see a training field.

Rik