Schutzhund - starting age? - Page 1

Hello all, question about age to start schutzhund training.  My Lucy just turned a year old, she's been going to classes for obedience, now in intermediate.  Should I have started schutzhund earlier or should we wait a while?  Thanks

eddyhdy,

 At one year old, your girl has missed some essential opportunities to develop good work ethics similar to children developing good study habits at critical stages.

The good trainers that I know seem to all say training begins around 8 weeks. Others may say 12 to 16 weeks, but the important thing is to start them early with the basics. There will be times along the way to take breaks from training and not overdo it.

Eddy,

No use crying over spilled milk.  Although it's ideal to start a puppy at 8 weeks, there's no reason to give up and walk away just because you dog is 1 year old and hasn't started yet.  Find a good club in your area, get plugged in with a good crowd of helpful people, and give it a shot. 

I would not wait any longer however.  The sooner you get started the easier it will be.

Yvette

eddy,

No reason to worry.  A lot of good and experienced trainers will wait and let the dog develop until at least 6-8 months.

• What are your goals
• Do you have access to a good trainer that knows how to work with young dogs?
• Be wary about pushing to far too fast.  How many dogs rush through sch 1-3 and then have to be re-taught by another trainer?
• Talk to trainers who have trained dogs to get an idea of what you need to do, based on you dog.

If she truely has the drive, starting now won't be an issue.   Just let her develop and don't let anybody force her.  It may just take a bit longer to get her titles.   Earlier would have been better but we have one we started a bit later who's a very serious bitch on the field.

Eddy:

I have a european showline female that is 20 mos old.  I just started working her with a good schutzhund trainer 2 mos ago.  I had prepared myself to not expect too much, but she started out really well and is showing improvement each week.  LOL - wish I could say that about me.  The only draw back is that I did alot of ob work with her the first  year I had her and it took her a little while to stop looking for me to see if she was allowed to bark and go after the tug, but she seemed to get over that after the first session.  We are still in early stages, but are having fun.  So find a good trainer that can help you develop your dog properly and enjoy!

Cheryl

Thank you all for the input.   My goals for Lucy first is to have her be a good obedient dog, to listen to me, and to have as much fun as we can possibly squeeze into everyday.  She is getting pretty protective now, and I think that is a good thing, I never intended on taking her all the way with this, but i do think some good instruction will help with her being so protective, i guess if she takes off after someone i want to have the control to be able to stop her when i need to.  If she's good at it, who know's how far she could go.  I know there are alot of serious people out here, very professional and i've gotta give ya all credit, it's alot of time & work, not counting on the expense, but I got LUCY to be my buddy, my pet, the interest in Schutzhund came about a month ago and i thought i'd look into it and give her a chance at it,  I dont know what kind of potential she has but I'd be willing to bet she wouldnt be the worst dog in the world at it.  Her papa is Fabian vom mittelwest, and if she turned out to only do half as well i'd be thrilled.  LOL but hey, one day at a time.  It's possible the only trait she got from good old dad, is the looks.  anyway, thanks again for the input and I will go and check things out, if the trainers think she'd have fun at it and learn something, we'll give it a shot.  

Pam