GSD's in the U.S today. vs the past - Page 3

thanks for everyone's post

I started training and competing in the late 1970's.  The training "Bible" then was THE KOEHLER METHOD. (God help our dogs)  The first wave of SV judges admonished us for having "soft" dogs.  We took their advice because "The Germans were the experts." We would buy a billy goat if it bit hard.  (Attributed to the late Hal Ratliff)  The next wave of SV judges advised, "Your dogs bite well, but they are ugly!" The GSDCA banned our sport twice.  Somehow, our breed survived all that.

jamesfountain98,

Just to comment on one of your posts. My male, Reiker, 9 1/2 y.o.a. was trained/groomed for a PSD. Heavy OB as a pup. At six mos he was as good and better than others at one and one and a half. Hard Hitter, hard strong bite! FOCUS! Wasn't a man-eater but boy he loved the fight. No food rewards ALL praise.

The two girls, future bomb dogs. Very little if any OB and still no food rewards ALL praise. My thoughts are 1. I want them to please/do for me, my praise. 2. What if after time, (if I was rewarding/training with food) their thoughts were master doesn't have food I don't work. I'm not doing what he wants, and at the wrong time? 

It works for some but my thoughts were I didn't want to be somewhere in a situation and the dog is focused on what type of treat or reward he/she's getting.

Koach..... that sounded like an AWESOME dog!

P.S. I remember as a kid there was a guy in the neighborhood. He had a GSD, was returning from the army. (early 70's). This dog, still remember his name, DRAKO, was the largest GSD I had ever seen. A good 110#s Beautiful. Looked like a small horse.

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The first wave of SV judges admonished us for having "soft" dogs.  We took their advice because "The Germans were the experts."

Now look at them. They are training the way we taught them to train. I remember that people started training their dogs right away even back then. The Germans didn't do shit with a dog till it was a year old, and it lived in a kennel it's whole life never being told NO NO NO NO NO PUPPY NO. : )

I also remember a lot of them had an agenda in coming over here, especially if it was not their first time. They saw how much we were willing to pay to listen to them. I remember a judge, whos name I cannot for the life of me I cannot come up with, anyway, I went to Germany, and I had a few guys tell me the guy was full of it. Almost everyone listened intently if the person telling them about their dog had an accent. Come to think of it, nothing has really changed. : )

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The GSDCA banned our sport twice.

I had forgotten about that. All our viscous dogs. LOL